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Valley Industrial Trucks: 60 years of working as a team
By Kalea Hall
YOUNGSTOWN
When Jim Hammond first arrived at Valley Industrial Trucks in 1993, he was fresh out of college with a dream of a career in marketing.
He started out doing outside sales for the full-service dealer of forklifts and other material-handling products and worked his way up to sales manager and then vice president.
In 2009, Hammond bought the company from Debra D’Alesio.
D’Alesio’s story is strikingly similar to Hammond’s: She began in 1977 as a receptionist, worked her way up to various positions and then went on to own the company, first with former co-owner Ron Doll and then by herself. She is still there.
In its now 60-year history, VIT has become an “awesome” company in D’Alesio’s eyes through the teamwork and dedication of its nearly 50 employees.
The atmosphere of the Meadowbrook Avenue business has not only kept the team together, but it has allowed the company to twice receive the title of CLARK Material Handling Co. Dealer of the Year.
“We became a very good team,” D’Alesio said. “It’s not a one-man job; it’s a team.”
The Youngstown CLARK, Doosan and Sellick forklift dealer was started in 1956 as a CLARK dealership by Claude Ucker. Ucker also opened locations in Erie and Pittsburgh.
“He was a businessman,” Hammond said.
When Hammond came to the company, he realized just how many people and businesses use forklifts and other material-handling equipment.
With time, the company went from just a CLARK dealer to a dealer of multiple lines. Sellick was added in the mid-1980s and Doosan was added in the mid-1990s.
In addition to its forklift offerings, VIT has an array of JLG boom lifts, scissor lifts and aerial-work platforms in its showroom that were added in 1993.
Today, the company sells to and serves 16 counties in Northeast Ohio and western Pennsylvania.
VIT customers include heavy manufacturers, warehouses, distribution centers and everyday people.
When you think about it, probably everything you buy has been touched by a forklift or other material-handling products.
The tool allows for businesses to stay organized and efficient.
Progression continues at VIT, where sales have quadrupled since 2009 and the workforce has grown by 20.
In 2011, the company received the prestigious title of Dealer of the Year from CLARK. Top dealers are selected based on excellence in new equipment and aftermarket sales, service achievement, general customer satisfaction and overall dealership operations.
In 2015, the company was selected as a Dealer of Excellence by CLARK and again in 2016. The company also was recently named Dealer of the Year in 2016. In North America, there are 240 CLARK dealers.
“I think it’s hard work of all 50 people,” Hammond said. “We service our customers, and we get rewarded with their business which helps us win the awards.”
Last year was a record year for the local company. Revenue was up 35 percent over 2014.
“I would attribute it to great management,” Hammond said. “We won some nice orders, and we gained some new business.”
Hammond sees further growth in the future with new products and a better economy benefiting the company.
He still looks to D’Alesio, who has been there for 40 years, for advice when he needs it. When D’Alesio started at VIT as a receptionist working through a temp agency, she never thought she would one day own the place, but the atmosphere allowed her to do so.
“I feel so grateful that I had been given that opportunity,” she said. “No one does customer service better than we do. I can’t imagine not spending my career there.”
Hammond’s office says the same with his model forklifts, scissor lifts and other products on display with pride, just like his Youngstown State University alumni pieces and Ohio State University fan knickknacks.
A piece he particularly seems proud to have on display is an old dashboard from a 1957 forklift from a local beverage center where he worked with his dad. His former boss saved the dashboard and it was given to him for VIT’s 60th anniversary party.
“I drove that forklift,” he said with pride.