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Johan “Kip” Eideberg (L) of AEM and Shannon Seymour, president of LeeBoy, take a seat within the 8608 paver.
The Affiliation of Apparatus Producers (AEM) stopped by way of the North Carolina manufacturing plant of LeeBoy Aug. 29, 2024, as a part of the business affiliation’s Production Specific bus excursion.
Right through the summer time, the objective of the AEM Production Specific initiative was once to acknowledge and have a good time the trade by way of making 80 visits throughout 20 states. The excursion additionally highlights the leading edge applied sciences, processes, other folks, and merchandise which can be revolutionizing the U.S. production sector.
“Apparatus producers are the spine of The united states, representing $2.3 million staff,” Kip Eideberg, AEM’s senior vp, stated in a up to date information free up. “In North Carolina on my own, our trade contributes 87,031 jobs and $11.3 billion to the state financial system. The AEM Production Specific is delighted to be in North Carolina to have a good time the important function of the state’s apparatus producers in construction, powering, and feeding our country.”
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LeeBoy has been a member of AEM since 1991. (L-R) are Bryce Davis, Kristi Harris and Shannon Seymour, all of LeeBoy; and Jennifer Graham and Johan “Kip” Eideberg, either one of AEM.
Throughout its forestall at LeeBoy’s Lincolnton manufacturing unit, AEM additionally feted the corporate and its staff’ contributions at a time when the development apparatus maker is celebrating its sixtieth anniversary in trade.
As well as, the AEM match, famous LeeBoy President Shannon Seymour, lets in “us to let our pals get to understand what AEM does for LeeBoy and exhibit the corporate.”
Seymour added that AEM is made up of greater than 1,000 member corporations and roughly 2.3 million pals.
“It supplies quite a lot of sources for member corporations reminiscent of knowledge, marketplace proportion research, and academic fabrics,” he stated. “AEM may be rather well tied into Washington and lobbies on our behalf to make certain that American production corporations keep sturdy and stay a spine of this nation.”
For instance, AEM steadily is helping organize for politicians to make stops at the manufacturing unit flooring of its member corporations as a display in their encouragement and fortify.
In LeeBoy’s case, Seymour stated that Mark Robinson, North Carolina’s present lieutenant governor and the Republican candidate for governor in November’s election, visited the Lincolnton plant in 2023. As well as, Pat Harrigan, a Republican working for the U.S. Area to constitute the state’s tenth congressional district, made a marketing campaign forestall at LeeBoy a number of months in the past.
The producing corporate has its origins within the Charlotte storage of LeeBoy’s past due founder, B.R. Lee, who started making pavers there in 1964. Since then, the apparatus maker has moved to a big, 33-acre manufacturing web site in Lincolnton, northwest of Charlotte, the place it produces a variety of industrial paving apparatus and machines, together with pavers, motor graders, distributor vans and brooms.
During the last couple of years, Seymour stated that LeeBoy additionally has offered a number of new upgrades to its product lineup.
“Probably the most notable enhancements were our electrical merchandise, which we introduced out rather greater than a yr in the past,” he stated. “Now not handiest did we make the primary industrial elegance electrical asphalt paver, however we additionally offered the primary electrical broom. And LeeBoy is set to get again into distributing rollers. If truth be told, we’ve rollers to be had for order this present day and can start turning in them in January.”
Plans name for the apparatus producer to create a 1.25-ton, 36-in.-wide curler, in addition to a 3-ton fashion with a 48-in. width, and extra fashions to return.
“LeeBoy can even start promoting and advertising and marketing soil rollers too, in addition to rubber-tire machines,” he stated. “This can be a excellent alternative for us as a result of we consider LeeBoy is the one paver producer that doesn’t recently promote rollers. We did so up till a couple of years in the past and are satisfied to re-start their distribution.”
The corporate has controlled to stay a number of the marketplace leaders within the industrial elegance paving apparatus trade, Seymour stated, as a result of LeeBoy has lengthy learned “it’s about connecting with and taking note of our consumers, figuring out how they use the apparatus, and repeatedly refining the apparatus for extra environment friendly utilization.
“High quality and reliability also are a huge issue – how we stay those pavers working for our consumers,” he added. “Uptime is the whole lot for them.”
Seymour famous that LeeBoy’s national distributor community is noticed as being “the entrance line” on the subject of touch with the tip consumers.
“The dealerships that experience nice provider departments and impulsively react to any attainable restore problems that stand up within the box are those that make a distinction available on the market,” he stated.
For its phase, LeeBoy itself has confirmed to be remarkable at supplying portions to its sellers in a single day or as wanted, one thing that the apparatus maker has prioritized to enhance potency, in keeping with LeeBoy.
With a warehouse constructed to be shared by way of each its manufacturing and portions departments, Seymour believes that LeeBoy has created a bonus for itself by way of having its complete operation below one roof.
“Let’s consider we’d like a wiring harness for a 20-year-old device. We simply make it on this manufacturing unit,” he stated. “Or, if a weldment is needed, we will run out to the weld cells and get that executed temporarily. That capacity in point of fact is helping us get provider and portions wishes became round in a rush.” CEG
