Construction Equipment Guide
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Fort Washington, PA 19034
800-523-2200
Thu May 12, 2005 - Southeast Edition
The new Jacksonville, FL, location is just across the street, but the customers of Acme Dynamics have a larger inventory at their fingertips.
The Jacksonville branch moved to 10777 Phillips Highway in October, a 6,250-sq.-ft. location with a 3-acre yard and more office space.
Acme Dynamics, headquartered in Plant City, FL, produces, sells and rents pumps for mining, industrial and municipal applications.
With the additional space, Vice President Butch Tharpe said he was able to increase the store’s inventory by approximately 20 percent.
Acme Dynamics got its start in Plant City in 1957. Tharpe said Founder Cliff Hardee, a contractor, needed a pump for a project on which he was working.
“He needed a pump and couldn’t find one, so he built one,” Tharpe said.
From there, his friends asked if they could borrow his pump for their jobs.
Instead, Hardee rented it to them, creating the beginnings of what would grow into Acme Dynamics.
Now, President Joe Murphy heads the company with Tharpe and Chris Irwin as vice presidents.
The Jacksonville branch employs seven people, including Service Manager Robert Covert and Sales Representative Paul Brackin. Tharpe acts as the branch manger.
The location maintains 75 to 80 pumps in its rental fleet with sizes ranging from 4 to 12 in. It keeps in stock hydraulic submersibles, high-pressure jet pumps, double-diaphragm pumps, sewer bypass pumps and dewatering pumps.
Acme Dynamics also represents DynaPrime pumps.
Tightening restrictions on noise pollution have made the QuietZone pumps more popular, which boast technology that keeps the sound to a minimum.
Tharpe said H.A. Johns, a large underground utility contractor in Jacksonville, is a regular Acme Dynamics customer. Its pumps also are used for a lot of environmental remediation jobs.
The Jacksonville location primarily rents the pumps, but does sell some and Tharpe said he would increase that part of the business if the demand comes.
“Whatever the customer wants and needs, we want to give it to them,” Tharpe said. “Some companies try to push what they have in stock, but we are focused on meeting the customers’ needs.”
For more information, call 904/262-2405. CEG Staff