Clay Eubanks, President, Takeuchi-US
It is hard to believe that another year is in the books already. At the beginning of each New Year, I always like to take time to reflect on the past year as well as look ahead to the New Year. Personally it’s one of my favorite times, because it allows us to show our appreciation to our employees, who are the greatest assets in our organization, that work so hard each and every day at Takeuchi, and of course our loyal dealers and customers.
Looking back, 2014 was a great year for Takeuchi and a busy one at that. We released several machines throughout the year, including: four new compact excavators, the TB216, TB230, TB240, TB260, and TB290, a TL8 compact track loader, as well as the TW65 Series 2 and TW80 Series 2 compact wheel loaders.
It was a huge year for tradeshows as well. We attended three big shows in 2014, starting off with the American Rental Association (ARA) Rental Show in Orlando Fla., ConExpo-Con/Agg in Las Vegas, and most recently at GIE+EXPO in Louisville, Ky. Anytime that we are in a ConExpo-Con/Agg year – the biggest construction show, which is every three years, it seems like the year just flies by. It certainly did in the first quarter with going to both the Rental Show and ConExpo-Con/Agg back-to-back.
We were fortunate to host Mr. Akio Takeuchi, President and founder of Takeuchi at our booth for ConExpo-Con/Agg. Mr. Takeuchi established the company back in 1963. He helped us celebrate Takeuchi’s 35th anniversary here in the United States, a big milestone for our company. A lot has changed over the years with Takeuchi, but the core values and principles of our company has remained the same. We have always been a company that prides itself on finding compact solutions for our customers.
The Takeuchi brand is definitely growing and we owe much of that to our customers, who are our biggest advocates. We have done many job stories this past year for our “In the Know” newsletter that are centered on our customers and what they have worked on with their Takeuchi machines. One thing stood out above everything else during these stories, and that was the passion that our customers showed towards their Takeuchi equipment. Our customers have worked on some unbelievable projects throughout the landscaping, construction, and rental industries.
We have a growing network after the addition of several new dealers in 2014. We grew our North American market with dealer locations serving Tennessee, Indiana, Kentucky, New York, South Carolina, and Florida, as well as a Canadian dealer in Nova Scotia, Canada. We are thrilled to work with each of our new dealers and I sincerely believe it is the start of something great.
There are a few new employees that we added to our growing roster as well. Jonathan (Johnny) Martinez, Sam Schneider, and Charmaine Greer, all joined our staff in 2014. Johnny joins us as a product specialist, Sam is the Southwest regional manager, and Charmaine is the Eastern Canadian regional business manager. While they have only been with us a short period of time, they have done an exceptional job already and are going to do great in their new roles with us. We also made the decision to appoint David Steger to oversee the product team, a promotion that he very much deserves.
Looking ahead, 2015 has all the makings for another successful year for Takeuchi. With the rental industry making gains, we are very much looking forward to the ARA Rental Show in February in New Orleans. If you make the trip to New Orleans, make sure to come check us out at booth No. 8725. The rental industry, according to the ARA Rental Market Monitor is expected to show significant growth of 7.3 percent this year to reach $35.7 billion, and grow even further in 2015.
Next year, equipment rental revenue is expected to grow 9.2 percent for $39 billion. It is anticipated that rental companies in the U.S. will continue to invest more than 30 percent of their revenue in new equipment over the next five years. The Rental Show is always one of our premiere shows to go to and it is a busy one for our sales staff. With the ARA Rental Market Monitor, it looks like the show will continue to ascend and get better and better over the next five years. It is an exciting time for our rental dealers, rental customers as well as all of us at Takeuchi.
From all of us at Takeuchi, we sincerely want to wish you a Happy New Year. As always, thank you for your continued support of the Takeuchi brand.
Sincerely,
Clay Eubanks