It’s been a while since I have updated, business has exploded and U.S. Equipment Sales is on target to having a $1,000,000 year in it’s first year. If you counted our cooperative deals with other companies and brokers, we have already passed that mark for the year.

There have been some recent events in the Florida market and I want to chime in on them and see if anyone out there has any more info on these suspicions.

A week or so ago, I got an internal email from a friend that was addressed from the VP of Briggs Equipment. It said they are closing all of their Florida and South Carolina branches down in stages over the next few months. This is a blind side. I would have never thought in a million years it would be them. I have suspicions on several other local competitors, but not ever Briggs. I always try to read through the words and see the intent with everything I get. It oddly coincides with a press release from Ahern of Las Vegas that they will be opening (or acquiring) 15 new branches over the next few months. They just opened a branch in South Carolina so this marriage of equipment companies makes sense. They have a presence in nearly all southern states with the exception of Florida, Alabama, and a couple others.

It sounds a little conspiracy theory-like, but I would not be surprised. I have tapped a couple of my sources but have no response yet. If you know of any pending merger, I would love to hear. As far as the Case line, I am not sure why anyone would NOT want the line. A new dealership would not have exorbant expectations with this market which gives them a great opportunity to build. The pool of experienced staff has never been better in the area. Case is a high quality brand with a great municipality presence. It’s a no lose situation. Obviously the bigger rental companies are not going anywhere. United is still on top, Sunbelt and RSC are not far behind. Sunbelt has made some tremendous implementations and fleet movements that are borderline genious. They will be effectively raising their utilization with new greenfield stores while still capitalizing on their remediation and industrial markets. Ring Power has the money to survive this and ramp back up almost immediately once the market shows signs of life again. Nortrax will survive, but not the same as it once was. The JCB dealers will have a tough time, but JCB as a company has a great support team and will help the dealers re-calibrate their purchasing and sales. There are a few rental companies that I will not name that will face an almost certain failure. They whored up the market and only became known for being the “lowball”. That is never a good marketing strategy.

As I said before, if anyone has inside knowledge of the Briggs Equipment or Ahern deal, please drop me a line and let me know.

Side note: Now is the perfect time to get a guy like Bryan Rich (NationsRent) or Bruce Dressel (Sunbelt) to come in and fill Briggs gap. The facilities are already in place, the candidate pool is impressive, the Case line is strong, and the rental industry is going to start recovering over the next 12 months.

Tags: Doosan, excavadora hidráulica, DX225LC, maquinaría industrial, movimiento de tierras

Tags: Doosan, excavadora hidráulica, DX210w, maquinaría industrial, movimiento de tierras

Well I did manage to get tickets to last night’s game, and of course I manage to pick the first playoff game to be cancelled in almost 30 years of Korean professional baseball. The picture above says it all.

However, this has huge ramifications for the outcome of this series. Doosan, who would have fancied themselves with the matchup of Geum Min-cheol against Kadokura, now have to contend with the often-maligned Cedeno up against the very competent Chae Byung-yong.  Cedeno did very well in his last outing in Game 2, but the SK batters certainly did themselves no favours in that game. They appear to have woken up since then.

The news gets worse for Doosan, with Kim Hyun-soo’s go-ahead home run in the second being wiped off the scoreboard. It’s been apparent in this series that taking the lead is vital, and it was about the last thing that Doosan managed to do just before the game got washed out for good.

I am, of course, an SK supporter, but I really feel for Doosan here. It won’t bother them if they go on to win tonight, but it will be some harsh luck if they don’t. There’s no guarantees about who would have won last night, or who will win tonight, but I think they were probably favourites last night (especially after the HR) and will begin tonight as underdogs.

Whatever. The teams are still more-or-less evenly matched, and their fantastic rivalry should ensure entertaining viewing. KIA awaits the victory in Gwangju on Friday night.

Well I hope you’ve all been following this series, because I’ve thoroughly enjoyed it. This is the kind of baseball I like – long, drawn-out, tight affairs where runs are at a premium. I wouldn’t say it’s been particularly good baseball, but it’s much more intriguing than the Doosan – Lotte series was.

Anyway, here’s an article about an interesting anomaly in the series so far.

Doosan won the first two games held at Munhak stadium. They took control of the first game in the first inning, with a hit from Ko Young-min. In the second game, leadoff hitter Lee Jong-wook reached first and then managed to steal second. Park Jeong-kwon managed to keep the games close but couldn’t overturn the result.

SK were denied the chance to score first, and their over-zealous efforts to get back into the game disrupted their rhythm. Their batting was on fire during their 19-game win streak at the end of the season, but went cold in the first two playoff games, with just 8 and 6 hits respectively. Their expectations to win at home, coupled with the loss of some of their main pitchers, seemed to be the cause of their problems.

