At Yale Equipment & Services, Inc. there is a familiar saying, “If you drive it, sit on it, walk on it, wear it, live it, or eat it, it’s probably been handled by a
lift truck.” The company supplies and services lift trucks, as well as personnel carriers, aerial platforms, and forklifts, for industries that typically use them to lift and move items throughout a warehouse.
CEO Cliff Anglewicz has been in the lift truck business for 35 years. In 1990, he purchased the local Yale dealership, which was originally founded in 1956 as the Hugh Ayers Company. Anglewicz moved the company to its current 52,000 square-foot facility in Menomonee Falls in 1993. Before purchasing the Yale dealership, Anglewicz served six years as president of Volvo Automotive Systems in Detroit, and prior to that as a sales manager at a Caterpillar lift truck dealer.
Yale Equipment offers high-quality, American-made products backed by an international company, one of the largest in the industry. Some competitors have farmed out the production and, years later, the necessary parts are unavailable. By manufacturing and servicing what it sells, Yale and its distributors, such as Anglewicz, provide a chain of original parts and custom service. Yale Equipment still services a 1946 Yale lift truck, as well as equipment manufactured by competitors.
Anglewicz was presented awards in the Dealer of Excellence program in the years 1995 – 1999, 2005, and 2006 by the parent company, based on meeting certain financial and customer services performance criteria. He is also chairman of the Dealer Advisory Board for Yale, which represents the 46 dealers across the country.
“The largest customers come to us and stay with us because our focus is service,” Anglewicz says. “We understand that their equipment has to work all the time because down time and lost productivity are extremely expensive.”
A key element of effective service and an efficient workforce is providing the necessary tools to do the job. Not only does each employee in Anglewicz’s dealership have a computer with dual monitors, but each service van is also equipped with a laptop. Accessing and downloading parts orders are faster and easier than ever.
“We’ve heard over and over again that we are the most technically advanced Yale dealership,” Anglewicz says. “Typically, the industry is not technologically advanced, so we have an edge with our customers. I came from the automotive business where everything is computer automated. I’m always looking for ways to do things better for less money.”
In 2001, the Open Invoice System website was implemented, moving Yale Equipment to a paperless system. The Open Invoice System features secured reporting and electronic invoicing, coupled with a unique scanning system.
“We believe that when we retain employees, we retain customer,“ Anglewicz says. Not only do we build more effective, lasting relationships, but customers like to see that we are investing in our people and new equipment to remain efficient.”
- Milwaukee: City By the Waters
Towery Publishing © 2001
New Lift Trucks 
Yale Forklifts
