 Emmerson Daily |
Emmerson Daily is transitioning to consulting status with Pearl-based Daily Equipment Co, but remains actively involved with the business and community.
In a stock transaction effective from 31 December, Mitsubishi Caterpillar Forklift America Inc (MCFA) acquired Daily Equipment but not the physical locations, which Daily personally retains and leases to MCFA. Terms were not disclosed.
As part of the change, Daily Equipment stopped representing the forklift lines of Crown Equipment Corp and J C Bamford Excavators Ltd.
Daily is a native of rural Illinois, trained in the University of Illinois's college of engineering, and worked for a decade with the Caterpillar Inc construction machinery business in engineering, sales and project management positions. Cat is based in Peoria, Illinois.
Among Cat projects, Daily oversaw work on a new tractor line that underwent extensive tests at locations in Arizona and California.
Next, he joined Cat dealer Puckett Machinery in Jackson, Mississippi, simultaneously serving in two Puckett general manager positions in separate physical locations for the forklift division and parts-service operations.
A Cat Industrial official's idea led to the creation of Daily Equipment.
"They thought their lift truck dealers who were independent of Cat Industrial had better marketshares than those with both lift truck and construction operations," he says.
"Cat Industrial asked me if I would buy the lift truck division of Louisiana Machinery (Co Inc) in northern Louisiana and the lift truck division of Puckett in the southern two-thirds of Mississippi."
Cat provided the financing, and "I purchased those assets on July 1, 1985", Daily says. The main facility was located in Jackson with branches in Biloxi, Mississippi and Shreveport, Louisiana. The forklifts came from Cat Industrial and, since 1992, the joint venture MCFA in Houston.
On 1 January 1991, again with Cat Industrial's assistance, Daily acquired the forklift operations of Holt Lift Truck, adding territory in Louisiana. Louisiana Machinery had purchased Holt's heavy-asset equipment business.
In addition to Shreveport, Daily Equipment operates Louisiana branches in Baton Rouge, Lake Charles and New Orleans.
Daily, 64, exercises every morning in a gymnasium to maintain his physical condition and ability to pass the biennial examination for renewal of his private pilot's license.
"Aviation is my passion," he says. Daily owns a Beechcraft King Air model F90 and its hangar at Hawkins Field airport in Jackson. "I have a secondary office in the hangar."
About 95% of his flying has involved business, with routine trips to most branch locations. "Tuesday and Thursday were travel days," he says. "Sometimes we might spend an entire day at a branch."
Daily is a director on the boards of a military defence contractor, a bank and an insurance firm. Periodically, he would use his plane for their business matters.
Customer satisfaction is a major focus that Daily rates on the same level as net profit before taxes. "If you keep customers satisfied, profit takes care of itself," he says. "We have never had a loss in 27 years although one or two years were not that great."
At one time, MCFA used market research firm Morpace Inc of Farmington Hills, Michigan for measuring customer satisfaction with dealers. MCFA "cut it out, but we continued the surveys for Daily (Equipment)," he says. Anything looking deficient receives attention because "if you can't measure it, you can't improve it".
Daily conveys his satisfaction to employees, now numbering 164. Here are some of the ways:
▪ "I've given Christmas money to every employee as a gift since 1985; USD100 minimum for new employees to USD800 for employees who have been with me from the beginning. For some folks, it's the only way their child will have a Christmas. USD814,000 over 27 years.
▪ "I buy lunch for whoever attends Wednesday's bible study upstairs in the training room;
▪ "We incorporate fun things into meetings; paint ball/ropes courses/end-of-year meetings.
▪ "We deep fry turkeys every Thanksgiving.
▪ "We loan employees money; up to two weeks payroll, take it out of future payroll."
In 1985, all prime product transactions were sales with the idea of leases just coming in and, later, total maintenance and repair (TM&R).
"We like to own the machines," he says. "Our customer does not have to worry about TM&R."
Daily Equipment puts used equipment through a rigorous refurbishment and component replacement process including new paint in a customised Daily version of the Cat black-and-yellow color scheme.
"We put a lot of effort and time in used machinery conditioning," he notes. "It looks like a new piece of equipment. We sell it with a comprehensive warranty."
For personal assets, Daily intends to form a family foundation during 2013. "We will wait until the end of the year for the dust to settle," he notes.
Daily's wife, Julia, travels yearly to Honduras on trips for the Baptist Medical & Dental Mission International of Hattiesburg, Mississippi. Other philanthropic interests for Emmerson and Julia Daily involve Habitat for Humanity International and the Jackson Zoological Society Inc. "I will not be leaving an inheritance," he says.