SK won the 3rd and 4th games at Jamsil. The pattern of runs scored in the top of the first inning continued. In the 3rd game, SK got Park Jae-sang on base with a hit down the middle, who was then advanced by Kim Jae-hyun, and Park Jeong-kwon easily got him home with a hit into right field. The winning runs eventually came with the score tied 1-1 right up to the ninth. Their form continued into game 4, when Kim Sun-woo uncorked a wild pitch in the 1st with men on first and second, and two out.

After the fourth game, Doosan manager Kim Kyung-moon said, “We weren’t as good as them. We lost two opportunities through double plays.” According to Kim, the result of games 3 and 4 was decided in the latter half of each game, but their performance in the early half was also a factor. “In comparison with the regular season. there are many factors which can affect playoff games,” said SK strategy coach Lee Gwang-gil. “Taking the lead in the early stages is important for many reasons,” he said. In game 5, the team that can successfully take control will probably have a very high chance of success.

I am really looking forward to tomorrow’s game, and with a little luck will be there in person if I can get a hold of some scalped tickets. Both of these teams are confident frontrunners and it will be difficult to wrestle the lead from whoever gets it first. SK might have just played themselves into enough form to pinch the game, but Geum Min-cheol has been outstanding in the playoffs so far, and just might be enough of a hurdle to deny SK. Although, Kadokura was no slouch in his last outing either.

Ironically, these teams seem to play each other better when they are the away team. SK won all of their games at Jamsil in the ‘07 and ‘08 Korea Series, and obviously in this series as well. And in the same timeframe, Doosan has won something like 5 of 7 games at Munhak in their playoff games.

If you’ll remember, I predicted Doosan would defeat Lotte in their series rather easily (correct) and then I predicted that SK would manage to beat Doosan in five tough games – I wasn’t so confident about that prediction on Thursday night, but now I’m in a much better position to stick with it. There’s very little separating these sides, and I think both teams would have to be confident of taking down KIA in the Korea Series. A Doosan victory would see the series MVP go to either Lee Jong-wook or Ko Young-min; for SK, it would surely be Park Jeong-kwon. These three players will be absolutely key to their team’s chances tomorrow night.

I’m looking forward to yet another tight, drawn-out epic!

We kregen een aantal fotos van Ronald Koers toegestuurd van Loonbedrijf Pekkeriet uit Dalfsen in de mais…

Op de bult staat een Massey Ferguson 6490 met een Veenhuis sleepraam

Hier zie je een Claas Ares 816 RZ  met daarachter een Veenhuis Super Silagewagen

Hier een Massey Ferguson 8250 ook met een Veenhuis Super Silagewagen

De hakselaar is een Claas Jaguar 840 met een 6rijer maisbek der op

En de laatste trekker een Massey Ferguson 5485 en ook deze trekker met een Veenhuis Super Silagewagen

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Elke dag staan er foto’s op door onszelf gemaakt.
Maar zie je je eigen gemaakte foto’s ook graag terug op deze website?

Stuur ze dan snel in naar uwfoto@landbouwinbeeld.nl en je ziet ze op deze website terug!
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En als laatste de bult onderspitten met een Doosan Daewoo 140WV

Turns out I was right. After a stirring display in the first game, Lotte went out with a whimper as Doosan crushed them in three straight games. You can’t win games with atrocious defence like Lotte showed.

Here’s a bit of a preview of the upcoming series featuring Doosan and SK:

Opponents in the Korea Series for the last two years, the SK Wyverns and the Doosan Bears will clash in the playoffs once again.

In the 4th game at Sajik stadium, Doosan managed a 9-5 win thanks to solid pitching from Kim Sun-woo who went 5 innings for 2 earned runs, as well as some focused hitting from the lineup. They will move on to face SK who finished 2nd in the regular season.

This means that Doosan have managed to successfully advance in the playoffs for the last 3 years in a row. In 2007 and last year, they finished second and managed to ascend the playoff ladder.

In 2007 and 2008, the rivalry that was born between Doosan and SK in consecutive Korea Series will be renewed when they walk the playoff tightrope for the third season running. Only the stage will be different.

For the last two years, SK has won both contests.

In 2007, SK came back from two games down to win the next four games, becoming the first team to win the Korea Series after an initial two game deficit. Last year they lost the opening game, but easily accounted for Doosan in the next four.

This season both teams have been evenly matched. Both SK and Doosan have held their ground with 9 wins, 9 losses and a draw.

Although they were unable to secure their third pennant in a row, SK are feeling confident. They finished the season with a record 19 consecutive wins, the best in Korean pro baseball. This record also surpasses the 18 consecutive wins in the Japanese league.

Before the season ended on the 26th of last month, SK immediately began their playoff preparations, disregarding the Chuseok holidays and training at Songdo stadium.

