General Equipment Guyana Ltd (GENEQUIP) last evening commissioned its new energy efficient and state-of-the-art dealership facility at Houston Industrial Site. The opening of the new facility, the company said, illustrates its commitment to investing in Guyana.
Construction started last September and was completed recently. The dealership is constructed on a two-acre plot of land, with the building measuring 400 feet in length and 800 feet in width.
At the opening ceremony, it was revealed that the new building boasts a 4,000 square foot showroom, a warehouse of 5,300 square feet, a 14,000 square foot workshop and 650 square foot training facility. The investment is pegged at just over a million US dollars.
General Manager, Schelte van Dijk, last evening said the decision to undertake the construction of a new facility resulted from the need to create a better working and shopping environment.
“I think we needed better facilities to maintain this type of equipment, better facilities to support our customers and lastly to give our staff a really good environment to work in. We can better serve our customers under these circumstances, it is pleasant to work and transact business…” he explained.
The general manager added that the new building is also equipped with facilities to serve the emerging oil and gas sector.
“With the future of oil and gas here, we went the extra mile by preparing the facility and making it compliant to serve the oil and gas sector,” he said.
Proprietor of the company, Renger van Dijk, in his opening remarks noted that the company, over the years, grew from providing machinery for the agricultural and construction sector to providing mining, power generation, material handling equipment and most recently added marine equipment to their list. He pointed out that while marine equipment is the newcomer to their line of products, he foresees the addition to be beneficial to the company, with oil and gas services being required.
According to the owner, his company managed to stay in business and continuously grow because of the after sale services offered to customers. He noted that they are continuously training their staff to provide efficient and reliable services to their customers.
Renger van Dijk said that they have also been working with the Government Technical Institute closely through their apprenticeship programme, taking the cream of the crop as part of their team. He also announced that they will soon partner with Maptal Marine Institute to provide training of apprentices to work in their marine department.
It was stated that GENEQUIP being an Original Equipment Manufacturer of certified equipment, is constantly involved in providing training to all its staff members through manufacturer’s universities. Most recently, two staff members were able to attend a training session in Minnesota, USA at the Stamford AvK Training facility.
Renger van Dijk added that while the oil and gas sector is promising, there are challenges. He lamented that his company has lost several experienced and knowledgeable mechanics to the oil industry.
Since moving to the new facility, the company said they have created new jobs and currently have in their employ 70 persons.
Energy efficient
Touching on the company’s energy efficiency, the General Manager explained that despite the building being 36,000 square feet, it consumes the energy of a residential property. He noted that it was a factor they focused on during construction.
“This new building is energy efficient, the racking system we utilise in the warehouse are very up to date with international standards. We used inverter type Air Conditioning units and fans, LED lights, motion sensing lights, paneled roof and insulated side walls, so we consume the same amount of power a small house would,” he said. He added that in the near future, they will consider powering the building with solar panels.
New technologies
Additionally, the company announced that they have partnered with John Deere to carry out smart technologies testing on sugar cane and rice farms. This will allow farmers to maximise their yields and optimise their returns.
“We have started with 150 hectares of test farm where we are testing simple technologies for sugar cultivation and harvesting. We are working with local farmer Premraj Ramraj on this project. The data collected will be shared with other farmers to aid in their farm operations and soon [we will begin] another test farm for rice cultivation…” Director of Sales, Shadra Shoo said.
He also announced that they will be introducing a new Komatsu smart construction package, which will help contractors to safely monitor staff requirements, machinery use and materials.
The new dealership facility is the first to be built at the Houston Industrial Site, which is accessible through South Ruimveldt from the Mandela back road. The company first established its presence here in 1992 at Water Street, Kingston, Georgetown.
