W&B Service Company, Inc officially opened its newest Carrier Transicold sales facility in Houston, Texas. This is the third W&B distributor location in Houston since the company entered the market in 1991.
"This property allows us to provide greater level of customer service because of the efficiencies we gain through the increased area for service, installation, and parts warehousing," said Russ Mullennix, regional sales manager for W&B.
The facility is the largest in the 16-location W&B distributor and service center network that serves the south central US. Forty-eight employees work at the Houston location.
The official opening was celebrated by an inaugural ceremony and customer appreciation luncheon. The new sales and service facility is located on a 10-acre tract and contains 25,000 sq ft of climate-controlled building space - compared to 8,000 sq ft under two roofs in the old facility.
The new property has four buildings - a trailer repair shop, a parts warehouse and sales area, a clean room for refrigeration unit repair with attached offices, and a dedicated body and refrigeration unit installation building.
The new facility provides W&B with greater ability to stock refrigeration, body, and trailer parts.
"We have increased our Carrier Transicold parts inventory by more than 100%," Mullennix said. "Plus, we have the ability to double our capacity of available refrigeration unit inventory."
Space for repair and installation also has grown substantially. The new dealership has more space than the previous shop by 250%, Mullennix says.
"This has made it possible for us to add five new technicians. We plan to hire five more by the end of this calendar year," he said.
The facility was originally a holding of Waste Management Inc. W&B completed acquisition of the property at the end of 1999 and immediately began a program of extensive renovation and building additions.
W&B is a regional distributor for Carrier Transicold, Kidron bodies, and Wabash National Trailers, as well as other major products for the truck and trailer industry. o