Committed to Excellence

Michael Dougherty, a Chicago native, began his career in the material handling industry as a salesman for Yale’s equipment factory in the windy city. Michael quickly made his mark in the industry, consistently being recognized by Yale as one of the top seven salespeople in the country.

Michael moved to Ohio to assume the branch manager position for a Yale dealership in the Cincinnati area. He wisely recalls the important lessons gained from that experience. “It was a rude awakening. I learned the value of a friendly truck driver, a parts manager answering the phone in less than three rings, and a well-dressed sales person. All the parts must function together.”

In 1984, Michael Dougherty moved again, this time to Greensboro, North Carolina, where he purchased a small, struggling Yale dealership with a mere 10% market share. Along with a crew of only 16 employees, Michael doubled their market share within the first year of operations establishing Dougherty Equipment Company (DEC) as the #1 dealer from Greensboro to the coast of North Carolina and setting into motion a pattern of excellence and upward growth.

Yale approached Michael several times over the next few years, asking him to take over underperforming branches across the southeast. With each acquisition, Michael significantly boosted sales, raising each new branch into the Dealer of Excellence category.

By the year 2000, the company had grown to cover much of Virginia, the Carolinas, and a significant portion of eastern Georgia. DEC had once again reached new heights. It exceeded its sales goals, employed over 400 people, and in that year sold 2,200 new Yale trucks, the highest number of new trucks sold in a year by any dealer in the world. Despite all of the rapid growth and potential risks, Dougherty Equipment Company is still the unprecedented recipient of the Yale Dealer of Excellence award for ten consecutive years!

Throughout the company’s history, Michael has placed a tremendous emphasis on the customer. His core values of integrity, honesty, social commitment, and customer satisfaction have been passed on to his employees and are now an integral part of the company’s business philosophy.

Michael believes that focusing on these important values is what has brought DEC to the forefront of the material handling industry. According to him, that’s because, “business is still transacted based on relationships. Without a relationship, it’s a bottom-line transaction, and we aren’t bottom-line people. We are a customer first organization.”

Today, Michael Dougherty remains focused on ways the company can grow and remain strong in the face of new challenges. “We are constantly striving to improve our team and our processes to give our customers the highest quality service in our industry. We will never lose sight of our commitment to excellence.”