SK’s manager Kim Sung-geun personally attended the first two playoff games at Jamsil stadium, in order to assess the strength of the two teams.

SK’s 19 game winning streak has made it possible to give their ‘beehive mound’ enough rest. Towards the end of the season, pitchers like Go Hyo-jun, Jeon Byung-doo, Lee Seung-ho, and their enduring bullpen, have been given a sufficient break.

SK have managed to maintain their strength throughout the latter half of the year, with Gary Glover assuming the role of the team’s ace. Glover, who joined SK at the end of June, has a 9-3 record with one save, and a 1.96 ERA. He has filled the vacuum left by the absent Kim Gwang-hyun splendidly.

The biggest variable is Kim Gwang-hyun and whether or not he is able to play. On the 2nd of August, his season was ended after being struck by a Kim Hyun-soo line drive, and he is currently trying to get his condition right for the playoffs.

They also cannot decide on a batting lineup. There are no standout sluggers in the team but the entire lineup, from 1 through to 9, are able to hit long balls. This season, an incredible 10 players were able to achieve double figures in home runs.

Doosan’s preparation has been no small matter either. They are aiming not to be beaten by SK in the playoffs, having lost to them the last two years in a row.

As their rotation crumbled during this season’s playoffs with Lotte, Doosan may have yet found their saviours.

In Game 2, Geum Min-cheol went 6 innings for 6 hits and no earned runs. In Game 3, Hong Sang-sam went 6 1/3 innings for just 3 hits (1 home run) and one earned run; a very satisfactory return.

Team ace Kim Sun-woo, who struggled with injuries and form this season, has managed to fight successfully for his position. In Game 4 he started for 5 innings, giving up 4 hits and 2 earned runs in what looked an easy performance.

Doosan’s strong bullpen will also be able to get some rest for the next three days.

Except for Go Chang-seong, who gave up 3 runs in 1/3 of an inning after a regretful performance in Game 4, the relieving pitchers demonstrated their excellent condition.

Among their batters, Kim Hyun-soo and Kim Dong-joo lead the way with their fierce hitting lifting the team’s batting.

Including the 2 homeruns Kim Hyun-soo hit in the first two games, he finished with 7 hits from 13 at bats. Last year in the Korea Series he had a nightmarish batting average of 0.048. (1 from 21)

"General Bear" Kim Dong-joo has shown some mean form to stake his claim that Doosan are the strongest team in the playoffs. He had 6 hits from 13 at bats, leading the Doosan offence with 7 RBIs.

Once again we have the unavoidable confrontation between SK and Doosan. SK, who have defeated Doosan for two years running to take the Korea series, and Doosan, who are sharpening their knife of revenge; who among them will be a hero and win them a ticket to the Korea Series?

Game 1 begins on the 7th, at SK’s home stadium of Munhak, located in Incheon.

I’m really looking forward to this one, and I’m definitely going to try and get tickets for the Munhak games, since I live just about twenty-odd minutes from the stadium. In my opinion, these are the two best teams in Korea, and the winner of this contest will go on to beat KIA in the series. I fully expect Doosan to really give SK a shakedown this year, unlike the last two years where they started strongly and then mysteriously collapsed. I’m predicting that it will go to the wire, but I think SK have just a little too much talent for Doosan. SK in five.

Translator’s notes: I remember reading a blog about how sports language in Korean tends to draw analogies with war and death, which was apparently brought across by the Japanese. Can you imagine suggesting that a team is ‘sharpening their knife of revenge’ in an English-language sports article? Fascinating stuff, really.

Well my prediction of a comfortable Doosan series win is looking a little more on the money now. Quite simply, Lotte stunk today. The game effectively ended after Kim Dong-joo hit that grand slam. For entertainment’s sake I really hope that Lotte can bounce back and force a Game 5.

Here’s the article from the Sports Donga.

Lotte manager Jerry Royster was unable to hide his disappointment at the team’s comprehensive defeat in Game 3.

In an interview after the 3rd game against Doosan at Lotte’s Sajik stadium, Royster replied, "In the post season, the most important factors are the performances of our pitchers and timely offence and defence. Doosan did all of those things well, but we failed."

Today the erratic pitching and the stagnant batting contributed to a crushing 3-12 loss.

"The grand slam came at an important time and we were unable to do anything about it. Because of that, we weren’t able to win," he revealed regretfully.

Royster also talked about starting pitcher Song Seung-jun: "In such an important situation you can’t pitch like that. It puts a big burden on our batters and really destroys our confidence. His pitch selection was poor and he was usually behind in the count. He wasn’t able to fulfil his role today," was Royster’s frank assessment.

However, on rival pitcher Hong Sang-sam, Royster had only praise. "Today his pitching was outstanding. It was good as Jo Jeong-hoon’s pitching. He didn’t give us a single opportunity."

