Our Mission Statement
To provide innovative solutions at the highest standard through honest and professional relationships.
Looking forward...
We all came into 2021 with a positive outlook and as we take a look back at the first six months, 2021 certainly has not disappointed us. Due to the efforts of every member of the team we have consolidated a very robust backlog of Sales and Service work for the remainder of the year as well as well through 2022.
All business units are performing well and having a record year. I would like to highlight a few accomplishments and additions from each group to help provide better detail and insight to the work being done and steps being taken to reach our goals and adhere to our mission.
The Parts and Tooling group is on pace to triple 2020 revenues. Due to the rapid growth, along with the constraints in manpower and logistics, we knew we needed to make changes quickly and respond to the demand. Joel Ross and his team have done a great job in identifying a solution. They are expanding the enterprise and opening a location in Memphis, TN in July. The Memphis location will be a centralized warehouse to help manage inventory and accurately ship tooling and parts in a much more expeditious manner.
The Service department continues to look for ways to expand our service territory and bring solutions to our customers. Early in the year we developed a monthly Process Improvement Committee using critical thinking and focusing on developing efficiencies within the division.
One of the most successful outcomes from these meetings so far has been the improvement in rental turn consistency and timing along with the reporting of damages, two areas that were in need of attention and now have undergone a drastic improvement. Kudos to Larry Nieman and his team for the work done there.
Additionally, we were successful in closing a deal on our first TM&R for a Vaccon sold by Greg Allegro. Rich Montalvo worked closely in conjunction with the sale of the machine and assisted the customer in developing a service program that fit their needs. Congrats to Rich and the Service team for a executing the plan and building our Service Contract business.
The Sales and Rental operations continue to grow into new markets and we are seeing the onboarding of new customers almost daily. The market conditions currently are unparalleled to anything we have seen in the past 10 years or more. The pandemic has created a massive shortage in material inputs and we are seeing demand at an all-time high. The economic impact is reflective in the pricing increases and delays in delivery. I think it is very important that we all keep a close eye on the rate of inflation and the historical outcome of higher interest rates and cost of goods moving into the remainder of the year and 2022.
On the immediate horizon we have The Utility Expo coming up at the end of September and this will be the largest footprint Ring Power Utility Equipment has represented on in all the years attending. We are set to bring 15 pieces of equipment and have 10 manufactures we are representing. The Utility Expo (formerly known as ICUEE) is the largest industry show in the world for electrical utility specific equipment and miscellaneous services, parts, tools etc. We are expecting a turnout of around 14,000 customers for the three-day show.
In closing I want to say thank you to all the Ring Power Utility Equipment team members for the work put in daily. Your efforts are what is driving the business forward and validation to the mission at hand. Please help us continue to reach our goals and expand upon the foundation laid. Bring ideas to the whiteboard, chat with your friends, family and network about open positions, and more over bring a positive drive every day to solving for the days’ work in a creative and innovative fashion.
Mike Beauregard
Vice President
General Manager, Ring Power Utility Equipment
Utility Expo Planning
Planning and organizing has begun for Ring Power Utility Equipment’s involvement with Utility Expo 2021, coming up September 28-30 in Louisville, KY.
Utility Expo, formerly known as ICUEE, is the largest event for utility professionals and construction contractors in search of the latest industry trends, innovations and technologies.
Ring Power has increased it’s focus on Utility Expo every year it has exhibited at the event. In 2019, Ring Power utilized a 2500 square-foot outdoor booth to showcase the Terex TC55, Vac-Con Mudslinger and Vac-Con Hydro X-Cavator along with our tool trailer.
This year, Ring Power will have 14,400 square feet of space to exhibit a more varied lineup of equipment to include our offerings from Terex, Palfinger, Vac-Con, Brooks Brothers and National Crane. There will also be sections dedicated to our parts, tooling and service offerings as well.
The Ring Power Utility Equipment booth will be anchored by a 60' x 60' tent structure that will house an air conditioned customer lounge with a "front porch sitting" area in front, complete with lemonade and iced tea for customers to enjoy while discussing business.
After show hours, Ring Power has two customer events in the preparation stages. The first event is a customer appreciation gathering at Churchill Downs that will feature a bourbon tasting, food, live music and mock horse racing. The second night of Utility Expo, Ring Power will host an after show hours meet and greet at the show booth with drinks and light hors d'oeuvres.
We’re looking forward to completing preparation for Utility Expo 2021 and interacting with new and old customers at the event.
Vocational update
Ring Power Utility Equipment has long offered products outside the bread-and-butter Terex bucket trucks and digger derricks, but the addition of the vocational specialist position has given those product lines a boost in visibility.
Vocational Specialist, Greg Allegro, has been instrumental in helping Ring Power gain a stronger foothold in vocational markets, selling equipment such as the Vac-Con Hydro X-cavator and Palfinger grapple loaders.
And according to Allegro, the market is very strong currently.
“For the first time since I’ve started, we have a backlog of orders,” Allegro said. “We’ve seen an increased demand. There was a lull, but it picked up quickly.”
Allegro said he gets great support from Vac-Con, a manufacturer located in our own backyard, Green Cove Springs. In addition, the Palfinger brand is the most widely respected manufacturer of grapple loaders.
“Palfinger is the most superior loader on the market,” Allegro said. “We have 10 loaders on order right now.”
But the expansion of the vocational product lines comes with its fair share of challenges. Supply chain shortages as a result of the pandemic, competition in the hydro excavation market, as well as name recognition within the market are factors.
