RDO Equipment Co. Celebrates Facility Expansion in Mankato, Minn.
RDO Equipment invested in its Mankato, Minn., store for John Deere Construction, Wirtgen Group and Vermeer equipment and technology, expanding its service shop and warehouse and refreshing its interior space.
Dan Lingen, RDO Mankato’s general manager, marked the completion of Mankato’s heavy equipment store and service shop expansion to meet area contractors’ needs as they continue to build their communities.
“The store expansion and renovation are an investment in our team and, in turn, Mankato and surrounding communities,” Lingen said during the store’s official grand reopening and customer appreciation event. "We have a lot of long-time customers doing vital work to build this growing region. RDO has always been committed to providing premium equipment and excellent service to meet their needs and now we have a facility to match. This is a space where our team members can grow their skills and careers while being true partners to those customers building our world.”
Lingen explained that RDO reinvested in the store because of its long history of partnering with regional contractors, as Mankato and its surrounding areas have consistently grown over time. These updates to the store not only enhance the efficiency of technicians' environments but also expand customers' and team members’ gathering spaces.
“We’ve tripled our service shop and parts warehouse’s square footage,” Lingen said. “Now, we can accommodate any John Deere, Vermeer or Wirtgen Group machines of all sizes, and comfortably provide world-class service safely.”
The larger shop includes three more service bays and an increased parts inventory, as the Mankato store recently added the Wirtgen Group machines to its service and support capabilities. The front of the building now includes updated amenities like a conference room, a formal break room, a training area and a sales bullpen.
“These amenities in our store and service shop create a top-tier experience for our customers,” Lingen said. “Our team members take pride in partnering with expert contractors as they grow with their greater community of Mankato.”
RDO acquired the John Deere construction equipment store and shop in 1992, which has now spent more than 50 years partnering with regional contractors to build their communities. In fact, A&B Systems Inc., an established Minnesota contractor with strong roots in Mankato, built the original store.
Today, more than 22 dedicated team members work together to be the one-stop shop for equipment, maintenance and technology.
About the Author
Michael Roth
Editor
Michael Roth has covered the equipment rental industry full time for RER since 1989 and has served as the magazine’s editor in chief since 1994. He has nearly 30 years experience as a professional journalist. Roth has visited hundreds of rental centers and industry manufacturers, written hundreds of feature stories for RER and thousands of news stories for the magazine and its electronic newsletter RER Reports. Roth has interviewed leading executives for most of the industry’s largest rental companies and manufacturers as well as hundreds of smaller independent companies. He has visited with and reported on rental companies and manufacturers in Europe, Central America and Asia as well as Mexico, Canada and the United States. Roth was co-founder of RER Reports, the industry’s first weekly newsletter, which began as a fax newsletter in 1996, and later became an online newsletter. Roth has spoken at conventions sponsored by the American Rental Association, Associated Equipment Distributors, California Rental Association and other industry events and has spoken before industry groups in several countries. He lives and works in Los Angeles when he’s not traveling to cover industry events.