By James Feichtner
Businesses that have been around in Fishers during its last several decades of growth know first-hand how far the city has come. For Mid-State Truck Equipment owner Mike Eby, his experience with the growth has not only realized change in the city but with his business, as well.
“I think I was very lucky that when I went to work here as shop foreman in ’82 that it was in Fishers, Indiana,” Eby said. “When I first came here I thought this was a farm community, and it was, but growing up with the city of Fishers has been a real pleasure.”
After more than three decades in Fishers, Mid-State Truck Equipment is continuing to expand its location within the city. MSTE has just broken ground on a new building at their current location of 11020 Allisonville Rd.,
“It’s and upgrade and expansion,” Eby said. “We have one location here in Fishers. We’ve been at this location 34 years as Mid-State Truck Equipment. We’ve been basically operating in the same buildings all these years. So we’re finally making an expansion. We’re moving a couple of the old warehouses and after we get the new building built we’ll eliminate the old farmhouse at the front of the property, which is our offices.”
With a budget of approximately $1.1 million, Eby’s goal is to utilize the new, larger building, for increased operating efficiency within the business.
“What we’re looking at now is just efficiency, a little more room to get jobs done. The building is 25 feet wider, so the bays are going to be larger,” he said. “It gives more ability to wrestle with each truck in the bay, bring equipment in and get things in a closer mode. With the office in a separate building, warehouses in a separate buildings, the shop in a separate building; we’re going to bring it all together. I think that will pick up a lot of efficiencies.”
Since Eby’s ownership of MSTE in Fishers, growth for the company has continued to improve both in revenue and in staff.
“We were extremely small,” Eby said. “We started out with five employees. I think our total sales were $350,000. Now we’re running at probably close to 20 employees this year. The neat part about it is we have a lot of Fishers residents that work here now. We’re staying busy. We’ve broken ground on this new building and we’re looking to expand, get bigger and add employees. We’re anxious and excited.”
The company has not only expanded in Fishers, but has built a great working relationship with the city, as well.
“They’ve been my number one, two and three customer,” Eby said. “We do a lot for the city of Fishers specifically in their snow and ice equipment; their turf equipment like mowers and things like that. They are a great customer as well as a great city to be in. It’s tough; to build a building in Fishers, it’s not like it used to be 20 years ago. It’s taken a long time to get to this stage, but, overall, everybody we’ve dealt with in city council and the mayor has been pretty helpful.”
The new building is expected to be finished early next year.
For more, visit mid-statetruck.com
