A member of KION North America Corporation‘s dealer network, Homestead Materials Handling hosted an open house on Apr. 27 to mark the opening of its newest Virginia branch location in Ashland.

Homestead Materials Handling is a division of West Virginia-based Jefferds Corporation, which has been serving customers since 1947. Last July, the company announced plans to open three new full-service facilities over a period of 18 months. The Richmond location is the first of these to open. Locations in Chesapeake and Winchester are planned to open later this year.   The Ashland location is convenient to the Central Virginia area and offers KION North America’s Linde and Baoli product lines. Additionally, the branch location offers service, parts and rentals of material handling equipment.   “Homestead saw the investment the KION Group was making in North America, and in turn decided to reciprocate by investing in us by expanding their presence in their market,” said Mike Gore, vice president of sales at KION North America Corporation. Attendees from as far as southeast Virginia attended the open house which included a facility tour, equipment demonstrations, a forklift operator certification course and a barbeque lunch.   “The open house was a great success with several qualified leads resulting from it,” said Jason Anderson, branch manager of the new Ashland location. “We received very positive feedback on the Linde and Baoli product lines from a wide array of end users. It was the perfect opportunity to showcase what KION North America and Homestead Materials Handling bring to the Richmond market.”   The opening of this new full-service branch location is just one tangible example of the effort KION North America and members of the its nationwide dealer network are making in order to fulfill their long-term growth strategy in North America.