 From left, participants are Bill Blavat, Matt Carran, Van Clarkson, Suzanne Kelley, Gary Fairchild, Chad Fairchild and Barb Butler. |
Fairchild Equipment Inc has opened a Menomonee Falls branch in conjunction with acquiring the assets of MEE Material Handling LLC and Schmidt Industrial Truck Service Inc. Terms were not disclosed.
Fairchild Equipment invested about USD1.25 million to purchase the 20,000 sqft. (1,858 sqm) Menomonee Falls facility and spent another USD250,000 for infrastructure improvements and outfitting its newest location. The firm has plans to double the site's footprint soon.
With its latest expansion, the Green Bay, Wisconsin-based firm employs more than 200 and operates nine locations serving the Wisconsin, Minnesota and Michigan Upper Peninsula markets for the sales, service and support of materials handling and warehouse equipment.
The firm's expansion involved acquisitions of a pair of second-generation southern Wisconsin businesses.
Fairchild Equipment agreed on 1 October to acquire the assets and Hyster materials handling dealership rights of MEE Material Handling LLC in Milwaukee from the Heyrman family. On 1 July, Fairchild Equipment purchased the assets of Schmidt Industrial Truck Service Inc in Racine from the Schmidt family.
Fairchild retained more than 85% of the MEE employees and 100% of the Schmidt Industrial staff.
Mark Heyrman and Pam Heyrman Bourque remain actively involved with the transition of MEE operations from Milwaukee to Menomonee Falls. MEE, also known as Milwaukee Engineering Equipment, became a Hyster forklift dealer more than 50 years ago.
Alan and Renae Schmidt continue with the Fairchild organisation, Alan in allied products and aftermarket sales and Renae in dispatching service technicians for both the Racine and Beloit locations. Schmidt Industrial Truck began operating in Racine in 1971. The ongoing Racine location occupies about 15,000 sqft. (1,394 sqm).
Van Clarkson is president of the southern division, now including the Menomonee Falls, Racine, Beloit and Sheboygan branches. A native of the Milwaukee area, Clarkson joined Fairchild Equipment in early 2014. Previously, he was vice president for JCB North American dealer sales and a senior Hyster manager in finance, fleet management and dealer sales.
"Being in the Menomonee Falls community, we will not only be able to maintain our current customers but anticipate doubling our growth in the area of southern Wisconsin and the metro Milwaukee area over the course of the next few years," Clarkson notes. "Fairchild sells Hyster throughout all southern division locations and aims to continue to grow with the Hyster and Yale brands in territories that make sense for both parties."
Fairchild has a lengthy history of successfully representing the Yale forklift line in its northern division Wisconsin branches in Green Bay, Marinette and Stevens Point and its western division Minnesota branches in Burnsville and Ham Lakes, both in the Minneapolis-Saint Paul metropolitan area. Most of the northern division is now dual dealer, also representing the Hyster forklift brand.
President and Chief Executive Officer Gary Fairchild founded the business as Yale Materials Handling-Green Bay Inc in 1985, added Yale-Minnesota operations in 1998 and transitioned to the Fairchild Equipment identity in January 2013. Chad Fairchild is general manager of the firm's construction equipment business featuring the JCB line.
The dealership collaborated with the Waukesha County Business Alliance for a ribbon-cutting ceremony to celebrate the Menomonee Falls opening, Fairchild's expansion in south-east Wisconsin and development of the firm's southern division. Visitors viewed the full-service forklift shop, full-line parts department, new and used equipment for sale and rental and the fleet of technical service vans.
Suzanne Kelley, president of the Waukesha County Business Alliance, participated in the 1 December event at the branch along with two of the alliance's volunteer ambassadors, Bill Blavat of Cornerstone Consulting Inc and Barb Butler of the parent-support group Safe Babies Healthy Families. Representing the village of Menomonee Falls was Matt Carran, director of community development.