Equipment Depot announced in February that it has acquired all of the stock of two privately held forklift dealerships in the Dallas-Ft. Worth area. As a result, Equipment Depot Rental operations will be expanded to three additional locations in the Dallas-Ft. Worth metroplex.
In addition, Equipment Depot, which is one of the top dealers of SkyTrak in the United States, will add these three new locations for SkyTrak sales, service and rental.
As a result of the acquisition of Clarklift of Ft. Worth, as well as Powr-Lift’s operations in Dallas and Sherman, Equipment Depot’s combined operation has more than 450 employees, including 240 service technicians, operating out of seven facilities located along the Interstate 35 corridor. With sales and service coverage in 125 counties and annual revenues exceeding $100 million, Equipment Depot has become one of the largest materials handling companies in Texas.
“These acquisitions extend our reach in the Dallas-Ft. Worth market, one of the top forklift markets and construction markets in the United States,” said Don Moes, Equipment Depot’s founder and president. “With four service, sales and rental locations in the Dallas area, we will now have the critical mass we need to spread our overall operating costs over a larger base which will benefit all of our customers throughout Texas.
“The acquired companies have experienced managers and skilled employees who have a long history of taking care of their customers,” Moes said. “We will now have more than 10,000 forklifts under routine service contracts and more than 875 forklifts in our short-term rental fleets. Adding three additional facilities to our existing operation in Dallas allows us to expand our construction equipment rental operations in that market as well.”
Equipment Depot is a Waco-based regional equipment company with equipment superstores in Dallas, Waco, Austin and San Antonio as well as superservice depots in Abilene, Bryan-College Station, Corsicana, San Angelo and Temple.
Equipment Depot was founded as Central Texas Clarklift in 1975, and today is a dealer for Caterpillar, Clark, Daewoo, Drexel, Linde and Mitsubishi forklifts as well as Mobile pallet jacks. It also sells, services and rents aerial lifts built by SkyTrak, Condor, Genie and JLG, as well as light construction equipment manufactured by New Holland. It has more than 1,800 late model units in its industrial and construction rental fleet.
Equipment Depot also owns Ford-New Holland tractor equipment dealerships in Waco and Austin that sell and service a complete line of New Holland agricultural and turf equipment as well as agricultural and turf attachments made by Woods, Gannon, Gill, Alamo, BushHog and BellTec.
Clarklift of Ft. Worth operates in the western counties of the Dallas-Ft. Worth market, representing Clark, Mitsubishi and Linde forklifts as well as Mustang skid steers. It was founded in 1979. Vern Bailey, former owner of the company, will continue to manage the day-to-day operations of the Clarklift of Ft. Worth branch.
Powr-Lift operates equipment stores in Dallas and Sherman, representing Clark, Drexel and Linde forklifts. It was founded in 1963. Mel Robinson, former owner of the company, will continue to manage the day-to-day operations of the Powr-Lift branches in Irving and Sherman.
“Today’s acquisition actually completes an ownership circle for these three companies,” said Moes. “In the early 1960s, they were all part of the same Clark dealership that operated stores in Dallas, Ft. Worth, Sherman, Waco and Longview.”
This story also appears on Truck and Trailer Guide.
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