The “Nation’s Oldest Caterpillar Dealer” moved one year closer to reaching the century mark when Yancey Bros. Co. celebrated its 95th birthday this year.
Founded in 1914 by brothers Goodloe and Earle Yancey, Yancey Bros. Co. began as the Yancey Hardware Company, selling hardware, picks, shovels and prison uniforms (stripes) to government agencies for road construction. Machines sold and serviced by Yancey Bros. Co. were used to build the first north-to-south and east-to-west paved roads in Georgia, the first paved airports in the state, and the interstate highways that now carry billions of dollars of commerce across Georgia each day. From its first location on Peachtree Street in Atlanta, Yancey has grown to 27 machine and engine service centers across the state today. Yancey continues to build on the past and invest in the future as it approaches its 100th anniversary.
“Caterpillar would like to congratulate Yancey Bros. Co. on its 95th anniversary,” said Jim Parker, Caterpillar’s vice president who has responsibility over Americas Distribution Service Division. “We look forward to joining the Yancey team when they celebrate their 100th in 2014. The employees at Yancey Bros. Co. have been dedicated to serving their customers’ needs for almost a century, and Caterpillar is proud to have had such a long relationship with them. Yancey Bros. Co. continues to lead the way by providing its customers world class equipment and unmatched product support.”
To thank customers for their business over the years and to begin the countdown to 100, each of Yancey’s 15 machine service centers have been hosting Customer Appreciation Cookouts throughout 2009.
“We have been fortunate over the years to develop great relationships with customers across the state, and we are taking time this year to celebrate with them,” said Jim Stephenson, president of Yancey Bros. Co. “The most important thing we can do on our 95th anniversary is thank our customers.”
More than 1,500 customers have participated in the open-invitation cookouts through June. “We’ve had terrific turnouts at each store and have enjoyed spending time discussing everything from family to vacations to how we can help in their day-to-day operations,” said Stephenson.
While pausing to celebrate its 95th anniversary, Yancey continues to make significant investments in facilities, acquisitions and new product lines. Most recently Yancey opened a new machine sales and service store in Kennesaw focusing on parts, sales and service of general construction products including skid steer loaders, small hydraulic excavators and backhoe loaders. Yancey has added a number of product lines including Blue Bird school busses, Prentice forestry equipment, Peterson recycling products and the recently announced addition of Mauldin and Weiler paving products.
Yancey also is completing the acquisition of two International Truck dealerships in southwestern Georgia, All-Star International and D&M International.
“We have been fortunate to represent the highest quality equipment on the market with Caterpillar, and these new additions allow us to provide our customers with more products. We will continue to look for new products, which will complement our current lines in order to better support our customers across the state,” said Stephenson.
Like everyone involved in the construction industry, Yancey has made changes to adjust to market conditions. Yancey remains well positioned, however, to support Georgia’s markets from aggregates and mining, waste and construction, forestry and agriculture to electric power, marine, and transportation.
“We have made some difficult decisions, but our statewide capability remains unmatched,” began Stephenson. “We remain committed to providing the machines, parts and service customers need all over Georgia. We have over 200 machine and engine service bays and over 115 service technicians in the field each day. Our parts delivery trucks travel 2,700 miles each night delivering parts to our customers. And we continue to be on-call 24 hours a day and seven days a week.
“Despite the difficult times we have all faced over the past couple years, Georgia continues to be a permanent destination for families and businesses. Over 100,000 people moved here last year, and we have four of the nation’s 25 fastest growing counties and six of the nation’s 50 fastest. We are proud to be Georgia’s Caterpillar dealer and will continue investing in growth as our state grows. We are looking forward to our 100th anniversary, but we are looking well past that into the second century taking care of our customers.” CEG
Today's top stories
