Martin Equipment, a construction equipment supplier, is expanding its Rock Island location service shop at 3720 85th Ave. West.
The company will nearly double its service shop site with an 8,000-square-foot expansion, company officials announced on Wednesday, Aug. 16.
The expansion project, which is now in progress, will include the addition of six new state-of-the-art service bays. These new bays will allow the company to add more technicians, work on more machines at once and ultimately, decrease wait times for service repairs.
“The shop expansion is really exciting and the timing is perfect,” said Nick Hemm, service manager with Martin. “With certified rebuilds taking off, the extra space allows us to continue to focus on providing exceptional service for all of our customers – whether they’re coming to us with repairs or rebuilds. With the additional capacity, we can ensure minimal downtime for our customers.”
Company officials said work on the expansion has started, but did not state when the work would be completed. Updates on the expansion work can be seen on the company’s Facebook page.
Martin officials added that it’s important that their employees are equipped with the best tools to do the job right in a timely fashion, so downtime is minimized. That’s why the expansion also includes the addition of a 15-ton crane and a 10-ton crane, allowing them to be even more efficient and safe when working on larger machines.
“Supporting our customers has always been our top priority,” said Scott Roberts, a Martin branch manager. “This expansion allows us to take our customer support to an even higher level by increasing our response time.”
Mr. Roberts added: “The investment in upgrading our service shop impacts our community in a big way. The bottom line is: we are investing in our facility to better serve our customers. Period.”
Martin Equipment is a fourth-generation, family-owned John Deere Construction & Forestry and Hitachi Construction Machinery dealer headquartered in Goodfield, Illinois. The company expanded with the formation of Martin Equipment of Illinois, Inc. in 1981 as an authorized John Deere Industrial (construction, utility, and forestry) dealership.
Today, Martin has nine locations across Iowa, Illinois and Missouri. The company also has facilities in Cedar Rapids, Iowa; Dubuque, Iowa; Springfield, Illinois; Columbia, Missouri; Palmyra, Missouri; Peru, Illinois; and Tolono, Illinois.
The company has about 200 employees.
