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John Coughlin, Linder’s president and CEO, said that his company is excited at the prospect of expanding its presence in Virginia, and “growing our relationships with existing and new companies … by offering state-of-the-art equipment and support.”
Linder Industrial Machinery Co. has built a strong reputation among its construction, mining, forestry, waste/recycling, material handling and agricultural customers for its equipment offerings and service reliability in the Southeastern United States during its 71 years in business.
Linder started in 1953 with a single location in Lakeland, Fla., and over the next several decades was able to expand its operations throughout most of the Sunshine State, southern Georgia and the two Carolinas.
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And, in late August 2024, Linder began operations in a fifth state when it announced that it had become an exclusive distributor of Komatsu products in Virginia. The dealership increased its footprint by moving into five former All Roads Equipment locations in the state: Bealeton, Chesapeake, Chester, Fishersville and Salem.
With this latest expansion, Linder now maintains 26 branches, with nine being added in the past year. It also operates seven Linder Turf & Tractor locations in Florida, Georgia and North Carolina.
Today, it employs more than 775 people working in sales, parts and service, the latter of which has the expertise to offer innovative technology solutions. In addition, its rental department can offer customers an extensive inventory from which to choose, including various allied products.
As Linder has grown, it has aligned itself with many equipment manufacturers, including Komatsu, BOMAG, Mantsinen, Atlas, Terramac, Konecranes, Barko, Timberpro and FECON, as well as Kubota and DEUTZ-FAHR tractors — all of which comprise a range of products to fit the various needs of Linder's customers.
John Coughlin, Linder's president and CEO, said that his company is excited at the prospect of expanding its presence in Virginia, and "growing our relationships with existing and new companies … by offering state-of-the-art equipment and support."
When asked why Linder made the decision to move into the Virginia market with Komatsu products, Coughlin said that his company saw an opportunity to gain market presence by offering the equipment brands it represents in the state.
"Komatsu, unfortunately, has been a little undersold or under supported in Virginia over the years," he said. "The presence of Komatsu's equipment has been pretty light here and not as predominant as in other areas, especially those states that we have been operating in. We also want to grow our partnerships in Virginia by bringing not only the Linder brand from the Carolinas, Georgia and Florida, but also the resources that go along with it."
Coughlin described his company's brand as one that "represents excellent, quality equipment maintained by first-class, factory-trained personnel. It also means investment in the facilities, trucks, tooling and training — all of the aspects needed to support the great products we represent."
He added that product support is the backbone of the company. As an example of that, Linder is proud to say that it offers 80 percent off-the-shelf parts availability and 98 percent availability within 24 hours.
The task ahead for Linder's dealership managers in Virginia, as well as every other location manager companywide, according to Coughlin, is continuing to raise the parts availability levels beyond the national average. This, he said, will minimize customer downtime dramatically.
Before it introduces equipment into any of its markets, Coughlin said that Linder "performs market evaluations to learn what products will benefit our business partners in those regions based on application. We are a solutions provider and are always looking to increase production while lowering our customer's costs.
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"The BOMAG representation up here in Virginia are landfill compactors and milling equipment at this time," Coughlin added. "Linder will add the entire line of BOMAG and Secmair products to have a full lineup of the finest road-building equipment."
Another brand that Linder is marketing in Virginia is Konecranes, a Swedish-made product that picks up and carries shipping containers, and one that Coughlin believes will be a very popular product in the state's busy Tidewater shipping industry. In addition, the manufacturer produces empty container stackers and high-capacity forklifts with 10-ton to 80-ton lifting capabilities.
"Those forklifts are also geared to work very well in other industries such as lumber and steel mills, heavy industrial environments that need larger models," he said. "That will be a great product to introduce to the Virginia market, as well. We are very excited to offer Konecranes's container and material handling equipment at Linder."
Beyond the equipment mentioned, Linder also will bring DEUTZ-FAHR agricultural products to Virginia, Coughlin said.
Linder is well known for how well it conducts its service and parts support in its long-established markets. Due to its years of experience, the company should be able to quickly install that same elevated level of customer assistance in its Virginia territory, according to the company.
Across all five states, Linder currently runs 270 service vehicles, as well as another 27 lube trucks that perform preventive maintenance, according to Coughlin.
"So far in Virginia, we have a total of 11 trucks and our goal for the upcoming year is to run 25 service vehicles and at least five lube trucks that will be positioned at the five dealerships," he said, noting that one of Linder's primary goals is to keep its customers up and running as jobsite downtime can often be very costly.
"We also want to increase the amount of technician training that we offer. Linder has many internal and external classes that will be conducted and soon be well attended by the technicians working in Virginia. That includes parts training and management training, both of which have been much in need in this particular territory."
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Now that Linder has set itself up in Virginia as a distributor of Komatsu heavy machines, in addition to offering its range of other products, Coughlin said that he would like to spend time in the state in order to meet customers and understand their needs.
"I want to learn about some of their past experiences so that Linder can find solutions and correct some of the challenges that they have experienced over the years," he said. "We want to rebuild Komatsu's brand reputation in the state and come away with a lot more satisfied contractors, aggregate producers, port managers, and, eventually, farmers.
"Additionally, we really want to individually target those markets with sales specialists," Coughlin added. "Of course, there will be general product line specialists, but Linder will also have specialists for the aggregate side of the business, in addition to the port solutions side, forestry, waste and agriculture, the latter of which will be a big focus for us going forward." CEG
Eric Olson
A writer and contributing editor for CEG since 2008, Eric Olson has worked in the business for more than 40 years.
Olson grew up in the small town of Lenoir, NC in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains, where he began covering sports for the local newspaper at age 18. He continued to do that for several other dailies in the area while in college at Appalachian State University. Following his graduation, he moved on to gain experience at two other publications before becoming a real estate and special features writer and editor at the Winston-Salem Journal for 10 years. Since 1999 he has worked as a corporate media liaison and freelance writer, in addition to his time at CEG.
He and his wife, Tara, have been married for 33 years and are the parents of two grown and successful daughters. His hobbies include collecting history books, watching his beloved Green Bay Packers and caring for his three dogs and one cat.
Read more from Eric Olson here.
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