May 3, 2019 – CORAOPOLIS, Pa. – H&K Equipment, a Pittsburgh-based forklift and material handling equipment distributor, announced today that it is launching the H&K Equipment Group. H&K Equipment, the company said, is the flagship business of an affiliation of eight independent companies united under common ownership. The H&K Equipment Group will bring each of these companies together for the first time to showcase the full reach and scope of their products and services. The company will unveil the new designation at AISTech 2019 at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center in Pittsburgh.
The group, which includes two material handling and industrial floor cleaning equipment dealerships, an overhead crane manufacturer, an industrial electromagnet manufacturer, a full-service terminal tractor dealership, a transportation and logistics service, and a granite countertop fabricating company, maintains 10 locations throughout Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Baltimore, upstate New York, and Pennsylvania’s Lehigh Valley. The companies employ a combined workforce of over 325 and service nearly all the Mid-Atlantic United States.
“We have eight companies operating in overlapping markets,” Peter Cicero, vice-president of H&K Equipment said. “Each of our companies has carved out their niche, but we haven’t had a good way to talk about how they intersect. Taken together, our companies comprise one of the biggest and fastest-growing material handling businesses in this part of the country.”
Kevin Koch, vice-president of Taylor Northeast, which became H&K Equipment’s first affiliate company in 1989, added that the purpose of the H&K Equipment Group was to better communicate how the companies complement each other.
“You might have a customer renting a forklift from me, and that same customer is using a bridge crane that our crane company fabricated to run an electromagnet that our magnet company designed and built,” Koch said. “Plus, everything was delivered to the customer’s location by our own transportation team, and that customer has no idea that it all came from us, that together we provide all these services.”
Cicero noted that the structure of H&K Equipment’s corporate network is not changing but added that he expects the H&K Equipment Group concept to be a valuable cross-promotional tool.
“There’s almost nowhere we do business where there isn’t a wide range of equipment and services that our companies can provide that customer. It’s never just one truck or one service call. Educating the public about our full capabilities is going to be extremely beneficial,” Cicero said.
To kick off the new messaging, the H&K Equipment Group is exhibiting at AISTech 2019, a steel industry exposition that is running from May 6th through 9th in Pittsburgh. The group’s island booth will be laid out to provide a visual demonstration of the relationships between each company. The booth will include a video overview of the H&K Equipment Group as well as a virtual reality engagement featuring different pieces of material handling equipment.
“AISTech is being held a few miles from our headquarters and the steel industry is an important market for us,” Koch said. “A lot of our biggest customers, vendors, and competitors are attending or exhibiting. There really isn’t a better venue for taking our new group identity public.”
Koch added that a new website, hkequipmentgroup.com, has also been launched to explain what each company does and how they relate to each other, with spotlights on individual businesses and an interactive corporate timeline.
“There’s a lot of history in this company,” Cicero said. “H&K Equipment was founded in 1983, but it has connections that go back to 1935, and with Elwell-Parker, which is now part of our group, our legacy goes clear back to 1893. The H&K Equipment Group is our next chapter.
About the H&K Equipment Group
The affiliated companies in the H&K Equipment Group include:
H&K Equipment: Founded 1983 – Material handling and industrial floor cleaning equipment
Taylor Northeast: Founded 1989 – Material handling and industrial floor cleaning equipment
Yard Truck Specialists: Founded 1986 – Terminal tractors and equipment
Magnetic Lifting Technologies US: Founded 2010 – Industrial electromagnets
D&S Hoist and Crane: Founded 1998 – Overhead cranes and lifting devices
Premier Granite & Stone: Founded 2004 – Stone countertop fabrication and installation
CicKo Transportation: Founded 2001 – Logistics and transportation
Elwell-Parker: Founded 1893 – Material handling equipment manufacturing
About H&K Equipment
H&K Equipment provides specialized material handling, industrial floor cleaning, and warehouse equipment solutions to customers throughout Pittsburgh and the tri-state area. Founded in 1983 by Alan Heidenrich and George Koch, H&K Equipment has grown from a three-person office into a regional leader in lift trucks, container handlers, railcar movers, personnel carriers, utility vehicles, yard trucks, and industrial floor cleaning machines. The company is also the OEM for the brands Schreck, Autolift, and Elwell-Parker, and manufactures new Elwell-Parker trucks on a limited basis.
Today, H&K Equipment forms the foundation of the H&K Equipment Group, a team of eight companies working together from 10 locations in three states. The company’s sales, service, parts, and rental network includes the entire Mid-Atlantic and is steadily expanding to encompass much of North America, while its international reach now extends to six continents.
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