Equipment World's Thunder Bay branch.

• Position: Brief Article

From the outside, Equipment Worlds Thunder Bay headquarters looks like a small equipment dealer with a mechanical shop.

Take a closer look.

Equipment World is a leader in material handling and offers practical solutions for storage and packaging in Thunder Bay, Sudbury, Sault Ste. Marie and Timmins. Whether in a retail store, an academic setting or any other business sector, Equipment World Inc. can eliminate empty spaces by constructing or redesigning storage areas through on site evaluation surveys and expert layout and design techniques.

Equipment World does sell, service and recondition Toyota.forklifts, but the company also offers general repairs (on-site or mobile) and contract maintenance programs for all types of material-handling equipment, including pallet twcks, loading dock equipment, scissor lifts and reach trucks.

Operator safety training is also available by request. Through courses developed by Equipment World (and approved. by the Canadian Standards Association and the Ministry of Health), qualified trainers can provide certified training compliant with Occupational Health and Safety guidelines.

Vice-president and general sales manager Lyle Knudsen says every Equipment World branch offers all of these services because every branch is a full-service operation, complete with both mechanical and layout and design capabilities.

The Thunder Bay branch, measuring about 2,700 sq. metres, also houses the companys, accounting and management, departments.

"Every facility is available to the entire company," Knudsen says, noting resources are frequently shared between the four branches. Each branch is responsible for storing or shipping any products that are either assembled on site or ordered from companies in the region on a regular basis. .

"To be product-wise, we've found that the master warehouse for certain products needs to be where the demand is," Knudsen says. "We've developed some interesting regional specialization and that's why we share resources between branches."

The Thunder Bay branch, for example, would likely carry a larger supply of products commonly used by the forestry industry, while Sudbury's branch would carry products requested by mining companies.

"Our philosophy is to serve Northern Ontario," Knudsen says. "To do that we have to be placed strategically. The Thunder Bay branch can ideally service all of northwestern Ontario. Generally, our main area is from the Manitoba border to. White River and (the branch...