posted on March 10, 2016 12:57
From Texas Contractor, February 2016
When Marty Robertson and Gary Humphreys, Managing Partners, bought Vista Sand in 2011 they knew there were a couple of things they needed to take care of in order to grow their business, replace the worn out mixed fleet they inherited in the purchase and have someone manage it for them. The solution was hiring Ron Lee, Director of Mining and Fleet Assets, in 2013 and creating a partnership with an equipment dealer who could maintain the equipment at minimal downtime.
Lee evaluated the equipment and recommended to the partners to allow him to create an equipment cycling process: purchase new equipment from a local dealer, trade the equipment and purchase more equipment all while working with the dealer to keep meticulous service and repair records. According to Lee, he was establishing a reputation for Vista Sand as a company that takes care of its equipment and to extract more value through trade-in or used equipment sales. While it would cost more upfront, long-term ownership would be much less. Based on Lee’s 20 years of earthmoving experience, he recommended Cat® as the natural choice. “We have faith, based upon years of experience, in Cat products, the dealer and supply network,” said Lee. “It didn’t take long before the company was convinced that HOLT CAT was the right partner for Vista Sand.”
According to Lee, HOLT CAT was able to sell the inherited fleet and even sold some of the equipment overseas. By reducing the fleet, the company was able to purchase all new Cat equipment and have it exclusively serviced by HOLT. Vista Sand currently has two full time HOLT CAT resident technicians that handle most repairs onsite. If a unit requires shop service, it is shipped to the nearest HOLT CAT facility where repairs will be made by a Cat trained and certified technician, in a contamination controlled environment, using OEM parts backed by Cat with HOLT CAT quality. “While other brands may have had a lower initial purchase price, Cat equipment, purchased through HOLT CAT, has consistently over time provided Vista Sand with the lowest operating cost,” said Lee. He explains further how HOLT CAT parts and service helps keep their equipment running, reducing downtime. “HOLT asked us what parts we needed regularly stocked and ordered them regardless of added cost in increased inventory levels for them.”
Vista Sand is located one hour south of Fort Worth, in Granbury, Texas, and is ranked as an industry leader in indus-trial silica sand solution for oil and gas fracturing and building products. To-day, the company owns 35 Cat machines to include dozers, trucks, motor graders, excavators, wheel loaders and skid steer loaders. The machines perform many tasks such as hauling and blend-ing sand, road reclamation, construction and maintenance. “Cat equipment and HOLT’s support gives us a competitive edge. Our availability in material is 18% to 20% higher than it would be without our partnership with HOLT,” said Lee.
When asked how HOLT CAT compares to other equipment dealers, Lee said “That’s a simple answer! There is no comparison when you look at the product they offer and the level of dealer sup-port we consistently receive from HOLT CAT.” According to Lee, the company has never worked with a dealer where the entire dealership from sales to service to technical support, seems to be all fully committed to Vista Sand’s business. “The HOLT team will do whatever it takes to keep us up and running,” said Lee. “I have worked with many Cat dealers in the past 20 years, but have never met a dealer whose sales department stays as involved in the service side as HOLT CAT does.” Vista Sand needed to find a partner that could help them with their plans for substantial growth and they found that partner in HOLT CAT and this has been acknowledged all the way to the top. Lee adds, “We could not have gotten where we are today without HOLT CAT.”
Lee explains how HOLT is not only a partner but also a friend and consultant. “Our relationship is not just about equipment. It is a true partnership,” said Lee. He adds that he has called Michael Grimm, Vice President of Machine Sales, Sean Lothery, Regional Sales Manager and Joe Anselmi, Account Sales Representative from HOLT CAT, on many occasions to discuss things far beyond equipment. HOLT CAT does not sell Vista Sand equipment they do not need. Lee shares, “It’s like having an equipment consultant to guide us on equipment that better fits our operation. Why not utilize HOLT’s experience and knowledge to share ideas. I am dealing with one area in one state, while HOLT deals with a much larger area with similar customers.” Before Vista Sand partnered with HOLT CAT, they had some reservations about putting all of their trust in a single equipment dealer. “But the partnership we have with HOLT CAT on trade-ins, consignments, residence techs, parts and service has been phenomenal,” said Lee.
Anselmi explains another key connection, “Our partnership goes both ways, and Vista Sand has a lot of things in common with HOLT CAT. We both have a set of values that we take very seriously that empowers employees to drive organizational success and excellence in serving their customers.” Cecelia Brinke, Director of Human Resources at Vista Sand ex-plained the Vista Sand values statement is relatively new, will be soon communicated throughout the company and was derived from the company name, “VISTA stands for Vision, Integrity, Safety, Teamwork and Accountability. Brinke further adds, “It’s important to have a mission statement because employees need to know what our values are so that each department and individual can apply these principles when doing business.” HOLT CAT conducts business in a similar fashion and has five core values: Ethical - By doing the right thing, Success - By consistently achieving targeted goals, Excellence - By continually getting better, Commitment - By being here to stay and Dynamic - By pursuing strategic opportunities.
Brinke added, Vista Sand is part of the community and is very conscious of their responsibility whether it is from an environmental, regulatory or in doing the right thing with safety being a top priority. The company is proud that they have won two safety awards in the past two years. Vista Sand received the National Mining Association Sentinels of Safety Award, a prestigious industry award, presented to managing partner Humphreys in 2015 and won for its outstanding safety record (184,867 employee hours worked without a lost workday inquiry) in the “Large Bank or Pit category.” The company also received the Mine Safety Health Administration Award (MSHA).
It’s also important for Vista Sand to give back to the community. “We try to hire local people and within the surrounding counties. We train people to do their job whether it is driving haul trucks, operating equipment or administrative. We are always looking to hire new and energetic talent for our plant and are partnering with the military and other mines to promote opportunities in our area,” said Brinke.