Amar V Sain (centre) with Pat Sain (left) and Mike Sain

After an employee vote, Clark Material Handling Co presented its 2010 dealer-of-the-year award to the Sain family's Dalton-based Material Handling Inc (MHI).

"Outstanding truck and parts sales, combined with excellence in service, customer satisfaction and overall dealership operations has established MHI as a premiere Clark dealer," says Bo Maslanyk, vice president of sales and marketing with Clark in Lexington, Kentucky.

"MHI continues to set exceptional standards for sales and customer service," says Dennis Lawrence, Clark president and chief executive officer. "One of the keys to their success is that they have successfully established and have maintained long-lasting relationships with many key customers."

The Sain family operates five MHI forklift sales, service, parts and rental locations in Dalton and Gainesville, Georgia; Nashville and Chattanooga, Tennessee; and Bowling Green, Kentucky. MHI has represented Clark for more than three decades.

The management team consists of Amar V Sain as CEO with brothers Pat Sain as president and Mike Sain as vice president. Patriarch Amar Sain founded the business in 1975 (Forkliftaction.com News #364).

MHI employs 90 staff, represents Clark and Linde in all five locations and Komatsu, Landoll, Combilift and Princeton in most locations.
MHI has converted more than 2,300 LPG forklift users to electric forklift users since 1975.

Regarding power alternatives, "we utilise several types of 'new' technologies that help our customers improve their operations and lower operating costs", Mike Sain reports. "Every solution we propose is application-driven. If fuel cells make financial sense, then we include that in our proposal. On the projects we have studied using fuel cells, the financial justification wasn't there. As the cost for the materials goes down, including the hydrogen or methanol filling stations which are a necessary infrastructure cost, then it will make more sense for fuel cells to become more mainstream. Hopefully, that happens in the next few years."

Clark employees opted to honour MHI in a vote involving the company's top five 2010 dealers of excellence.

Young An Company of South Korea owns the Clark brand, which through various operations has a presence in 102 global markets.