The big sign on Interstate 75 in Ocala tells customers the new branch is open for business.
After some time on the drawing board and a year after the official ground-breaking, Beard Equipment's brand-new Ocala, Fla., branch is officially open for business. The 48,000 sq. ft.- facility is situated on 10 acres of land right off Interstate 75 and has plenty of room for any necessary future expansions.
The facility boasts a 25 percent increase in size over the previous Ocala branch and the new location has tremendous ease of access from either exit 354 or 358 off I-75. Also, a brand-new I-75 interchange is planned for mid-year 2022, which will be located just a ¼ mile north of the new branch.
The new space includes 12 full-service bays and a complete undercarriage track shop to service all makes and models of dozers and excavators. An increase in overhead crane capacity allows for servicing and maintenance on larger construction and mining machines. The new branch also includes a training facility for both customers and staff.
To ensure all machines are cleaned for service and delivery, the sales, service and rental departments take advantage of the new self-contained wash facility which is ecologically friendly and boasts a 100 percent benchmark for filtering and recycling of the water. Also included in the construction of the facility is an integrated lubricant and oil system, which serves the shop area to ensure high efficiency with limited waste and spillage.
Built by Ausley Construction of Ocala (design-build) and Salser Construction (site contractor), the new facility is a full-service dealership (sales-service-parts-rentals) for John Deere Construction and Forestry; John Deere Compact Construction; John Deere Golf and Turf; LeeBoy and Bomag paving and compaction equipment. Beard also is the authorized Leica Geosystems distributor for machine control and construction survey products throughout the state of Florida.
The John Deere Golf and Turf division had been a separate operation in another location in South Ocala. Now, with the larger facility, this division is under the same roof as the construction and forestry operations. Beard's John Deere Golf and Turf division serves a large market including portions of Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and Alabama. The division handles a broad range of services to coordinate package deals and maintenance of all machines and products required for the operations of their customers in the golf course and sports turf maintenance industry.
The company is still working on the "final touches" for completion of The Beard Technology Solutions center, which will include a full-service Leica Geosystems repair and maintenance facility inside the Ocala location for repair and calibration services for products such as total stations and lasers as well as performing warranty repairs on Leica Geosystems products.
The Beard Technology Solutions service center is being centrally located in Ocala to offer quick shipping and turn around service to customers across the state. Beard Technology Solutions is a one stop shop for contractors offering data services from 3D modeling to AGTEK software training for estimating and planning of projects to machine control solutions during the construction phases.
The larger facility has led to an increase in full-time employees: from 26 to 35. They are supervised by Chris Wood, sales manager; Jack George, parts manager; Donnie Vanzant, service manager; and Herman Bloch, golf manager.
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