Arizona Contractor & Community Fall 2015 V4 I3 | Page 73

1990 - Arnold Machinery Company - 25 Years of Silver Service® in Arizona - 2015

Material Handling division moved into its
own separate Salt Lake City headquarters
in 1979.
A precious metals mining boom in
the neighboring states of Nevada and
Arizona in the 1980s influenced Arnold
Machinery’s next cycle of growth. The
Hitachi line of construction and mining
equipment was acquired in 1982. A
branch office was opened in Elko, Nevada
in 1983 that expanded into a full-service
branch five years later. In Reno, Georges
Equipment along with the Volvo product
line was acquired in 1989. That same
year, Western Machinery of Phoenix was
purchased, expanding the company’s
Construction and Mining Equipment
Division throughout Arizona.
Another major development was
that Alvin Richer became Arnold
Machinery’s fourth president and CEO in
1985, and four years later, became the
Chairman of the Board. Richer made
company history in 1986 by setting
Arnold Machinery on a new path by
introducing “Silver Service®” and
“Customer Satisfaction Is Our Only
Policy®” to emphasize customer
commitment. In 1990, Arnold Machinery
moved into a new facility in Boise to
house its three divisions.
Hyster distributorships were
acquired from American Material
Handling of Arizona in 1992 and from
Ahern Rental in Las Vegas. In 1995,
Arnold Machinery acquired the Volvo
product line for Idaho and Utah through
purchasing Central Equipment in Idaho,
and Construction Equipment Associates
in Salt Lake City. The final expansion
move of the decade came when the
company opened a new facility in Las
Vegas that incorporated the Construction
& Mining Equipment Division and the
Material Handling Division.
To start the new decade, the
company’s Material Handling Division in
Flagstaff, Arizona moved into a new
facility, becoming a full-service branch.
That same year, the General
Implement Distributors Division
expanded into the Northwest with the
purchase of S&W Farm Equipment in
Portland, Oregon. Three years later, this
division purchased Countryside
Marketing in Billings, Montana to serve
Montana, eastern Wyoming, and North
and South Dakota. The division grew

again by purchasing R.M. Wade, a farm
implement distribution company in the
Northwest in 2006. Subsequently, Arnold
Machinery’s General Implement
Distributors Division moved to a larger
facility in Portland.
Arnold Machinery’s Construction and
Mining Equipment division completed its
representation of the Volvo line in all of
its territories with the purchase of the Las
Vegas dealership in 2001.
After 17 years serving as President
and CEO, Alvin Richer was succeeded by
Russ Fleming in 2002. Richer continued as
Chairman of the Board.
The Twin Falls, Idaho facility was
expanded to include the Construction
Equipment division in 2006.
Colorado and Wyoming were the
next areas of development for the
company as Arnold Machinery purchased
Materials Handling Equipment Company,
which had the Hyster distributorship in
these two states in 2006. The following
year, new Arnold Machinery facilities
were opened in two Colorado
communities: Colorado Springs and
Johnstown.
Arnold Machinery divided the
Construction and Mining Equipment
division into two divisions in July 2007.
A new company branch building was
built in Tucson to house the existing
Material Handling division and the newly
formed Construction Equipment division
in 2007.
The following year, Arnold
Machinery became the Hyster
representative in Minnesota, North
Dakota, and western Wisconsin from a
facility in Minneapolis in 2008.

To celebrate its
80th year of continuous operation,
Arnold Machinery added Volvo Road
Products to the Construction Equipment
division and purchased H & E
Equipment’s forklift business for the
Material Handling division in 2009. Two
years later, the company purchased West
Country Products in Jamestown, North
Dakota to add to its General Implements
Distributors division.
Company leadership again changed
with the retirement of Russ Fleming in
2012. Kayden Bell became President and
CEO of Arnold Machinery, and Richer
continued as Chairman of the Board.
Bell picked up where Fleming had
left off, acquiring two companies and
moving into three improved locations in
2013, including:
● The Gillette Mining Equipment
branch moving to a new location,
● The Portland General Implement
branch leaves Beaverton to a new
location near the Portland airport,
● The Phoenix Material Handling
branch moved to a new location
adjacent to the Phoenix Construction
Equipment branch,
● Mesa Liftruck, Inc., located in Grand
Junction, Colorado, was acquired and
became a branch of the Material
Handling division, and
● Lindco Equipment and Supply was
purchased and became part of the
Phoenix Construction Equipment
branch.
Arnold Machinery continues to
evolve and will look for additional
expansion opportunities in order to
better serve their customers.
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