Heavy Lifting: Powerful machines, practical methods.

• Author: Orr, Vanessa
• Position: Building Alaska

It takes a lot of equipment to tame the Last Frontier--from bulldozers and skid loaders to excavators and forklifts, there is no lack of demand for construction equipment. For the companies that provide the machines for these jobs, it also takes a mastery of logistics and a lot of careful planning to make sure that the equipment that drives Alaska is ready and available for work.

"When you're talking to people down south, they really don't get it--I'll tell someone that our equipment is out on an island, and they'll say, 'Why don't you just drive over and get it?'" laughs Colter Boehm, who co-owns Bobcat of Juneau with his father, Jeff Boehm. "Or they see that something is in stock in Anchorage and ask me to just run up there and grab it. They don't understand the logistics of getting the equipment here and then out to the customer."

Get There from Here

No matter where in Alaska equipment is going, it almost always takes some ingenuity to get it there, especially when moving a twenty-five-ton excavator, for example. But the challenges start before the order even comes in, as heavy equipment and material handling dealerships have to figure out how to get stock into the state in time for construction, fishing, or even budget seasons.

"Generally, we stock an array of the machines that we know we sell continuously so that our floor plan is sufficient with construction equipment like compactors and wheel loaders and material handling equipment like forklifts and pallet jacks related to the season," explains Wayne Dick, president and sales manager at Independent Lift Truck of Alaska (ILTA). "But we also place industry specific orders as needed; prior to the fishing season, for example, we'll bring extra machines in because we know that once the season starts, we'll need what customers want right here, right now.

"We also have to be prepared for the big run at the end of the year, when people realize that they need to spend the rest of their capital budgets," he adds. "And when a new fiscal year starts in January, we work with our customers to make plans for spring deliveries."

ILTA has been serving the state since 1982 from its headquarters in Anchorage and locations on the Kenai Peninsula and Kodiak Island. Its primary customers include those in the fishing industry and the oil and gas industry. The company also provides construction equipment for building supply chains throughout Alaska.

"We've been a Mitsubishi dealer for the past thirty-four years and a Caterpillar dealer for twenty-eight years," says Dick, adding that the company also carries Jungheinrich, Manitou/GEHL, and Wacker Neuson products, among others.

Equipment coming from American manufacturers and from countries including China and Germany is either shipped direct from the...