Doubling up down the road.

Keeping up with customer demand is the fuel behind a major expansion project at Nickel City International Truck Centre in Sudbury.

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The dealership is more than doubling its parts, service and sales space with a new addition and interior refurbishment, moving from 14,000-square-feet to 29,000-square-feet.

First established in 1989, the twice-expanded Sudbury dealer sells and services new and used International trucks and various makes of commercial trucks and parts.

The all-winter build is scheduled for a spring ribbon-cutting, says general manager Terry Descoteaux.

"We kind of burst before we grew (and) we outgrew the building a couple of years ago, and we kind of jammed ourselves in ... so we feel pretty comfortable that we can handle the growth."

Some interior work will take place to make room for the installation of drive-through doors and six service bays.

"It's a three-part expansion. We're growing the parts department and completing the addition on the service department, then demolishing the whole inside of the existing facility and we're putting in drive-through doors.

"Our whole old dealership is going to be converted into service bays as well."

Descoteaux says the 33-employee workforce has added two people within the last two months and likely will add more.

"We can see (further hiring) continuing to grow mostly through our service network, hopefully adding more technicians."

Meeting customer demand is the reason behind the expansion, says Descoteaux.

"We've been fortunate enough to grow our businesses over the last (few) years," in acquiring their current Falconbridge Road building in 1991 "and we've been fortunate enough to grow out of it."

"Our ownership has given us the ability to grow to satisfy our customers' demands, and, really, you have to drive volume to be profitable in this business. It's a tough business where margins have gone down so you have to replace that with volume."

Descoteaux cannot point to one aspect of the business as being the backbone, but says all three departments-sales, service and parts-have shown continuous improvement over the last decade. To survive in this market they have to demonstrate a willingness to expand.

The refurbished shop will include the latest cabinetry and modular-type shelving for greater utilization of their parts space, a state-of-the-art garage hoist, a pit for servicing trucks, and all the latest tools for their mechanics.

Just prior to press time, Northern Ontario Business learned a Dec. 24 fire at Nickel City International caused about $6 million in damages. Investigations into the cause of the fire were still continuing in late December.

By IAN ROSS

Northern Ontario Business