As Link-Belt Construction Equipment nears completion of its new Training and Quality Assurance Center, company employees joined officials from Japan-based parent company Sumitomo Heavy Industries (SHI) today for a dedication and ribbon-cutting at the new 30,000-square-foot, $5.5 million facility.
“Link-Belt’s focus and commitment to training is at an all-time high,” said Chuck Martz, Link-Belt president and CEO. “These new facilities punctuate the growth and commitment to training our dealers, their customers and our employees.”
The new building, which is set to open fully in January at Link-Belt’s headquarters on Palumbo Drive, will house three training classrooms, lab space and high bays to accommodate hands-on learning experiences with all crane sizes in the company’s product line.
Company officials broke ground on the new building in June. The added space, which brings Link-Belt’s total manufacturing space to more than one million square feet, will be used to train service, parts and sales personnel from the company’s global network of distributors and Link-Belt customers. The center will also include space for technical training opportunities for Link-Belt’s production team.
The new facility will also be used for quality assurance testing of newly designed parts and eventually new models, to be conducted through the joint efforts of the company’s design, quality, manufacturing and training groups.
Shunsuke Betsukawa, SHI president and CEO, cut the ceremonial ribbon before the backdrop of Link-Belt’s new 100RT model, a recently introduced addition to the company’s product line of rough-terrain cranes. The 100 US-ton 100RT was one of three new cranes presented at the company’s recent CraneFest event in August, along with a new 140 US-ton telescopic crawler crane and a 110 US-ton hydraulic truck crane.