KOBELCO has announced that the first SK1000 demolition excavator in North America was delivered to Priestly Demolition Inc. (PDI); PDI purchased the massive 245,000 lb. demo machine from Robert Green Equipment Sales Ltd. The KOBELCO SK1000 is already working on site at the General Motors assembly plant in Oshawa, Ontario.
Ryan Priestly, President/Owner and Andrew Kelly, Equipment Manager/Master Mechanic of PDI first saw the SK1000 while visiting KOBELCO at ConExpo in March of 2014. Ken Folden, Canadian Service Rep for KOBELCO Construction Machinery USA, demonstrated the machine’s features to both Priestly and Kelly. “Ken emphasized the machine’s impressive ability of being assembled, moved, and up-and-running within hours. He sold us on its capabilities right there at the show,” says Priestly. “Two weeks later, Bob Green from Robert Green Equipment visited our office. I told him how impressed I was with the SK1000 and that I wanted to buy it from him.”
KOBELCO demolition machines are so massive that potential buyers of this equipment must go through a thorough safety process check. Before PDI was able to purchase the SK1000, the company needed to be certified by KOBELCO’s headquarters as a qualified buyer. Over the course of two days, a crew of engineers and KOBELCO representatives visited the PDI office in King, Ontario and observed PDI employees as they worked on their jobsites. “After the analysis was complete, the KOBELCO team expressed how impressed they were with PDI,” says Bob Green. “The engineers said PDI was the most professional demolition company they’d ever worked with in the demolition business.”
The negotiation process began following KOBELCO’s official certification of PDI as a qualified buyer. Several managers and executives from each party were present for the meetings that took place throughout the process. Pete Morita, President of KOBELCO USA, personally made several visits to Canada. “The process of negotiation is usually lengthy, but we were able to come to an agreement and made a final handshake on the sale in November,” says Morita. “The employees at PDI are experts in the field; plus, they’re a great group of people to work with. It was a pleasure to have the opportunity of doing business with them.” The negotiation process was brought to a close and PDI agreed to purchase the KOBELCO SK1000 from Robert Green Equipment Sales.
After the agreement was made, Priestly and Kelly completed a final inspection of the machine which was stored in Las Vegas following ConExpo. “I wanted to get into the operators seat and actually run the SK1000,” says Priestly. “Just as Ken told us at ConExpo, we were able to retract the machine’s extendibility, insert a separate boom attachment, and have the machine up and running within hours. We were amazed. At that point we couldn’t wait to bring the machine home and put it to work.” Transportation of the massive SK1000 demo excavator from Las Vegas to Ontario was handled by Landstar Transportation Systems and involved a total of 7 loads.
