Woodland Equipment Expands into Lower Michigan

Woodland Equipment recently held an open house event to mark the opening of a second location.

Woodland Equipment has been in business for more than 40 years. Ron Beauchamp Jr. succeeded his father, who still works in the business, in 2014.

Ron has expanded the business, adding new lines of equipment. Woodland Equipment became a dealer for Tigercat in 2016, serving all of Michigan and 90 percent of Wisconsin. “Tigercat is a premium design,” noted Ron, “engineered for strength and durability.”

The company’s original location is in Iron River, Michigan, on the Upper Peninsula. Ron continues to grow and expand Woodland Equipment to serve the logging industry and recently added a second location. The new location is in Gaylord, which is in the northern portion of lower Michigan.

Ron explained his reasoning. The distance from Iron River to the Mackinac Bridge, which connects the Upper Peninsula to Lower Michigan, is a little over 200 miles. “To really service the Lower Michigan marketplace,” said Ron, “I felt we needed to add a second store. Customers want you close by for parts and service, and they want to know you’re not going to fold up your tent and leave.” He and his wife are already working at the new location full-time and are in the process of moving to the area; and service personnel are traveling from Iron River to work at the new location as needed.

Ron bought an existing building in Gaylord from a construction company, and it has five service bays for servicing and repairing equipment. He is in the process of hiring full-time employees for parts and service. Ron will continue to split time between stores to foster communication and consistency, but has already hired additional staff for the Iron River location to serve the UP and Wisconsin markets.

The company held a grand opening for the new location in June that was attended by a few hundred customers and other loggers as well as key Tigercat personnel.

The Tigercat brand is proving itself in the Great Lakes region, according to Ron. “We invested time to establish a Tigercat presence. Tigercat machines are proving their performance. Now we’ve got traction.”

Tigercat has 10 manufacturing facilities in southern Ontario. They are only a five hour drive from Gaylord, noted Ron. “That’s a distinct advantage for customers,” he said.

The proximity to southern Ontario has allowed Ron to arrange group tours of the Tigercat manufacturing plants. The tours have been effective in marketing the brand, said Ron, educating and informing loggers about the design and manufacturing of the machines. “Everyone who has attended has come away with appreciation for Tigercat’s commitment to building the best machines possible. Every single customer has said the time was very well spent” he reported. The next one is scheduled after the upcoming Great Lakes trade show.

Tigercat manufactures its own parts wherever possible, noted Ron, including the skidder bogies. It gives them greater control over the quality and problem resolution process, he added. If a part fails, they can analyze their design and manufacturing processes to determine if there is a flaw and correct it. In-house manufacturing allows Tigercat to control their own destiny on quality, strength, and durability – which ultimately benefits the customer.

Woodland Equipment is also a dealer for TimberPro logging equipment as well as four manufacturers of felling heads and processing attachments: Risley, Log Max, Quadco, and Kesla.

For more information on Woodland Equipment and its product lines, visit www.WoodlandEquipment.com or call (906) 265-9904 for the Iron River location.