SCMH's San Fernando Valley facilities.

Southern California Material Handling Inc (SCMH) became the authorised Mitsubishi forklift dealer for Los Angeles, Orange County and the San Fernando Valley on 1 July as an addition to SCMH representation of the sister brand Caterpillar.

"(Mitsubishi) is well-known for providing reliable, cost-effective equipment and services, which mirror our philosophy of providing our customers with the highest quality product for the best value," says Tom Cleary, SCMH president.

The full-service SCMH team has a "vast knowledge of the material handling industry" and "the expertise and know-how to provide the best forklift truck solutions, customer service and support," notes Kent Eudy, vice president of dealer sales for Mitsubishi forklift trucks.

Mitsubishi Caterpillar Forklift America Inc of Houston, Texas owns Pico Rivera-based SCMH and since 2006 - in various markets at various times - has pursued a two-brand, one-channel strategy for distribution of its forklift brands. The addition of Mitsubishi at SCMH constitutes a continuation of that strategy.

SCMH employs 157 including 63 factory-trained service technicians, has a rental fleet of about 500 units and represents the Kalmar, Combilift, Sellick, Landoll Drexel and Flexi brands in addition to the Caterpillar and Mitsubishi lines.

Among its offerings, SCMH provides Promatch parts; extensive internally staffed training and certification programs for operators, trainers and technicians; and turnkey warehouse solutions including analysis, planning, computer-aided design, engineering, procurement and installation. The dealership under predecessors has roots extending over seven decades and assumed the SCMH identity in 2003. SCMH's Orange County location in Anaheim, California has a history to 1998 and the San Fernando Valley location in Northridge, California goes back to the 1960s.