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Here comes the big stuff
Heavy-equipment supplier is one of Western Canada's major players by Nancy Gardiner
NNSL (July 16/97) - The heavy-duty equipment business just got a boost in Yellowknife. They're here -- in a bigger way. Coneco Equipment Inc. used to service Yellowknife from its Edmonton base of operations. But neither the 15-hour drive nor flying with tools were expedient enough. So the company decided a permanent presence in Yellowknife was in order, with a grand opening planned for Saturday, July 19 at 2:30 p.m. "We serviced Yellowknife out of Edmonton for years and years, and we felt we should be there for customer service," says Grant Oliphant, manager of special projects. Coneco supplies heavy equipment -- targeted at the forestry, oil and gas, construction and mining industries. "The plan is to get a feel for the demand for us up there, before we put up our own brick and mortar," says Coneco president Reid Zimmerling. "We feel with the activity of the mines, there'll be a lot of offshoot business for us. But we're not going up there for the mines -- we're going for the community structure. We work with the small guy. Our reputation is built on working with owner- operators, whether it's highways, housing or forestry," Zimmerling says. "In the past, we've done quite a bit of business with RTL, NTCL and the GNWT. We thought now would be the opportune time to branch out," Zimmerling explains. The new location is the former Force One Yamaha site, at 14 Ellesmere Drive in the Kam Lake Industrial park. Coneco is open for business already, and does repairs both in the field and in a two-bay workshop. The heavy-duty mechanic is Ron Hilton, a former Yellowknifer himself. When preparations are complete, there should be three to four full-time employees, says Oliphant. Coneco is an Alberta company, with much of its equipment coming from the U.S., Quebec and larger items from Japan. |