Sennebogen Recognizes Top Three Distributors

Erich Sennebogen, owner and managing director of Sennebogen Maschinenfabrik GmbH, and Constantino Lannes, president of Sennebogen America, recognized the top three Sennebogen distributors in North America for 2007 at the 2008 ISRI Show.

Accepting the honor were Lee Gibson of Gibson Machinery, Bill Kretschmer of Binder Machinery and John Van Ruitenbeek (John Van) of Briggs Construction Equipment. 

“Quality distributors like Gibson, Binder and Briggs, along with the inspired leadership from Lee, Bill and John are one of the main reasons why Sennebogen has enjoyed the type of success it has since coming on the North American market in 2000,” Lannes says. “Their knowledge of the product, dedication to excellence, and commitment to their customers are paramount to our success.”

One of the foundations of the Sennebogen philosophy is a constant broadening of the company’s horizons. It is a philosophy that Lannes instills in his North American distributors.

Recent changes in the housing market necessitated some new sales initiatives according to Ruitenbeek, vice president and COO of Charlotte-based Briggs Construction Equipment with multiple locations throughout the United States. The Briggs people broadened their horizons by moving outside of their traditional comfort zone and turning their attention to the scrap and waste industries.

“Sennebogen machines are tailor-made for the scrap and waste industries,” Ruitenbeek says. “When one sales representative had success in this market with Sennebogen, others followed suit and it just snowballed throughout our whole organization. Success breeds success.”

Kretschmer, vice president of sales for New Jersey based Binder Machinery with its two branches, says that a dramatic increase in the global demand for scrap metal increased the amount of uptime and reliability demanded of their material handling equipment by scrap yards and feeder operations.

“Our momentum really picked up after receiving orders for Sennebogen machines from two of the largest scrap handlers in the United States. Once those companies blessed the machinery which they use typically 3,000 to 4,000 hours per year, other yards took the attitude that – if they’re good enough for them, then they’re good enough for us,” Kretschmer says.

 Kretschmer is proud to be recognized as one of the top three Sennebogen distributors for 2007 and he credits his team at Binder with the honor. “People like product specialist Jim Gill have brought us up a notch, and of course a lot of it has to do with company President Bob Binder’s commitment to product support and his ability to put together a team that customers respect,” Kretschmer says.

Gibson, owner and president of Cleveland-based heavy equipment dealer Gibson Machinery is honored to once again be recognized as one of the Top Three Sennbogen distributors in North America – an honor Gibson Machinery has enjoyed every year since the awards have been given out. Gibson says there is no real secret behind his firm’s success other than a great product and great service.

“Sennebogen is a family-owned business that listens to its customers’ needs and designs their machines to meet the desired application. As a new product, Sennebogen has become more accepted in a shorter amount of time than any other I’ve ever been involved with,” Gibson says. “We’re also a family-owned operation that prides itself on providing the best service possible to our customers, no matter what it takes.”

Sennebogen says it takes great pride in all of the distributors they select to represent the company’s product line. “These are the people who have knocked on the doors, demonstrated the equipment and made Sennebogen the number one material handler in North America in eight short years. John Van Ruitenbeek, Bill Kretschmer and Lee Gibson are indicative of the high quality distributors we have assembled on our team. We all share in their success,” Erich Sennebogen says.