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Good sign: Forklift business picking up
By Karl Henkel
YOUNGSTOWN
What’s one inconspicuous way to tell the economy is picking up?
The forklift business.
The Mahoning Valley is one of the fastest-growing metropolitan areas in Ohio.
So it stands to reason that a longtime Mahoning Valley forklift business experienced a rejuvenating 2011.
Enter Valley Industrial Trucks Inc., which has locations in Youngstown, 1152 Meadowbrook Ave., and Akron.
“In 2009, the market was off about 70 percent,” said James Hammond, president of VIT. “2011 was a better year overall than the previous two.”
And the way Hammond looks at it, when forklifts are moving, it means business is moving, especially at some of the big local facilities such as V&M Star.
“Everything we do is in Northeast Ohio,” he said. “That’s kind of an indication of how busy our area was last year.”
Valley Industrial Trucks saw such a great turnaround last year that it was named Clark Material Handling Co.’s 2011 North American Dealer of the Year.
VIT in 2010 was a Dealer of Excellence, the tier immediately below Dealer of the Year.
The company will receive special recognition for its achievement at an awards dinner in Boardman on Wednesday.
Not bad, considering Lexington, Ky.-based Clark invented the first material handling truck and has built more than 1 million forklifts during its 93-year history.
VIT, which has about 40 employees, beat out 215 other dealers throughout North America.
Clark judges its dealers on sales of trucks and parts, service management, warranty administration, fulfilling training commitments and customer satisfaction.
VIT also sells forklifts from more than a dozen other manufacturers; prices range from $20,000 to as much as $500,000 for specialized forklifts.
Hammond, in fact, said the 2011 success wasn’t so much about the forklift sales as much as the overall forklift activity.
Rentals, repairs and operator training are all a part of VIT’s scope, which deals with businesses in Northeast Ohio and western Pennsylvania.
“Service is definitely a top priority,” Hammond said. “When a forklift is down, sometimes that company is out of business.”
Hammond expects a successful 2011 to carry over throughout 2012.
“I think we will continue to see growth over what we saw last year,” he said.