“Any commodity right now is harder to get and more expensive,” Allegro said. “Vac-Con has a lot of competitors out there also. Most of the challenge is just getting out there and getting market share right now.”
Allegro said despite the challenges there are plenty of wins to count. Cypress Gulf recently bought both a Vac-Con unit and Palfinger unit. Of course Ring Power has the parts and service network behind it to provide even more value to the vocational market.
“It’s up to Sales to get the first one, then parts and service gets us the second, third and fourth sales,” Allegro said. “We really are a one stop shop.”
New Tool Website Launching Soon
The all new Ring Power Utility Equipment tooling website is nearing it’s launch. The online ordering portal was created with the aim to improve our customer experience by giving our customers the ability to request a custom quote on tool packages from a convenient online portal.
Parts Manager, Joel Ross, has spearheaded the development of the site with the building of the site done by Justin Johnson in the marketing department.
The site is organized by tool category and is searchable by type of tool or manufacturer. Customers will be able to build their custom tool package and submit it for a quote directly from the website. Then it will be routed to the appropriate parts team member for a speedy response.
Ring Power Utility Equipment’s new tooling website is part of an effort to improve the overall digital experience for our customers and ultimately make doing business with the division easier. The tooling site will be accessible from a tab on the new Utility Equipment website currently in development also.
The URL for the new tool portal will be tools.ringpower.com. Look for the official launch announcement soon.
Environmental matting business aims
for growth in face of challenges
At the beginning of 2020, Ring Power Utility Equipment began a partnership with Sterling Solutions to provide our customers a solution for their environmental access matting needs.
And while it’s taken a while to get the ball rolling, a new matting specialist has been hard at work building Ring Power’s name in the matting game.
“I’ve been trying to get in the door with our mats with a lot of customers,” said Governmental Account Manager and Environmental Specialist, Jared Feagin.
With large projects in the state, such as the North Florida Resiliency Connection, our division leaders believe there is a big potential market in Florida—and outside Florida—to grow the environmental matting side of the business.
It won’t be without it’s challenges though.
“Florida is a tough market for wood mats,” Feagin said. “The fact that our partnership with Sterling gives us support locally in the state helps a lot though.”
Feagin reiterated the value of the Ring Power partnership with Sterling. The Terralam CLT mats, Sterling’s primary product, gives our division a big leg up on the competition because of the turnkey nature of the product and partnership.
“We’re making a big push with it,” Feagin said. “I’m working on building stronger relationships with the other account managers, and I want to build that trust with our customers that we’re known for.”
Update on RPUE Service & Production Department
As you all know we have been extremely busy this year and have had a lot on our plate. I would like to say thank you to the technicians that have put in countless hours to keep the fleets up and rolling. We could not do it without you all. We have some of the best technicians in this industry. Thanks to the managers and the support staff as well that support the techs. We have added several technicians in and out of Florida and will continue to add more this year to keep up with the demand. We have also had some management changes that have pushed us in the right direction during this season of rapid growth.
Shawn and I have been working with the Training team to create career paths for the technicians, this has been going well and we will continue to work on them until they are completed. The career paths will give the technicians clear guidance as to what they need to accomplish to advance to the next level. These paths not only have technical training, but they also contain communication and leadership skills that will help them in both their career and their personal lives.
Utility Service has also added a PM & Compliance Team, Dwayne Schell will be managing this team and he will report to Shawn Cardillo. We have added three PM/Inspection Field Service positions, Pompano, Tampa, and Pecan Park. As we continue to grow there will be more opportunity to add more to the team. This team will be performing PM’s, inspections, and product updates on all the rental fleet and assisting with customers’ fleet maintenance.
I would like to say thank you and congratulations to the Production Team as well. This team has changed processes and added several new employees. The change has been good, we all have noticed the change in how organized the shop and yard are now, we have noticed the shift in the safety culture-- all for good. They have had many challenges thrown their way and have done a great job handling them, namely meeting the JEA deadline, even in the midst of a pandemic.
Congratulations team!
Larry Nieman
Ring Power Utility Equipment
Service Manager
Whiteboard Discussion
Submitted by Shawn Cardillo
"TM125 units - The lower access step on most all TM units is being torn off when working off road. Would like to see about changing that to a rubber mounted style like a motor grader or something similar where it would be flexible enough to absorb the impact of the off road environment without being torn off on each rental."
If you have ANY ideas or solutions to the problem as detailed above, please fill out the form here. If your idea or solution is developed and implemented, you will win a Ring Power Utility Equipment bag cooler. Submit your solutions here:
Submit YOUR topic of discussion to the Whiteboard.
Does a customer have a problem we can help with, but you haven't found the right solution yet? Do you have an engineering issue? Maybe there's a process within your department you think could use some tweaking? Submit your problem here. In the next edition of On the Line, we'll publish the problem and put a call out for solutions to all employees in the Utility Equipment division. Whoever can solve the problem, gets a bag cooler!
New Faces
Lance Albers
Jacksonville Build Shop
Jonathan Ash
Jacksonville Build Shop
Christopher Cantu
Tampa Service Technician
Richard Coughlin Jr.
Pompano Field Service Technician
Mark Johnson
Jacksonville Build Shop
John King
Temple Service Technician
Willow Roman-Perez
Jacksonville Build Shop
Benjamin Seay
NC Service Technician
Ring Power Utility Equipment Leadership Team
Mike Beauregard
VP, General Manager
Andrew Kurz
VP, Sales Manager
Brian Plawecki
AVP, Materials & Procurement Manager
Larry Nieman
AVP, Service Manager
Joel Ross
Parts Manager
