"Though their behemoth cranes took center stage, Link-Belt knows it's the small things that ensure that the Lexington-based company plays a role in building the world.
As a steak lunch and fashion show-styled demonstration of Link-Belt's product-line capped off Link-Belt's CraneFest '06, it was the personal interaction of the night before, sitting and talking with regional managers who knew the ins-and-outs of his business and his competitors, that made the trip worthwhile for attendee Kenneth Hubbard.
"As long as I've been dealing with them, that's that kind of service I've always expected from them. I'm accustomed to it; I can't compare it to anything else because that's all I've ever seen," said Hubbard, owner of KEL Crane in San Francisco.
While Link-Belt could conceivably host all at once the nearly 700 customers and distributors who came to town during the second week of October, Link-Belt spokesman Jeff Schmidt said the one-on-one attention in the four different sessions CraneFest provides is an invaluable plus.
Monday through Thursday night, buses took Link-Belt customers and potential customers for dinner and tours at Woodford Reserve distillery. No pitches were given and there wasn't even much in the way of Link-Belt signage around, minus the 30-ton Rugged Terrain crane parked on the historic distillery's lawn. Customers were given the chance to chat with others in their business around the country and Link-Belt representatives.
"We strictly set a limit on how many people we take... primarily because we want that one-on-one contact," Schmidt said.
Link-Belt isn't an in-your-face company; its president, Chuck Martz, calls it one of Lexington's hidden secrets as it has kept a low-profile during its 31 years in Lexington, even now as it has a $25 million annual payroll.
"The fact is, unless you're in the construction business or if your parents were, you probably don't know what Link-Belt is," Martz said.
But those in the construction business certainly are aware of the crane company, owned by Sumitomo Heavy Industries of Japan.
"Talking to everyone else, I've been assured, even from the other crane owners, that right now this machine is considered the market standard," Hubbard said of Link-Belt's ATC 8690, a 90-ton capacity truck crane that is part of Hubbard's freeway-legal fleet. "Everybody wants one of the 8690s that's thinking about going into the class of that crane. It's almost like there's not even another option in the market at present."
Hubbard had been running a crane and became its owner 11 years ago when his boss fell upon hard times. He agreed to take over $10,000 monthly payments on the non-Link-Belt crane. Since then, he has aided in the construction of the San Francisco Giants' waterfront masterpiece Pac-Bell Park (now AT&T Park) and the rehabing of Stanford's football stadium, as well as countless other projects around the Bay Area and Silicon valley. He now owns four truck cranes - a Grove crane, his first, and three Lexington-made Link-Belts - and is looking to add another 8690.
As much as he would like to acquire the new crane immediately, Hubbard will have to wait nearly a year to take delivery on the nearly $750,000 piece of equipment.
"We're basically sold-out through the first half of next year already," Martz said. The Palumbo Drive facility is expected to produce around 500 cranes from the Link-Belt line this year, up from 400 last year.
"We'd do more, except that we're constrained by our main vendors right now; we cannot get enough components."
Beyond getting all of the needed parts to assemble the cranes, Martz said he had difficulty finding qualified people to work for him, especially welders.
Before the next CraneFest, which typically happens every three years, Martz hopes to have more people on board. "Young people don't realize that you can make a very decent living at this."
Martz knows that quality employees mean quality cranes, and that, maybe even more than the personal relationship, is why Hubbard plans to buy again from Link-Belt. "If you look around the market in general, you'll find that Link-Belt has the oldest machines still up and operating," he said. "My 35-ton (crane that I bought used) I think is a 1985 model, and it's still running today."