“Once our location was selected, we quickly designed our entire parts distribution facility. The layout implemented is conducive to meeting the timely parts fulfillment required in today’s competitive marketplace. Everything from its location to the selection of shelving units to house inventory has been thought through with the many years of industry experience our management team brings to the table,” said Eric Hoffman, national parts manager of Kobelco Construction Machinery USA.

Houston serves as an ideal location for Kobelco’s 53,000 sq. ft. parts distribution facility.

“From a strategic standpoint it provides us with timely access to a port, major airports and a rail hub, plus serves as a crossroads for many major highway systems. This gives us easy access to various types of transportation to deliver parts coast-to-coast as quickly and as cost-effectively as possible,” continued Hoffman.

Kobelco Construction Machinery’s initial investment in its North American parts inventory is reflective of the company’s commitment to deliver after-the-sales support to customers and dealers throughout the United States and Canada.

Parts will be stocked for all new Kobelco crawler excavators, as well as legacy model machines. Legacy models are considered those sold by Kobelco prior to the company’s 10-year joint venture agreement with CNH. CNH will continue to provide ongoing service and parts support to customers who purchased Kobelco products from CNH.

“We take great pride in responding very quickly to the needs of our dealers and end-user owner/operators of Kobelco excavators,” said Hoffman. “Our goal is to always provide personal, timely service, ensuring minimal downtime over the course of the equipment’s lifecycle.

The opening of Kobelco’s U.S. based parts distribution facility is just one of many product support initiatives currently under way. The company will continually increase the parts inventory on hand at its Houston, Texas, based location as Kobelco’s equipment population and market share in the United States and Canada expands. The company anticipates a $5 million parts inventory by year end 2013, increasing incrementally to $40 million over the next five years.

originally published in CEG NE on 5/20/2013
http://www.constructionequipmentguide.com/story.asp?story=20438&ref=newsletter