Soon after a Massachusetts contractor demo’d its first pieces of LiuGong earthmoving construction equipment, the owners were so impressed with the machine’s performance and tremendous cost savings that they decided to pursue obtaining the LiuGong line of construction equipment and become its distributor in New England as Equipment East LLC.
“Since we weren’t familiar with LiuGong, we thoroughly inspected the LiuGong products. We [found] a well engineered, well built product, manufactured with industry standard components such as Cummins Engines, ZF transmissions and axles and Kawasaki pumps and controls, just to name a few — and it was available at a substantial savings,” said Giovanni Albanese, president of Equipment East.
“In 2010, we attended our first LiuGong Global Dealer meeting in China,” Albanese said. “We toured the factory and met with LiuGong executives and other LiuGong distributors from throughout the world. We saw a very modern factory from a manufacturer that is actually one of the largest wheel loader manufacturers in the world. We spoke to distributors who assured us that LiuGong was very capable of supporting the products that they manufacture.”
According to Equipment East Sales Representative Jim Mullen, the LiuGong loader is ideally suited for the private contractor and the municipal market.
“It’s a no frills machine, so you’re not paying for a lot of gizmos that are of no use to a highway department or contractor,” he said. “It’s a hard-working machine that gets the job done. It’s easy to service and maintain, powered by a Cummins diesel engine and a ZF transmission. The parts for the engine and drive train are industry standard and readily accessible.”
Jumping Into Action
“Equipment East’s success in getting the LiuGong product to its customers throughout New England (including Vermont and New Hampshire), proved that we could offer, reliable equipment performing beyond customers’ expectations at a reasonable price,” said Mullen.
The LiuGong machines proved to be up to the task, Mullen added. “In working in extreme wet and muddy conditions, the LiuGong machines really shine. Limited slip differential on all four wheels comes standard on all LiuGong loaders. As a result, the loaders were able to pull through deep mud with a bucket filled with wet, heavy material.”
Keeping Things Moving
As a contractor for more than 30 years, Albanese is aware of the importance of minimizing downtime.
“We have invested heavily in LiuGong parts,” Albanese said. “We’ve used these machines long enough in our rental fleet that we know what our parts inventory should consist of to keep our customers operating and we have made that investment. If one of our customers is down and I can’t get him running, we have been known to go so far as to taking a piece of equipment out of our rental fleet and swapping it out until we have resolved the problem. But, to be honest with you, these problems do not arise all that often.”
“Furthermore, LiuGong Construction Machinery North America headquartered in Katy, Texas, has a huge parts warehouse with inventory available for our market,” added Albanese.
Deep Roots
Although Equipment East is a relatively new name for equipment distribution in New England, the Albanese name is well recognized within construction circles.
In 1978, Giovanni and his brother, Marco, founded a construction company called Albanese Brothers. This company had substantial growth primarily as a large utility contracting company doing major water, sewer and pump station projects. In 1991, Giovanni and Marco separated their companies. Giovanni and his partner, Andrea Ciano, founded Albanese D&S Inc. Today, Albanese D&S continues to show strong growth with 65 employees and more than $15 million in annual sales.
In September 2009, when Giovanni Albanese and his partner, Andrea Ciano, started Equipment East, the day-to-day operation of Albanese D&S was organized by Ciano with more responsibilities given to the younger generation, electing their Senior Project Manager Paul Scenna, as vice president to run Albanese D&S along with Ciano’s children, Andrea Ciano Jr. and Pietro Ciano. Giovanni, along with Gilda Albanese, Marco Albanese and son-in-law, Tim Elliot, spearheaded the service, sales and parts departments of Equipment East.
“We feel that being a high demanding heavy construction equipment customer for over 30 years, who better than us would know what customers’ requirements really are,” said Albanese “Our primary goal is customer service and satisfaction.”
Still Growing
Equipment East has expanded its product offerings beyond LiuGong and now represents Yanmar, the mini-loader and excavator manufacturer; Ramfos and BTI, a line of hydraulic hammers and pulverizers; Geith, a bucket and quick coupler manufacturer; CEC, a screen manufacturer; and Keestrack, a screen and crusher manufacturer (originally known as OM).
New England contractors use a tremendous amount of aggregate equipment, according to Albanese, and the company has added to its product offering to fill those needs.
“CEC offers a very diverse line of stationary and portable crushing and screening plants, suitable for both the contractor and the commercial aggregate producer,” Albanese said. “Keestrack offers high quality, portable tracked crushers and screeners. We feel that our OM jaw is unsurpassed in the industry. Our close side setting is 35 mm and being able to change the jaw settings while crushing eliminates precious idle time. We picked up the Yanmar line of compact machines to complete our line of construction equipment with zero-tail swing excavators and mini-loaders. We also offer the Ramfos line of hydraulic excavator attachments. These extremely duty attachments include hammers, compactors, munchers, and multi processors. We also offer our premier brand of these attachments known as BTI. Many of our customers are involved in demolition and these attachments match up very well with the LiuGong product for doing demolition work.”
Located in eastern Massachusetts the company offers sales and rentals throughout most of New England. The company is owned and operated by Giovanni Albanese and Andrea Ciano. The company is made up of a dedicated support staff including salesmen on the road, factory-trained technicians and mechanics ready to service, support, maintain and troubleshoot all the equipment lines the company represents.
“It’s not the first sale that counts, but the service and support after the sale that really matters.” stressed Albanese. “After all, stuff happens, it’s your response and resolution of the matter that counts!”
For more information, visit www.equipmenteast.com.
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