Photo courtesy of Pacific North Equipment PNE deals in construction equipment like this Komatsu 200LC excavator.

The year 2001 brought a decline in the market for Pacific North Equipment, said Jim Hassebrock, vice president of sales and marketing.

The Kent-based company sells and rents equipment for the construction, forestry and mining industries. “All product markets we cover, as well as all end-user industry segments, suffered declines,” Hassebrock said. “While we have seen some pockets of activity in early 2002, it is very sporadic.”

As contractors struggle to land jobs, few are purchasing equipment, he said. “We do not forecast any meaningful improvement in the market conditions until our state Legislature passes a comprehensive transportation package and begins the job of improving our roads, bridges and highways,” Hassebrock said earlier this month.

PNE is reacting to the slow market by focusing on service excellence. “We expend tremendous energy, time and monetary investment in training our service technicians,” Hassebrock said. “By maintaining a staff of the best trained technicians in the Pacific Northwest, we believe we can maintain market share growth long-term.”

Hassebrock says customers are relying more on distributors for fleet maintenance, “allowing them to concentrate on their particular area of expertise, which should be contracting.”

PNE is the Northwest sales and rental outlet for Komatsu products. “One new product that has received overwhelming positive feedback is the new series of zero tail swing excavators,” Hassebrock said. “These machines have performance equal or better than conventional excavators, yet are much safer on the work site.”

Improvements in technology are improving fuel efficiency, reducing emissions, and improving reliability, he added.