April 2024
Dear Team,
As we navigate through the vast and dynamic landscape of our industry, it is essential that we stay connected, informed, and aligned with our common goals. With this in mind, I am thrilled to introduce our first internal newsletter, a new channel designed to keep all of us at Douglas Lake Equipment and Avenue Machinery in the loop.
Through these newsletters, we aim to provide visibility into the ongoing developments, celebrate our milestones, and foster a stronger sense of community within our organization. Your engagement and feedback will be crucial to making this initiative as beneficial and inclusive as possible. Let’s embark on this journey of continuous communication together.
We’re excited to announce the launch of a new consolidated benefit plan for all 163 employees. After reaching an agreement with HUB Insurance and collaborating with Manulife, we’re proud to merge the best aspects of both programs, ensuring comprehensive benefits for our team. We anticipate this will be complete in the next 30-60 days.
The construction contract for the “Kubota One” North Parallel Building Project has been sent to our owners in Denver for final review. We anticipate we will get final approval and be in a position to start construction later this spring. Pieter Kerkhoff has been added to our team as the project manager and will dedicate his time to ensure the project is completed on time and on budget. You may see Pieter in the Abbostford office from time to time.
Efficiency is key, and moving bundles from Parts to Wholegoods will streamline operations across all locations. Dave, Jonathan, and our sales coordinators are devising a uniform process to ensure the Wholegoods department oversees all power units and accessories.
Our commitment to the Sumas Way location remains strong. Negotiations of a 5-year lease renewal are now complete, and we plan to be in this location for the long term, ensuring our presence even with the upcoming Kubota One facility.
A seamless communication system is now operational across all branches, courtesy of Steve and Grejohn. This upgrade facilitates easier call transfers and local dialing capabilities, along with flexible call flow channels; enabling us to provide a better level of service to our customers.
Our website serves as a critical sales tool, and thanks to your efforts in providing high-quality equipment photos and descriptions, we continue to elevate our online presentation and maximize our sales opportunities. We thank everyone for their continued efforts to provide quality photos and descriptions of equipment for the website.
We are working on a Unified Business Operating System for all operations. An update on this significant initiative will be provided later in the year. A number of processes are currently being worked on both within CDK and outside of it, including Sharepoint access consolidation and secure credit card storage, just to name a couple.
Efforts to consolidate banking services to use BMO exclusively are in progress, and a transition plan is set for May 1, 2024.
A consistent process for Wholegoods sales, including margin worksheets, is being aligned with the bundles project. This will provide improved efficiencies.
A comprehensive draft of our sales policies and procedures handbook is expected by July 2024, marking a significant step towards standardized operations.
We are working on a project to document a standardized process for ordering and receiving wholegoods inventory. This will be included in the Sales Policies and Procedure Handbook.
A revised program providing standard rental rates has been completed, ensuring uniform guidelines across all branches.
Further to our mandate, we plan to start the rebranding journey very soon. This will involve insights from both our customers and employees and help shape the future identity of our company.
A heartfelt congratulations to our tenured employees for their dedication and contributions:
Birthday wishes to people with birthdays in Q1:
Thank you for your hard work, commitment, and contribution to our success. Here’s to many more accomplishments together.
Warm regards,
Mike Correale
President, Douglas Lake Equipment and Avenue Machinery
