Business View - February 2015 101
one of the top oil and gas production companies in
Kansas, and other corporate holdings include Murphy
Tractor and Equipment Company, Mytown Media and
commercial real estate.
“Nearly 90 years later, they remain committed to their
original business, along with serving many diverse in-
dustries,” said Doug Iannone, president of Lift Truck
Center. “Lift Truck Center has a successful legacy and
has served to mentor many veterans of this industry.
Years ago, my dad, while employed for a Tulsa dealer-
ship, worked for one of the many successful graduates
that was originally trained in Wichita at our dealership,
under the influence of Bill Bolin.”
These days, Lift Truck Center has a workforce of just
more than 50 employees split between branch loca-
tions in Wichita and Springfield, Mo., and Iannone said
the company is looking to hire technicians, parts and
sales consultants in both cities. Several resident tech-
nicians, too, are stationed in remote locations, and the
company’s territory covers more than 100 counties in
Kansas and Missouri, catering to clients in the manu-
facturing, warehousing, retail and logistics spaces,
among others.
Equipment sales account for roughly half of overall,
he said, while service, parts and rentals comprise the
other 50 percent.
“Our customers range from the small business that
doesn’t own a forklift and rents twice a year, to large
fleet users with 100-plus lift trucks,” Iannone said.
“(They) use lift trucks to produce, or move their prod-
ucts to their respective customers. When an opera-
tion is dependent on lift trucks, the costs of an out-of-
service unit in some cases can be several thousands
of dollars for every hour that it is out of commission.
That dependency and cost of downtime creates a high
sense of urgency on us as service providers to respond
quickly to getting the lift truck repaired and back in op-
eration.”
Competition comes in the form of independent service
technicians, eBay and other online equipment whole-
salers and both factory branch and locally owned deal-
LOGISTICS
