Everyday Heroes: Meet Finning's service ... - Finning Canada

Meet the customers’ needsThe 1960s boom saw Finning customers undertakemajor dam and highway constructionprojects. Machine populations were alsogrowing in other areas of B.C. In response,the company launched a capital expendituresprogram, moving to a new head officeand service facility on Great Northern Way. In1965 Earl Finning passed away and, four yearslater, Finning Tractor & Equipment CompanyLtd. became a publicly traded company, a raremove for a Caterpillar dealership.TAKE FLIGHT: The Finning plane heads out on a service callREMEMBER WHEN…Serve where the action isFinning continued to expand throughout the1940s and ’50s as Caterpillar’s product linebroadened. Finning technicians delivered productsupport to customers’ doorsteps, often makingfield calls in float planes. And mobile partsdepots, stocked with more than 500 differentitems, supported customers in remote areas.Caterpillar introduced 16 new products in 1959and 1960. With a new engine plant at Mossville,Illinois, Caterpillar intended to become theworld’s largest manufacturer of diesel engines.Finning grew in response.SIGN OF THE TIMES: To make the move to newpremises on Great Northern Way, the Finning signis removed at 940 Station StreetLOOK WAY UP: A high rigger for the HillcrestLumber Company at work at Mesachie Lake, nearCowichan on Vancouver Island in 1948PLAY THE PIPES: Mannix Ltd. Cat pipelayers onthe West Coast Transmission Line project, 1971www.finning.ca Spring 2008 • TRACKS & TREADS 15