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LINK BELT CRANES
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Family-Owned Rexco Equipment Celebrates Golden Anniversary
F F
or more than 50 years, Rexco Equipment in Iowa has provided heavy and compact equipment and services to Midwest contractors with integrity, respect and innovation. “The goal for this company is number one that the group of people who work at this company need to care about each other and need to work well together, because we are trying to carve out a future for all of us and our children,” says Rex Smith, Chairman of the Board for Rexco Equipment in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, who understands that only satisfied employees, living a good life, can drive customer satisfaction. “Number two is taking care of the customer,” Smith said. “Although you can make an argument ‘which one is one and which one is two?’ But if you do not take care of the customer, we cannot take care of ourselves. Number three is taking care of the manufactures, because they are building good products. If we do a good job with all three, it should work out for
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us.” It has worked for Rexco for half a century. Smith’s parents Mildred and Rex Smith Sr., started the business in 1964 with that same philosophy, after the elder Rex had logged more than 23 years with Link-Belt, the last six as National Sales Manager. He became an independent Link-Belt distributor in the Cedar Rapids, Iowa territory, beginning with one account, a used car, $12,000 in savings and a rented 1,000 square foot building.
Mildred served as Secretary-Treasurer and retained that position for more than a decade. Smith Sr. told Midwest Contractor in 1977 that he considered selling heavy equipment more than a business. To him it was a way of life. He stated that he enjoyed the give and take with customers, the banter, the friendships that developed and the commitments. “They started with a Link-Belt account, and to this day, the Link-Belt
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crane and excavator products are still the backbone of Rexco Equipment,” Smith says. “Thinking back on generations and what they did — the World War II generation — to have a job and security and throw it out the window to do something new in your 40s was a dangerous step. It was a big move, but it worked out.” Ten year later, Rexco Equipment was selling several millions of dollars worth of construction equipment.
“You have to be at the office every day, in good times and bad, most importantly the president.” Rex Smith, Chairman of the Board for Rexco Equipment in Cedar Rapids, Iowa
CONGRATULATIONS 50 Years of Success
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1925 Blairs Ferry Road Northeast Cedar Rapids, Iowa 52402 Phone: 319-393-2820 Fax: 319-393-6387
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Rexco Equipment is now the oldest Link-Belt crane and excavator dealer in the United States and one of the most respected. The company began with a 26 county territory in eastern Iowa and soon after took on 58 counties in central Iowa, plus some in Illinois and Nebraska. Rex Smith Jr. joined the company after discharge from the U.S. Army in 1970. His younger brother, Steve, came on board five years later. In 1976, the company was named the number one Parts and Service Dealer in North America for Link-Belt cranes and excavators. “Times were good back then, and the
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country was still exploding,” Smith says. “When I came in, products were being put on allocation by manufactures. The country was growing so fast — highways and hospitals and houses and underground sewer and water. You had to order something; the manufacturer would give you a year in advance. Margins were higher. Everybody worked hard, but it was relatively easy compared to what it
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Rexco Product Lines Heavy Equipment
• Link-Belt Construction Equip-
•
• • • • • •
ment: cranes, including rough terrain, telescopic truck, truck terrain, all terrain, lattice crawler, lattice truck, and telescopic crawlers LBX: Link-Belt Excavator Co.: excavators, forestry equipment, demolition equipment and material handlers Aichi: crawlers, manlifts and aerial work platforms Manitex: truck-mounted cranes and lifting equipment Liebherr: dozers, wheel loaders, excavators, wheeled excavators and deep foundation machines, Doosan: air compressors, light towers and generators Screen Machine Industries: crushers, screening plants, trommel screens and stacking conveyors Elliott Equipment Co.: boom truck
cranes and aerial work platforms
• Esco: buckets, teeth, shanks and earthmoving tools
•
