DEALE R PROFI LE
DEALE R PROFI LE
Roland Mach i nE ry co.
Ge n e ral Equ ipme nt
/ G e n eral Aggregate
President Matt Roland (left), and Dan Smith, General Manager for Product Support, are snowbound with an ESCO excavator bucket on their lot in Springfield.
Vice President of Service, Steve Stafki (left), and President, Don Shilling (right).
HEADQUARTERS: Springfield, Illinois, U SA
HEADQUARTERS: Fargo, North Dakot a, U SA
Employees: 3 00
Employees: 25 0+
LEADERSHIP: Matt and Ray Roland
LEADERSHIP: Don Shilling, President
ESCO DEALER: 55 years
ESCO DEALER: 29 Years
General Equipment’s Fargo Headquarters
Matt Roland has construction in his blood. His company, and
his family, served the industry before he was even born. “My
grandfather started this company in 1958.”
A father-son team, (Ray Roland, CEO, and Matt Roland,
President), now lead Roland Machinery Company. For more
than 55 years, heavy equipment customers have trusted the
team at Roland. The company has grown to 300 people at
15 locations across Illinois, Wisconsin, Indiana and Missouri.
Roland Machinery has been recognized as an “ESCO Top
Dealer” for a number of years. According to Matt, their
commitment to ESCO is simple. “We’ve been an ESCO
dealer long before I was even in the business.”
“ESCO is known for its quality products first and foremost.
But ESCO separates itself by customer service. We don’t
have many issues, but when we do, ESCO comes out full
force to make a customer happy – which makes a dealer
happy. When a dealer promotes a product, we choose
manufacturers who stand behind their products.”
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THE EDGE | MARCH 2014
For this reason, Matt says the ESCO products sold at Roland
end up in a lot of Midwestern quarries. And the products
last a long time. His customers work with black dirt and
limestone, which is not very abrasive to the products, so the
components need to last a long time in their territory.
“Fundamentally, not much has changed since my grandfather
ran the company. Customers are always cost-conscious, but
at the end of the day it is about the relationships between
the customer, the dealer and the manufacturer,” said Matt.
“ESCO spends time in the field where other manufacturers
have moved away from that model. I can attribute our longterm success to that time spent in the trenches together.”
“
ESCO spends time in
the field where other
manufacturers have moved
away from that model.
”
General Equipment & Supplies (General Equipment) opened
its doors 30 years ago in 1984 with a handful of employees in
North Dakota. The company grew quickly within the Dakotas
and across nearby Minnesota, Iowa and Nebraska – as well as
reaching north into Canada when it opened new locations as
General Aggregate Equipment Sales (General Aggregate).
Stafki points out that the company’s success comes from
delivering reliable service through outstanding product support
and by offering the finest, most reliable lines of equipment,
motors, generators and trailers. “And, with ESCO, you can’t just
call out one or two g