(Top) The new Mathews Machinery Compact Equipment Sales building in Corona, California. (Middle) Jim Harrison, Compact Division Manager. (Below) A sampling of Volvo compact excavators in stock.

There’s an exploding market for compact construction equipment in southern California and Mathews Machinery, Inc., the authorized Volvo Construction Equipment dealer for the area with headquarters in Corona, has taken an extraordinary step in meeting the growing needs of contractors.

The Company, with the guidance of Jim Harrison, compact product manager, has just completed the acquisition of an existing building adjacent to their home office building in Corona. The expansion building will be dedicated to compact equipment sales, service and rentals.

The extraordinary step, however, has been the development of a “real-world demonstration and test center” on the premises.

(Top To Bottom) The front lobby of the new Compact Equipment Sales building in Corona, CA. A picture of the company’s compact truck. One of Mathews Machinery’s new B Series Volvo Skidsteers.

“ In addition to our practice of taking equipment to a customer for operation, our customers can now also come to the new demonstration center to operate equipment in  simulated work sites especially designed and built to show application capability,” Harrison says.

“Our customers will be able to match spec sheet with actual machine operation, to translate that information and operational experience into their application needs, and to make certain that the right equipment has been selected,” Harrison says. “This new and unusual operational facility is really a proving ground for our machine, and it is working for the customers.”

The entire experience is based on the demonstration practices that Volvo uses at its North Carolina Demonstration Center near its headquarters in Asheville.

According to Harrison, the compact equipment market is the highest growth segment of the heavy equipment industry, growing about 30% in sales each year, due to the fact that residential, commercial and industrial construction is requiring equipment that can work in tight and restricted spaces. Powerful compact equipment is perfectly designed to maneuver in tight spaces, and since the cost of this equipment is far less than heavy equipment, it opens a lot of doors and new job opportunities for contractors.

“There just isn’t the same access at construction sites as there was in the ‘50s, ‘60s, and through the 80’s” Harrison explains. “As our country’s infrastructure ages and deteriorates, compact equipment is needed to get into the tight spaces to repair and rebuild.”

Mathews Machinery’s new compact equipment division will have its own dedicated and experienced sales people. All service, equipment preparation, pre-delivery inspections, and scheduled maintenance operations will be conducted in the new facility.

The company carries the complete and very comprehensive line of Volvo compact equipment, which includes backhoe/loaders, skid steers, compact wheel loaders and compact excavators. They also carry Zieman trailers to support the compact equipment line. Mathews Equipment has offered a compact line of equipment since the end of 2003, when Volvo came out with the compact backhoe/loader and redesigned skid steer to complement the already successful Volvo compact loader and excavators. Compact equipment makes up about 5% of Mathews sales at this point and is growing rapidly.

Volvo compact model lines include six compact wheel loaders, twelve compact excavators, two backhoe loaders, and eight skid steers. 

(Bottom) Mathews Machinery’s new L20 and L25 compact wheel loaders.

Zieman is one of the largest producers of equipment hauling trailers in the Western United States. Their manufacturing facility is located in San Bernardino.

 “Our goal for our newest division is to keep expanding as the market grows,” Harrison says.

Mathews Machinery has branch offices in the San Diego area, Bakersfield, Sacramento, and Livermore (Bay area). The company will open new branches in Fresno at the end of the year and in Indio (Palm Springs area) in early 2007 to serve a growing customer base in a growing market.

(Top Left) The new L25 compact loader.(Middle Left) A new ECR38 compact excavator loaded on a Zieman trailer.(Bottom) A sampling of compact skid steers in stock at the new Mathews Machinery Compact Equipmemt Sales building.

Harrison feels that two things help set Mathews Machinery apart from other equipment dealers. One is the Volvo construction equipment itself, and the other is the way Mathews does business.  In addition to being one of the world’s largest manufacturers of construction equipment, Volvo is the world’s largest builder of diesel engines in the 9-18 liter classes. Its new engines with V-ACT technology meet EPA Tier 3 emission regulations.

Volvo construction equipment is also manufactured with many recyclable parts.

As far as how Mathews Machinery does business, Harrison says they are the competitive choice. “As a company, we are young and aggressive and we’re not afraid to think outside of the box,” he says. “We believe in building business relationships on strong foundations of performance and trust.

“That’s why we have built our new compact equipment facility with its demonstration and proving ground, to prove to our customers that we are willing to be put to the test,” Harrison continues. Mathews Machinery has equipment and service solutions to meet the needs of companies that engage in road building, aggregate processing, scrap and material handling, earthmoving, waste handling, pipeline, infrastructure and general construction projects.

For more information look online at www.mathewsmachinery.com  or call (951) 277-7620. Cc