olition, scrap, processing and reconstruction industries Efficiency Production: trench shields, shoring, slide rail systems, excavation support equipment and bedding material containers Rogers: trailers Lay-Mor: SweepMaster sweepers and brooms Allied Construction Products: impact hammers, rotary cutters, breakers and compactor drivers Sakai: compaction asphalt rollers, soil compactors, rammers, plate compactors and walk-behind rollers Ingersoll Rand: air compressors and generators New Holland: tractor loader back-
• • •
• Genesis: attachments for the dem•
• • • •
• •
• •
hoes, skid steers and mini-excavators Geith: buckets, couplers and attachments Powley: Pumps Flip Screen: screen attachments Robobec USA: material handling attachments Isuzu: diesel engines S w e e p m a s t e r : s e l f- p ro p e l l e d brooms
Compact Equipment
• Bobcat: skid-steer and track load-
• • • •
ers, excavators, utility vehicles, toolcats, al-wheel steer loaders, telehandlers, attachments Kubota Tractor Corp.: mowers, tractors, utility vehicles ExMark: mowers, seeders, aerators, sweepers and rotary brooms B&B Trailers: trailers Land Pride: grounds maintenance
equipment, compact drills, dirtworking, grooming mowers, rotary cutters and tillers, seeders and snow removal
Short Line Products • • • • • • • • • •
Berlon: loader attachments Bradco: loader attachments FFC: loader attachments Virnig: loader buckets Haugen: loader attachments Sheyenne Manufacturing: telebooms Grouse: steel tracks for skid steer loaders Sweepster: bucket sweepers, angle brooms and attachments Unverferth: specialty tillage and tractor implements Loftness: forestry cutting attachments
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All of us supporting you. Congratulations to REXCO Equipment, Inc on celebrating 50 years of providing all of Iowa with safe, affordable Heavy and Compact Equipment. We’re proud to be your financial partner and offer solutions through every stage of your business. Here’s to another 50 years! Member FDIC
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is today.” A recession from 1980 to 1984 set the country back and those in business had to adjust. Rather than retreat, Rexco Equipment added more lines of equipment, becoming a full-service dealer.
Representing additional lines helped the company become less sensitive to the changing marketplace. Business improved in the 1990s and has remained strong. “You have to be at the office every day, in good times and bad, most importantly the president,” Smith says. “If anyone gets lackadaisical in good times or bad your company is not going to make it. You sense things if you are there every day, about the industry and business, that you may not read in the paper.” That may include picking up information or a changing attitude from a contractor or supplier. Being present allows Smith to pick up on trends.
Major Awards
Number one distributor in North America for Link-Belt crane and excavator parts and service, 1976 LBX Parts Dealer of Excellence Award: 2005, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2011, and 2012
Congratulations to REXCO Equipment, Inc on celebrating your 50th anniversary
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CONGRATULATIONS REXCO EQUIPMENT, Inc. on your 50th Anniversary!
ESCO offers precision manufactured excavator buckets equipped with the Ultralok® tooth system, PosiGrab® hydraulic couplers and thumbs.
• IMPROVED MACHINE PERFORMANCE • GREATER SYSTEM RELIABILITY • INCREASED SITE SAFETY
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Continued Expansion
“It gives you a heads up to responding to the changing life or business,” Smith said.
In response to customer requests, Rexco Equipment began adding product lines associated with cranes and excavators, such as clam-shell and dragline buckets, then Esco replacement teeth and components for the limestone industry and highway work. Eventually the company added boom trucks, compressors, crawler cranes and a variety of other equipment needed by bridge builders, underground contractors and scrap yards. Rexco Equipment makes it a
priority to align itself with strong manufacturers. Company leaders conduct a thorough review process before adding a new line. “All of the compact manufactures are number one in market share nationwide; they’re all strong products,” said Tom Tamlyn, Service Operations Manager at Rexco Equipment. “It helps the company to stay busy.” The company also expanded geographically, from that original Cedar Rapids store to six locations. Four of
50
Congratulations to Rexco
CONGRATULATIONS
REXCO
ON 50 YEARS Genesis is proud to partner with REXCO. Together, we look forward to many more years of delivering superior attachments, equipment and service to the scrap, demolition and material handling industries.