For the fourth game, Royster has appointed Bae Jang-ho as the starting pitcher. "Bae Jang-ho is showing good form against Doosan. Among our team he matches up better than anyone against them," said Royster expectantly.

I apologise for some of the awkward phrasing. Some of the original Korean is expressed in a way that makes it really hard to translate. Advice, as always, is welcomed!

Nitkowski only managed 3 innings of work before being taken off with a shoulder problem. Lotte won  the game 7-2. Here’s the article from Naver.

From Park Hyun-cheol:

Lotte struck the first blow in the playoffs as Kim Kyung-moon showed his concerns for left-handed pitcher Chris Nitkoski.

Kim was the losing manager in the opening playoff today (29th) against the Lotte Giants, losing 2-7. "Today wasn’t a particularly good day for either team. If our offence can fire in the next game, we should be able to win," replied Kim.

By the beginning of the 4th inning, starter Nitkoski was taken from the mound after just three innings of work. "Due to his present condition, I doubt he will be able to take the mound in the next game." said Kim. "He told me that his condition wasn’t as good as he thought, so it will be difficult for him to get another opportunity." Kim emphasised before the game, "I need our starters to endure for at least a minimum of 5 innings."

"I thought that he could make it through 5 or 6 innings today," continued Kim. "However, after he finished the 3rd inning his expression didn’t appear to be very good. As he was pitching the ball his expression was clearly showing signs of pain, so I quickly replaced him," he explained.

"Im Tae-hoon should have pulled out all stops when there were no baserunners. Our bullpen weren’t able to get the job done tonight." Im was responsible for a wild pitch which severely hindered Doosan’s chances. "We were well prepared for the game but Jo Jeong-hoon’s pitching was outstanding."

Lefty Geum Min-cheol (23) will pitch in the next game for Doosan.

For those of you keeping track, I’ve kept the translation relatively simple. Can anyone give a better translation of “victory card”? I’m assuming it’s some kind of Konglish term.

I’m still going with my prediction for Doosan, though with much less conviction than before. I think Doosan will bounce back tomorrow night, but Lotte have just bought themselves two guaranteed games at Sajik and it looks like they are prepared to push Doosan all the way.

Here’s a pretty interesting article about the respective managers of Doosan and Lotte, and how they have adapted their managerial style to the needs of their teams.

From Han Yong-seop at Naver:

The Doosan and Lotte 2009 playoff. It’s safe to say that these are the two most attack-minded managers among the eight teams.

Doosan’s manager Kim Kyung-moon is not really a disciple of the bunt, and Lotte’s manager Jerry Royster (57) will probably be inclined towards the bold style of Major League play. It will most likely be a clash of strength rather than a series of irregular plays. However, the pitcher management will be somewhat different for each team: Doosan rely heavily on their bullpen, while Lotte must have faith in their starters.

Kim Kyung-moon "With endurance…"

Since taking the managerial position at Doosan in 2004, Kim has made attacking baseball his priority. This year there have been only 26 sacrifice bunts. That’s the lowest among the eight teams. The number has shrunk beyond the 36 bunts of last year. Even in games that have been decided by a run, the preferred tactic for base advancement has been through stolen bases and team batting rather than wasting an out through bunting. These were the same tactics he employed when he was managing the Korean Olympic team.

The pitching management has been somewhat removed from his preferred style. The failure of Doosan’s starting pitching has led to greater reliance on the bullpen. Throughout this year the ‘quick hook’ (taking off a pitcher who has given up less than 3 runs before the 6th inning) has been employed 61 times. It’s been no different for the playoffs either. Last year in the playoff with Samsung, only one pitcher pitched more than six innings throughout the six games. When Kim Seon-woo, Nitkowski, Cedeno, Hong Sang-sam and the like begin to waver, the fight is joined by Lee Jae-woo, Go Chang-seong, Im Tae-hoon, Lee Yong-chan and the others from the bullpen.

Royster "Secret transformation…"

Royster has continually ordered his players to attack fearlessly. He has not blamed failed base-running or stolen base attempts. Since Royster assumed management 2 years ago, the number of stolen bases has dropped by about 60 – 62 less than before.. With a man on first with none out, rather than force the attack, he has frequently preferred to lay the bunt.

However, this year things have been a little different. Bunts have been occurring much earlier in games, and the lineups have been altered depending on whether the opposing pitcher is right or left-handed. Towards the end of the season, he has been experimenting with placing right-handed Lee Dae-ho in the 4th spot against left-handed pitchers, and placing left-handed Garcia against right-handed pitchers. It would be interesting to know exactly what he is doing with the line-up, and what his strategy is for putting initial runs on the board.

Meanwhile, Royster has been giving his starting pitching staff a genuine opportunity, executing the ‘quick hook’ just 28 times. How Royster, who has included just one prominent left-handed pitcher in Kang Young-sik, can manage to hold off Doosan’s left-handed batters in the crucial later stages of each game will be fascinating to see.

