Cal-Lift Inc's new facility in City of Industry, California

Cal-Lift Inc has moved to a highly visible facility in City of Industry.

The distributor of Clark, Mitsubishi, Taylor, Linde and Ottawa product lines consolidated operations at the new site from previous Southern California locations about 12 miles (19 km) away in Commerce and 36 miles (58 km) away in Fontana.

Cal-Lift decided during the summer of 2008 to make a move and signed a lease in October for development of a "brand new" 30,000 square foot (2,700 sqm) building on 2.5 acres, says Mark Maechling, Cal-Lift owner, president and chief executive officer.

More than 150,000 cars per day pass the site fronting on California Highway 60 near the interchange with Interstate Highway 605.

The building has "sufficient office, power and yard space to accommodate our existing business and give us room for future growth", Maechling says. "Construction on the offices and parts and service facilities began in December and was completed in February. We moved in March 1."

In September, Clark Material Handling Co (CMHC) named Cal-Lift as an authorised dealer of Clark forklifts for Ventura, Los Angeles, Orange, San Bernardino and Riverside counties in Southern California. That appointment overlapped the authorised territory of another dealer, Clarklift of California, but the February shutdown of Clarklift of California and the Yale/Chase Materials Handling Inc hiring of some Clarklift talent changed the situation.

"Our Clark territory remains the same today other than we are now the only authorised Clark dealer" in the five-county region, Maechling says.

CMHC applauds Cal-Lift's move. "They consolidated two locations into one and have significantly improved operational efficiencies and response time to customers," says Scott Johnson, director of dealer services with CMHC in Lexington, Kentucky. Cal-Lift is "well positioned to compete in the Los Angeles and Inland Empire markets".

Johnson adds: "Mark Maechling and his team of professionals including Bob Bey, Mike Marrs, Eric Kroeger, Dan Wheeler and Bill Walker are well known and well respected in the Southern California markets."

Cal-Lift has represented the Mitsubishi brand in Southern California for more than 20 years. "We remain a committed Mitsubishi dealer (for) Los Angeles and Orange counties," Maechling notes. "MCFA (Mitsubishi Caterpillar Forklift America Inc) has operated a factory store (SCMH in Pico Rivera, California) in Los Angeles and Orange counties since 2001 and competes with Cal-Lift" in the forklift market. Joint venture MCFA is based in Houston, Texas.

"Our success depends upon our being a customer-focused team," Maechling says. "We empower our people to make good decisions, we partner with our manufacturers to deliver the highest value equipment solutions (and) we seek to forge strong long-term reciprocal relationships with our customers."

Cal-Lift was formed in 1964, employs 75 people and recorded sales of USD32 million for the fiscal year ended 30 September, up 10% from the previous fiscal year.