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© 2014 Genesis Attachments, LLC
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Meet the Rexco Equipment Team All Rexco Equipment and Bobcat of locations include new and pre-owned sales, parts, service and rentals. CEDAR RAPIDS DES MOINES
CEDAR RAPIDS DAVENPORT QUAD CITIES
IOWA CITY
GRETNA BURLINGTON REXCO EQUIPMENT INC. CEDAR RAPIDS
REXCO EQUIPMENT INC. DAVENPORT
BOBCAT OF THE QUAD CITIES
1925 Blairs Ferry Road Northeast Cedar Rapids, Iowa 52402 Phone: 319-393-2820
13500 118th Avenue Davenport, Iowa 52804 Phone: 563-381-1200
13500 118th Avenue Davenport, Iowa 52804 Phone: 563-381-1200
TJ Ries Territory Manager and Rental Coordinator Phone: 319-361-0731 Mike Petsche Territory Manager Phone: 563-210-4457 Joe Carolan Parts Manager Ed Thornton Service Manager
REXCO EQUIPMENT INC. DES MOINES 5900 Southwest 56th Street Des Moines, Iowa 50321 Phone: 515-287-4910
Steve Cutforth Territory Manager and Rental Coordinator Phone: 563-210-7666 Scott Day Part Operations Manager Darren Awbrey Parts Specialist Jerry Rex Service Manager Mick Henderson Service Writer
REXCO EQUIPMENT INC. GRETNA 21978 Platteview Road Suite 200 Gretna, Nebraska 68028 Phone: 402-332-5585
Bill Matus Territory Manager Phone: 319-540-9311 Jeremy Schwake Territory Manager Phone: 319-721-5433 Steve Webber Parts Manager Corey Bridge Parts Specialist Jim Howes Service Manager Dennis LaKose Service Writer Jeremy Handley Rental Coordinator
BOBCAT OF IOWA CITY 1518 Highway 1 West Iowa City, Iowa 52246 Phone: 319-248-1130
Chris Manor Territory Manager Phone: 563-320-9735 Scott Day Parts Manager Darren Awbrey Parts Specialist Jerry Rex Service Manager Mick Henderson Service Writer Jeff Mullins Rental Coordinator
BOBCAT OF BURLINGTON 1521 South Roosevelt Avenue Burlington, Iowa 52601 Phone: 319-752-9999
Paul Rietz Territory Manager and Rental Coordinator Phone: 515-249-1483 Dan Ford Territory Manager and Rental Coordinator Phone: 712-730-0295 Casey Smith Branch Manager Kent Stewart Parts Manager Galen Harvey Service Manager
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Kelly Smith Territory Manager and Rental Coordinator Phone: 402-917-0058 Bob Lukis Parts Specialist Galen Harvey Service Manager
BOBCAT OF CEDAR RAPIDS 1929 Blairs Ferry Road Northeast Cedar Rapids, Iowa 52402 Phone: 319-393-2830
Dave Maas Territory Manager Phone: 319-533-4455 Trent DeKoter Parts Manager And Rental Coordinator Josh DeWild Service Manager
Chris Hanson Territory Manager and Rental Coordinator Phone: 319-350-9106 Bobby Mincer Parts Manager Philip Denning Service Manager
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“You have to stay more on top of things today. A huge part of it today is staying on top of everything we have to do.” Rex Smith, Chairman of the Board for Rexco Equipment in Cedar Rapids, Iowa Rexco Special Section.indd 12
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the sites sell heavy equipment, such as cranes, excavators, bulldozers and loaders. Those locations are in Cedar Rapids, Davenport, Des Moines and Gretna, Nebraska. The different locations work together on both sales and service. If one has the piece of equipment desired or part needed in stock, that branch will transfer it to the requesting location. The company branched out in 1985 to add compact equipment from Bobcat, Kubota and ExMark and now operates four compact stores: Bobcat of Cedar Rapids, Iowa City, the Quad Cities and Burlington. Some compact stores are co-located at the heavy equipment facilities. “There was an opportunity with the
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Bobcat and Kubota account when another dealer sold his company to a bigger John Deere dealer, and the buyer had other accounts and did not want to take on Bobcat and Kubota,” Smith explains. “So we acquired those accounts.” “We thought at the time if we had a mix of light equipment and heavy, it might be good,” Smith continued. “You get to know a lot of people who buy smaller equipment who eventually buy larger equipment. There are far more users of lighter equipment, and it gets your name out. It has worked out very well. It’s been a nice blend having the two types of products.” The heavy equipment lifecycle tends to be longer than compact equipment, which may need replacing more often. Compact equipment tends to correlate and lag slightly behind building starts. Agriculture has recently picked up in the last year and contractors are doing more with the equipment. “The compact equipment has become more valuable to Rexco, it is so versatile,” Tamlyn said. “Between the dirt guys and ag guys, compact equipment is a nice
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CONGRATULATIONS FROM
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supplement to heavy equipment.” All locations offer sales of new and pre-owned equipment and rentals. Whatever the customers’ needs, Rexco Equipment can provide the machinery necessary to tackle the job.