I’m very tempted to renege on my original prediction of a comfortable Doosan victory, but I keep thinking back to Lotte’s choke last season when people had them pegged as possible Korea Series contenders. I just can’t see them getting past a confident and experienced team like Doosan, who probably have enough talent to take out the whole thing. Doosan in four.

Here’s a preview of the upcoming series which starts on the 29th.

From Kim Kwan at the Sports Khan:

It has been 14 years since the last ‘Gyung-bu line Series.’ (Gyeonggido – Busan)

Doosan (3rd) and Lotte (4th) will raise the curtain on the Autumn fesitivies this year at Jamsil Stadium on the 29th.

These two teams will meet in the postseason for the first time since the 1995 Korea Series. That year, Doosan (then OB) were able to hold off the Giants four games to three.

The seventh game was a fierce struggle. Games three and five went into extra innings and not one of the games exceeded a winning margin of three runs. Each game was fought intensely and only game six was not played in front of a full house. Both of these teams managed to break through the 1,000,000 spectator barrier this year and the KBO must be delighted that they will face each other again.

Composure vs Spirit.

Doosan’s head-to-head record with Lotte this season is 10-9. The head-to-head ERA is 4.76 for Lotte and 4.82 for Doosan, and the batting average is .279 in favour of Doosan, .277 for Lotte. The strengths of both teams are almost equal.

However, both teams have had different preparations at the business end of the season. Doosan was able to secure 3rd place with plenty of time left, and have been able to rest bullpen ace Im Tae-hoon in anticipation of the postseason. They have also been able to test their lineup in consideration of the postseason.

On the other hand, Lotte have grown tired from their struggle with Samsung for 4th place. Hong Seong-heun was competing with LG’s Park Yong-taek for the batting title, but was handicapped due to the team’s position and was unable to finish on top.

Alternatively, you could say that their finish to the season leaves them in higher spirits than Doosan.

Shield vs Spear

Both teams submitted their rosters for the playoffs on the 27th.

Doosan’s 11 pitchers was more than Lotte’s 10, but Lotte had 8 outfielders which was 1 more than Doosan.

The reason Lotte have only gone with 10 pitchers is because Jo Jeong-hoon, Jang Won-jun, Song Seung-jun and the like are more composed than Doosan’s starters, who rely more heavily on their bullpen.

By including outfielders such as Jeong Su-bin, Doosan appear to be more concerned with defence and base-running, which is where they are superior to Lotte. Yu Jae-woong has been replaced in his pinch-hitting duties by Lee Sang-yeol.

Meanwhile, Lotte have raised eyebrows by including Oh Jang-hoon. Oh didn’t show much during his time with 1-gun, but as the home-run king of 2-gun has been brought in as a pinch-hitter to face Doosan’s lefties.

It should be an interesting series. Truth be told, I expect Doosan to win rather easily, but Lotte still has a fair share of talent, very little pressure on them and their home turf in Sajik is a hostile one. As the article points out, the teams are fairly evenly matched statistically, and the quality of Lotte’s starting pitching will be a huge factor. Pinching one of the first two games at Jamsil will be crucial to Lotte’s chances.

Kara Opens for Doosan on the 13th, “Please win!”

5-member girl group Kara opened for the pro baseball team Doosan Bears, cheering them on to victory.

Kara performed at the beginning of the Doosan-Kia game at Jamshil stadium to cheer them on.

Kara opened for the Doosan bears, with a record turnout crowd of 1,000,000, and they gladly accepted the offer despite their busy schedule.

The cute and sexy Han Seungyeon, who has received a lot of love from fans, went up to the mound for the opening pitch. And the bright and lively popular maknae Kang Jiyoung went up to the bat.

Meanwhile Kara, who debuted in 2007, has received a lot of love for their cute and lively songs and dances. Their 2nd album ‘Revolution’ was released, and both ‘Wanna’ and ‘Mister’ have received a lot of attention from male fans. In particular, their ‘butt’ dance have displayed their character and sexiness to fans.

Link: newsen
Link by: Mae
Translated by: tinggg@karaholic.com

While most people are thinking how bad a recession is killing their business, there are a few out there who have figured out that a recession is an open door. When better to get into the water than when the level is low enough that you can’t possibly sink? If you can survive and swim with the big fish in this kind of market, you are prepared to face the worst of the worst. That is, with really good planning.

Some of the best and most tenured businesses in this country were built in recessionary times. They found the entry point for their market and pinpointed how to sway the buyers into their businesses. Construction equipment is not much different. You can get in for next to nothing with a great network in place and some truly good people in your corner. You can build equity by building rapport with your clients and colleagues. It won’t happen overnight, but it will happen. I once had a contractor tell me you have two things in construction: Your word and your credit. Without them you cannot succeed. That’s why he is in a position where he doesn’t have to bid jobs out that make him lose money. That’s also why he won’t backtrack on jobs he does bid. Some are getting their money by putting in excessive change orders and others by cutting corners. He entered this business in a recession, he knows the game.

