Manitou North America's newly expanded USD2 million customer service centre.

Manitou North America Inc has opened its new USD2 million customer service centre, which will quadruple its current storage capacity. The Waco, Texas centre originally consisted of two separate spare parts warehouses, parts and service offices and a meeting/training room. Its 10,000 sq ft (929 m) area has been enlarged to 35,000 sq ft (3,251.6 m) in the renovations which now see all functions housed in the same building. Steve Peacock, Manitou's customer service director, says the expanded facility is also higher, giving the company more usable storage volume. Its original capacity was 110,000 cubic foot (3,114.9 m) and the expansion has increased that to 450,000 cubic foot (12,742.6 m). "MNA will be able to accommodate additional spare parts storage to better support the Manitou rough-terrain material handling equipment sold through its dealer network in the US," Peacock says. A dedicated training classroom with a connecting workshop and four service bays have also been incorporated into the new facility. The building was completed in June but has only recently become fully operational. The company also added two new employees and expect another two early next year.