Management Changes Family held for generations, Rexco
Equipment sold 30 percent of the company to its staff members through a professionally arranged employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) in 2013. The Rex and Steve Smith families each continue to own 35 percent of the company. Tom Nugent became President in May of this year. He joined Rexco Equipment in 1990 as a Territory Manager in northeast Iowa and moved later into Cedar Rapids. “I remember the first day I came in to work telling my sales manager at the time that I had no construction equipment experience,” Nugent said. “He told me, ‘Just don’t lie, cheat or steal from anybody, and you will be fine.’ I liked that.” Nugent left for a short period of time and then returned to Rexco, moving up
to Sales Manager and then President, where he works with the banks and manufacturers, oversees all departments and works with the heavy equipment sales team.
Adjusting to a Changing Marketplace Nugent considers the Internet the most dramatic change that has happened to the equipment industry. He recalls that initially he thought it would hurt business, since contractors could shop all over the country, but that proved a benefit. “People still need local dealerships and product support and service,” Nugent said. “They like the advice our sales team give them as consultants. We now do business overseas and all over the
country, which we would not have done.” Rexco Equipment sales personnel receive continuing training to learn about the latest equipment, so they can best match the machine to the purchaser’s needs. Finding the right match requires that the sales person thoroughly understand the customer’s business and application for the machine, Smith reports. Parts and service drive repeat business and future sales on both the heavy and compact equipment sides of the business. The company stocks a wide variety of parts for quick repairs. Its service technicians receive training in all of the latest electronics, which are becoming common on compact equipment and heavy machinery. Fifteen service trucks cover the state of Iowa, two in Nebras-
“All of the compact manufactures are number one in market share nationwide; they’re all strong products. It helps the company to stay busy.” Tom Tamlyn, Service Operations Manager at Rexco Equipment Rexco Special Section.indd 16
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Employee Recognition
Twelve of Rexco Equipment’s 69 employees have worked for the company for 20 or more years. They include: Employee
Years of Service
Rex Smith 43 Steven Webber 39 Randell Rula 38 Scott Day 31 Michael Williams
27
Jerry Rex 27 Kenneth Schmidt
25
Heath Reed 23 Joseph Carolan 23 Randall Glassell 20 Thomas Burt 20 Galen Harvey 20
“The goal for this company is number one that the group of people who work at this company need to care about each other and need to work well together, because we are trying to carve out a future for all of us and our children.” Rex Smith, Chairman of the Board for Rexco Equipment in Cedar Rapids, Iowa
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Allied Construction
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nel and upgrading of electronic systems. Computers also have altered the business and how sales are tracked. “You have to stay more on top of things today,” Smith says. “A huge part of it today is staying on top of everything we have to do.” Through it all, customer service remains key to Rexco Equipment’s success. ka. If something breaks down, Rexco can reach the site in short order. “Quality parts and service are the key to this industry, and we strive to make improvements in that,” Nugent says. Smith calls the world more complicated, with more government regulations and more meticulous financing with banking. That has necessitated the company hiring more administrative person-
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Looking Ahead Rexco Equipment has survived ups and downs in the market, never wavering from its core values of customer service, family spirit, unity, innovation, exceeding customer expectations, taking intelligent risks longevity, boldness, meeting challenges head on, leading with enthusiasm and optimism, trust, passion, respect and focusing on the positive.
“It comes down to customer relationship,” Tamlyn reports, adding that differences between equipment features are narrowing, offering the opportunity for customer service to play a more important role. Nugent expects technology will continue to expand into the construction business. Whereas in the past, hydraulic pumps and diesel motors ran the equipment, now almost all equipment is run by computer systems. The computers offer a double check as they confirm that the requested action is correct. GPS provides global tracking of equipment, making it easier to maintain a fleet and track service records. Rexco Equipment includes crane operator and other educational offerings, when a customer purchases a new ma-
chine. “Demand for the equipment and the service we provide is ever increasing,” Smith said. Construction and the need for the equipment that makes it possible will remain a strong component of the economy going forward, even as trends change from entirely new projects to rejuvenating existing buildings and facilities. “The infrastructure of this country building new airports, bridges and highways is on the decline but maintaining the infrastructure remains a constant,” Smith says. “I feel secure in the fact there is a need across this country for Rexco Equipment and the good people who show up every day and provide the equipment and service to keep this company running. I like this industry.”
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