I have been watching some companies closely and those with too much invested think this is the time to pull back and retract their size and scope. I think it’s a fatal mistake. You don’t make money without putting your butt on the line. Smart ones are expanding and growing, taking the time to capitalize on the opportunity left on the table. It it those who will see the benefit of that expansion within the next 18 months.

You can always tell the difference between old school and nexgen sales people by the way they network with others. I once had a sales manager that told me that you should hate the competition and should never be amicable with them. I completely disagree. I often had lunch with the competition. A few times I had been to their homes and them to mine. Competition today is different than most people think. If you network intelligently, your businesses can coexist peacefully and do well from combined experience and lessons.

I have been networking since I got into equipment sales and rental in 1997 in one form or another. Whether it was communicating with local companies and exchanging deadbeat lists, or calling around to find clients equipment I didn’t have. Sites such as Linkedin, Facebook, and Twitter are fantastic outlets to broaden your contact base. I have made many friends and contacts through these sites and worked with people across the world. I got on Linkedin in 2006 when it was still relatively new just to test the waters. I followed with Myspace, then Twitter, and finally I jumped on the Facebook bandwagon (which I couldn’t live without now).

Without networking, we are in the dark. My old sales manager is in the dark. He has no idea what the competition is doing, nor the clientele for that matter. You gotta get out, shake some hands and kiss some babies if you want to broaden your base and expand your network. Recent networking has enabled me to meet people I would have never met otherwise and opened up so many more avenues in the way I do business. I have been able to take my game to a global level. If you are interested, I would love to network with you. http://www.twitter.com/equipmentmedia is the best place to find me. I look forward to connecting.

Let me start out by saying I am very tired of hearing about how bad our economy sucks right now and how it will take decades to get back to previous levels. It will not. I am not being overly optimistic or hopeful, I am being realistic. Call it what you will but we don’t live in the era of the great depression and our circumstances and resources are tremendously different now than they were back then.

There has been a lot of very bad fallout from our economy and I have seen good friends and clients go bankrupt and lose houses, businesses and life savings. Our way of life will not allow the economy to sustain this downfall, it will come back. People have to have transport, they have to live in houses, and we have to eat.

What we will see over the next 18 to 24 months is going to be stabilization of rental rates (hopefully an increase as well) and we will see a lot of smaller companies grow much stronger as a result of this fallout. Why? Most of them have prepared for reality a long time ago and if they are still in business now, they aren’t going anywhere. We are going to see alot of the “whores” go under. By this, I mean all the companies who said low price is all they need. They dropped service by the wayside and just went in for the kill with their pants down saying that they can get it to the contractor cheaper than their competition. This business is not about price, it never was. Just ask my good friend who got me into this business right out of high school. His business Coastal Rental Center in New Port Richey, FL is doing better than ever. He kept his service top tier, cut his rates only a little bit, and increased his business the old fashioned way, by being better than the competition. Now he is in a position to be much more profitable when the market comes back and if he capitalizes, more market share and deeper penetration in the region.

Equipment companies don’t get bailouts or huge incentives to do business in a certain area so they have to adapt very quickly to their economic environment by keeping in the positive. The ones who went in and cut their rates to $700 backhoes and $150 20′ scissors are going to have a difficult time when they can’t get the rates back up and are forced to continue paying out more than make on their equipment. I think we all know what the result of more going out than coming in becomes.

With companies closing down, thinning out their stores and stretching their sales force thinner, it leaves us to wonder how stable they were in the first place. When you have to layoff over 20,000 people like Caterpillar did or close 75 branches like United did, how do you inspire your investors to have trust in you when you want to do it again? When you have to write down hundreds of millions for branch closures, layoffs, and fleet disposal it seems a little hard to say let’s do it all over again.

Here are my predicitions for the next 24 months in the rental industry:

