Fairchild Equipment has acquired the assets of Menomonee Falls-based Lift Truck Specialists from Minnesota Supply Co. for an undisclosed price.
Lift Truck is a forklift and material handling dealership. The assets acquired are: Lift Truck’s 18,000-square-foot building; six of Lift Truck’s nine employees; all new, used and rental inventory; parts inventory, vans, trucks, furniture and fixtures.
Green Bay-based Fairchild Equipment is a regional provider of materials handling, warehouse, construction and agriculture equipment with more than 240 employees at nine facilities in Wisconsin and Minnesota. In December 2014, Fairchild entered the Milwaukee market, opening a 17,000-square-foot facility at N52 W13821 North Park Drive in Menomonee Falls, after it acquired the assets of Racine-based Schmidt Industrial Truck Inc. and the Hyster material handling dealership rights from the Heyrman family, which owns Milwaukee Engineering Equipment.
Now, it will be adding Lift Truck’s building nearby, at N50 W13824 Overview Drive, to serve as its primary service and operations facility. The Lift Truck facility has a paint booth and overhead cranes that will add to its capabilities in heavy equipment servicing and refurbishment.
The existing Menomonee Falls facility will serve as Fairchild’s sales and primary parts office. The buildings will eventually have a shared driveway.
“We have grown over 50 percent since the acquisition over a year ago, which truly exceeded our capacity much quicker than expected,” said Van Clarkson, president of Fairchild Equipment’s Southern Division. “After initially proceeding well down the path to expand our current facility, this opportunity presented itself and we were able to facilitate this initiative very rapidly thanks to the cooperative seller, Minnesota Supply Company.
“Driving the rapid growth has been a combination of initiatives. A diverse product range with the addition of key manufacturers like Rail King has allowed Fairchild Equipment to expand options to its customers. Additionally, penetrating the territory footprint with a qualified, knowledgeable and experienced team has helped drive new growth of the area.
“We have an aggressive five year growth plan, be it via organic growth, additional lines to complement our Hyster-Yale offering, and of course through acquisitions,” said Gary Fairchild, group president and CEO. “At the end of the day, if it allows us to better service our customers in southern Wisconsin and brings more good people into our growing family, sign me up.”
