Gibson Machinery named top Sennebogen distributor

Sennebogen LLC president Constantino Lannes, far left, and Erich Sennebogen, managing director of Sennebogen Gmbh, far right, congratulate Gibson Machinery as its Distributor of the Year for 2013. Representing Gibson Machinery are, left to right, Mike Keremes, material handling/processing specialist; Meredith Gibson Cavell, branch manager; and Lee Gibson, president.

Gibson Machinery LLC, based in the Cleveland suburb of Oakwood Village, Ohio, which is celebrating its 10th anniversary as a Sennebogen distributor, was named the 2013 Top Sennebogen Distributor for material handlers in the Americas. The announcement was made at the 2014 Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries Inc (ISRI) Convention & Exhibition, held in Las Vegas in April.

The firm was founded by president, Lee Gibson, and his wife Larysa, vice president – finance and administration. Gibson was recognized at the Sennebogen LLC annual sales conference as it has every year since the manufacturer began announcing its Top Three Distributors. This year, the consistent effort by Gibson’s team was rewarded with the number one standing among all Sennebogen distributors nationwide. Sennebogen LLC is based in Stanley, North Carolina.

“It’s no great secret,” Lee Gibson says. “Our motto is to give customers ‘whatever it takes’ to service their fleet. It’s the basics of good sales and service: know your product, understand what the customer needs, and stay on it day in and day out.”

According to Constantino Lannes, president of Sennebogen, that day in, day out consistency led to Gibson’s success in the past year. “The Gibson team earned their top rank the hard way,” he says. “They had no home-run sales of our largest machines to generate higher revenues – just steady hard work to sell machines to typical customers.”

Doing “whatever it takes” on the service side of the business is paying off in repeat sales for Gibson’s firm. Along with the right purpose-built equipment, Sennebogen says the comapany's responsive on-site service, parts availability, flexible financing and trade-ins are all part of the “whatever it takes” culture that Gibson has developed since the business first began.

Many of Gibson’s customers have been operating Sennebogen equipment long enough that they are now purchasing their second generation the green machines. Since 2003, Gibson Machinery has sold a large amount of Sennebogen material handlers in the Ohio and Pennsylvania region

“Focus is very important for this type of business,” Lee Gibson explains. “Sennebogen is our ‘bread and butter’ equipment line here, so it’s essential to have a strong focus on the product and its applications if we are to provide good guidance to our customers.”

Gibson’s personal understanding of scrap processing and port operations is supported by Sennebogen’s factory specialist and regional sales manager, Sennebogen says. As Sennebogen continues to expand its product line and to explore additional applications, the factory and the distributor work closely together to identify the best solutions.

Along with his second generation of machine sales, Lee Gibson says he is pleased to see his business grow into its second generation, too. His daughter, Meredith Gibson Cavell, was recently promoted to branch manager for the organization.

Alta Equipment Co. (with several locations in Illinois, Michigan and Indiana) and ASC Construction Equipment USA Inc., which served North and South Carolina, also were recognized as the second and third leading Sennebogen distributors respectively.