The market will feel the end of the free fall by the end of this year and we will begin to see who still has the contractors’ confidence. I am quite sure it won’t be the lowest price that keeps the customers. In the Spring of 2010 we will see major projects starting to break and seeing this, investors will again begin to spend their money. The rental market will be much stronger more appealing because equipment manufacturers do not have the capacity to build and sell equipment as quickly as they did before and buyers will not have as much confidence in purchasing as they once did. If the equipment companies can get it right this time, the rates should see a 10-15% increase within a year or so. By 2011 everyone will “forget” what happened and how it began and we will go back to business as usual. People will be just as greedy as they were before and likely just as careless as they were when this mess began. There are some very powerful exceptions to those people. I think we will see people like Bryan Rich, who is now with Acme Lift, lead the industry in a different direction with profitability and service running parallel to each other. There will be a lot of “out of the box” thinking and this will spawn new avenues that will no doubt face harsh criticism. Some companies will see their diversification pay off, but they will lose track of it once the market heats up again, and it will. Larger companies will again begin to gobble up the smaller ones to make up for the hundreds of branch closures in the past three years. Their will be an influx of people coming back to the industry from the “temp jobs” they took while the market was down. We all come back, no one really leaves the business. Obviously, not all of this will transpire in the next 24 months but the events in this time frame will lead to everything mentioned above. There will be roughly 10 percent who plan for the next down market which I am guessing will come around 2015 based on history. Those 10 percent are going to be the ones who have lost hard at least once or had the foresight to predict this one.

The only true unknown is who will learn their lesson and build from it and use this lesson to create a backup plan for our next down cycle.

For those of you wondering why my fascination with Bryan Rich, he is first and foremost an industry icon but that’s not the only reason. He is the perfect example of someone who lost big and came back and built something he truly believed in. That being the NationsRent bankruptcy. He went in after and built them into a profitable company and sold it to another with perfect timing. He did what it took and if everyone in this business did that, we wouldn’t have the extreme volatility we do now. His most recent position with Acme Lift will be interesting to watch. I have long believed that there is profitability in rerenting equipment if done correctly against some tremendous opposing views. I will be watching this one closely.

Imi amintesc de parca ar fi fost ieri.. Un costum cu 2 numere mai mari, pantofii prafuiti, ma duceam la interviu sperand sa aiba nevoie de un legator de fire.. electrician. La intrare, un steag romanesc si unul coreean. Intru, astept pe un scaun, la intrare, fara sa ma joc pe telefon, afisand o figura serioasa tuturor trecatorilor. Intr-un final, sunt chemat in biroul directorului. Ma intreaba despre scoala, despre familie, apoi legea lui Ohm, apoi un grafic unde eu trebuia sa scriu toate fortele la care era supusa o bara, … ma intreaba de engleza (ciudat)… si deodata totul ia o intorsatura si mai ciudata. Incep intrebari despre facultate, computer, cariera….Ha?!  Eu vreau sa leg fire, si ei ma intreaba de cariera?? (…) A trecut 1 an de atunci. Acum, incerc sa ma mentin la inaltimea titlului meu – inspector.

Vineri, la “Curtea Berarilor” de la ora 17:00 e ora statisticilor. Una din aceste statistici spune ca eu as fi cel mai bun blogger din IMGB. E drept ca sunt si singurul. Andrei, in urma voturilor a iesit drept cel mai dragut baiat din firma. Raluca cea mai draguta fata. Ochii Bogdanilor ( QC si TO) au fost remarcati ca fiind printre cei mai patrunzatori. O alta statistica spune despre Valentin Ghica ca ar fi unul din cei mai buni jucatori de fotbal ai IMGB-ului. Tot acolo,la « Curtea Berarilor »,  Dragos a pierdut o roata de bere in urma unui pariu pe tema sportiva.  Marian face parte din echipa de fotomodele, impreuna cu Eli, cu Raluca, Madalina si cu mine. Domnul George este fotograful nostru. Noi defilam cu noile salopete. Nu pot sa nu-l mentionez pe Adrian, care a participat la cursa nebuna de la Radio Zu.

Lucrurile incep sa se contureze la noi. In urma unui email, am reusit sa ne strangem la fotbal 40 de persoane. Speram ca in cel mai scurt timp sa putem organiza si un campionat intern de fotbal, (IMGB Gladiators League). Mai sunt in proiect campionate de sah, tenis de masa, si paint-ball; pentru ca, recunoastem, suntem multi, si vrem sa ne distram. Eu sunt optimist, si ma bucur ca incetul cu incetul, IMGB-ul se uneste.

Suntem o generatie  noua – cei mai multi nu suntem nici de 2 ani in firma – insa cred ca avem mult potential. Pe langa o munca eficienta,  o productie de calitate, cred ca putem sa ne simtim bine impreuna, sa fim prieteni, sa organizam tot felul de activitati, si de ce nu, pe langa lideri in Casting and Forgings,  sa fim compania cu cel mai bun program de Team Building din Bucuresti.

Pentru a citi “Convorbiri cu IMGB 0101″ – click aici

It’s been a little while since I updated this blog, I have been quite busy in a new project but I had to tell this story. More blogs will be coming very soon.

I had a client recently tell me a story about a mutual friend of ours. This friend had been in business for many, many years and was approached by investors at the height of our perfect market. Having done business for so long, he knew the offer was too good to last, so he took it. He sold his business to those investors who quickly over leveraged their debts based on a perfect market and did not factor in the potential for losses. Sounds familiar right? Many of the closing companies today have fallen prey to this. He is now in a position to buy his company back for pennies on the dollar. I say buy. Can’t go wrong if he does business the way he always has.

