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Weekly UpdatesIn 1973, Equipment World Inc. began as a small, northwestern Ontario company specializing in material handling, storage and packaging systems with a strong commitment to provide high-quality service to a market in need of practical solutions.
Today, Equipment World maintains its role as a material handling, storage and packaging systems specialist. It has established a very strong construction specialties division and prides itself on its 35-year commitment to "great value and great service" to its ever-growing client base across the province and throughout North America.
Equipment World was the brain-child of Peter Knudsen, who, after seeing similar facilities in other cities, recognized the potential for a company specializing in material handling and warehousing products in Thunder Bay. With the help of partner Jim Sutton and a handful of investors, Equipment World opened its doors in September 1973, striving to provide better and safer ways to move, store and distribute materials.
Peter was born and raised on a farm in Pass Lake, Ontario, 50 kilometres east of Thunder Bay. He moved "to town" at 15-years old for high school, and subsequently after graduation, worked at various jobs including becoming part of a lake-freighter crew, a restaurant manager, then settling into the banking business. Eventually, an opportunity arose to take a job with an industrial supply company.
His years of experience as an accounts manager with the financial institution and a decade of experience working with the company, Peter Knudsen ventured onto the entrepreneurial stage, opening the doors to Equipment World Inc. Little did Peter know at the time, one day his company would swell beyond the borders of northwestern Ontario and grow to service practically every industry, from mining companies to educational institutions.
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"Obviously, there was a good market for it," Lyle Knudsen says, pointing to the success the company has enjoyed over the past 35 years.
Lyle is the vice president of the company and son of Peter.
"Peter saw that the material handling industry wasn't as developed in northern Ontario as in other centres and he changed that."
Perhaps the most significant challenge the company faced during its initial stages was to convince customers that a need for specialists in the field of material-handling existed, he explains. "A big part of the challenge was to educate the customers who were used to dealing with businesses that utilized material-handling equipment as a sideline versus us, who promoted it as our main line."
Once a small business in a 1,500-square-foot building, on a back street in Thunder Bay, Equipment World has outgrown its location twice and is now in a 20,000-square-foot facility in Thunder Bay's industrial hub.
"This (current) building once had four tenants, but Equipment World grew until we needed the whole facility," Knudsen says. "We also have (off-site) yard storage. We have over 300 pieces of equipment in our rental inventory, so we needed the space. With bulk buying, we also need the warehouse space."
After 13 years of success in the northwest, Equipment World expanded into northeastern Ontario by opening the doors to its second branch in Sudbury in 1987. The branch in Sault Ste. Marie was later established in 1990.
"As the two branch locations expanded from humble beginnings, the need for more space eventually led us to purchase the buildings we are currently operating from. Sault Ste Marie moved into their existing location in 2001 and of course, we have just celebrated the grand opening of our new 17,000-square-foot flagship facility in Sudbury," says Knudsen.
The payroll sits at just over 75 employees, that's 72 more than the company started out with.
Despite the changes, Knudsen says Equipment World has never strayed from its focus.
"We've maintained our specialization philosophy, but we've since taken our solution-selling approach to other areas and industries," say Knudsen. "We've evolved by addressing a full array of industries, geographical diversification and we've improved ourselves through the ongoing commitment to training for all our personnel."
Peter, who is now enjoying semi-retirement, is proud of the highly-developed workforce within the company structure. As he now watches more from the sidelines, Peter is pleased to see his succession plan in action. As his son Lyle now directs the company along with their team of key managers including Lucy Belanger, financial controller, Ernie Ukrainec, tech division manager, Sean Demidovich, general sales manager; and their branch managers, Chris Fillator and Allen Walls, the company continues to build momentum.
Along with their highly qualified team, Equipment World has established long standing relationships with many of their vendors. Examples of this are TOYOTA which Equipment World has represented since 1976, GENIE Industries since 1982, Rousseau Metal since 1983 and SCN/Tenaquip since 1982. "The long standing relationships we have with many of our vendors has led to friendships beyond just business," says Lyle. "Along with this, we have established a very strong network of fellow dealers from across North America who we can call upon as a resource or for assistance anytime."
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It is the company's ability to diversify from its grass roots heritage where Lyle's father Peter, began the business in 1973 that allows Equipment World to continue to enjoy growth in a very challenging economy. "Where we once specialized and focused primarily on the industrial sectors within Northern Ontario, we have since diversified into all sectors including commercial, institutional, and even retail." Along with offering their disciplines within various industry sectors, geographical diversification has also been key to prepetuating their success. "Throughout the past years with certain products and services, we have really abandoned our self-imposed geographical limitations and pursued opportunities within North-America and even worldwide." In recent years, they have been awarded and successfully accomplished some notable projects in various areas such as Indonesia, South Carolina, Florida, British Columbia, Manitoba, Alberta, Quebec and all across Ontario. Recently, they were awarded a large warehouse project for a Canadian forest products company to build two new board plants in South Carolina. "We provided complete turnkey design, supply and installation in coordination with various Canadian and U.S. manufacturers including shelving, racking, structural mezzanines, in-plant modular offices as well as other products."
Much has changed but the predominant philosophy remains the same; innovative solutions, high-quality products, and knowledgeable service from purchase to performance. This commitment is what has kept Equipment World sustainable and growing for over 35 years.
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