On November 17, 2015 Link-Belt Construction Equipment officials dedicated a new Training and Quality Assurance Center at Link-Belt headquarters in Lexington, Kentucky. Dedication remarks were made by Shunsuke Betsukawa, CEO/President of Sumitomo Heavy Industries (SHI), Link-Belt’s parent company based in Tokyo, Japan. A ribbon cutting was then conducted by Mr. Betsukawa along with other members of Link-Belt and SHI executive staff.
The new 30,000 square foot, $5.5 million training facility will be utilized for both training and quality assurance. The expansion will house three classrooms, labs and high bays to accommodate any size Link-Belt crane and brings Link-Belt’s total manufacturing space to over 1,000,000 square feet. Officials broke ground for the building on June 1st, 2015 and the new facility is set to open completely in January, 2016.
“Link-Belt’s focus and commitment to training is at an all-time high. These new facilities punctuate the growth and commitment to training our dealers, their customers and our employees,” said Link-Belt CEO/President Chuck Martz.
Link-Belt will be able to offer multiple courses weekly for its distributor service, parts and sales personnel along with course offerings for its Link-Belt Preferred crane owners. The majority of these courses focuses on operation and maintenance of the Link-Belt product line and will include much more hands-on activities to enhance the learning experience. The facility will also have a space for technical training for Link-Belt’s production personnel.
Rigorous testing of newly designed parts and ultimately new models will also be housed in the new facility. This quality assurance will be a cooperative effort between Link-Belt’s design, quality, manufacturing and training groups.