Three months ago, I mentioned to a good friend to buy United Rentals stock. Why? They were at the bottom, but still on the top. Their stock prices were at the lowest EVER, but they are still the number one company. I told him this when they were selling in the $3 area. Had he listened, he too would have doubled his money with their recent gains to above $6 per share. They are positioned to be triple their current price in the next year. What the hell do I know though, I have only been watching rental companies for twelve years. Some of the other stocks I think will do quite well: Caterpillar and Terex. I think RSC is a chump bet, their stock doesn’t have any remarkable highs or lows that would make a serious profit, Deere isn’t as strong a company as it should be, and H&E Equipment just sold off a ton of their fleet and I think they fail to capitalize on the market the way they should. Please listen carefully on the United Rentals stock, I am going to sell when they hit the $20-$25 range as historically this is where greater risk begins.

I use those above analogies because everything we do right now is about timing. Too early and you lose, too late and you lose. You can apply this to anything in your business from submitting bids, hiring, firing, and even applying for jobs. Timing is everything, you just have to take your emotion out of every prospective deal and use your head. Don’t ever forget, you can walk away if it’s not right, there will ALWAYS be another one.

Photo credits: with-k.com

DO NOT HOTLINK!!!

Kangin throws the first pitch @ the Seoul Jamsil Baseball Stadium…

Watch him do it here:

Photo Credits: newsen.com

DO NOT HOTLINK!!!

KSW Invests In Doosan Horizontal Boring Machine

Glenrothes-based precision manufacturing subcontract specialist, KSW Engineering, has recently invested in a large-capacity Doosan horizontal boring machine, supplied by Mills CNC. The machine, a DB 130CX, was installed at KSW’s facility in 2008. The horizontal boring machine is the third Doosan machine purchased by KSW in recent years – the previous two machines being a Puma 700LM and a Puma 600. KSW specialises in the manufacture of large, heavy components for the aerospace, marine, and oil and gas sectors.

Approximately 85 per cent of the company’s turnover derives from the global oil and gas sector with a significant proportion of its business being export led. The company has built a reputation for its manufacturing quality and on-time delivery and makes regular strategic investments in advanced machine tool technologies to maintain its position. Stewart Wilson, KSW’s managing director, said: ‘On our boring machines, we manufacture parts up to 15 tonnes in weight and to a cube capacity of 2300mm.

‘On our large capacity lathes we again can manufacture parts up to 15 tonnes in weight, and 63in diameter – 48in over slide – and up to 315in in length, dependent on component type. ‘In addition, all machines are kitted with steadies, which can handle up to 1220mm diameter and a full range of anti-vibration bars, up to 2900mm long. ‘Components, such as well-head housings, hangers, valves and seals, are manufactured from a variety of hard and difficult-to-machine materials, mainly carbon steels and nickel alloys, with features such as bores, threads and so on machined to tight tolerances – +/-12 micron – and high surface finishes,’ he added.

Such a tough production environment means that KSW demands a great deal from its machine tools in terms of performance, productivity and reliability. This is why an investment in the Doosan DB 130CX horizontal boring machine was made. ‘Our decision to purchase the Doosan machine was based on a number of factors – namely availability, performance and price,’ said Wilson. ‘The DB 130CX could be delivered and installed within three months of us placing our order,’ he added.

Another critical issue favouring the selection of the DB 130CX was its performance, in particular the machine’s high-accuracy volumetric removal capability, machining versatility and process reliability. The travelling-column machine is equipped with large X, Y and Z-axis travels (4000mm x 2000mm x 2000mm), all fitted with linear scales to optimise accuracy. The machine has a powerful, high-torque spindle (25kW, 2500rev/min) with a three-range gearbox for heavy-duty machining and fast removal rates; a 130mm boring spindle and 700mm W-axis for extra reach across the table; a continuous rotary table (B-axis) that can be indexed every 0.001deg; and a fixed-address 60-position tool changer.

The DB 130CX uses specialist tooling – contouring heads and out-facing boring bars – for deep internal bore profiling. In the future, KSW plans to invest in in-house welding capability (cladding) – an ‘overlay’ process using Inconel to create a wear- and corrosion-resistant durable skin over critical features.

On continue dans le monde merveilleux du Soju avec la dernière pub de Lee Hyolee pour le Cheoum Cheoreom Comme toujours, les affiches sont très jolies et vous avez même droit en prime à la pub TV. Quand j’ai regardé cette dernière, j’ai tout de suite pensé à quelqu’un Je l’imagine tellement dansant comme ça avec une bouteille à la main (ou une bouteille dans chaque main vu son stock imposant), saurez vous reconnaître de qui je parle? Alors, kikicé?