Vehicle Service Group (VSG), a new holding company announced by Dover Industrial Products in May 2009, is up and running. VSG combines Rotary Lift and Chief Automotive Technologies, along with six other leading global brands of vehicle lifts and service equipment: Forward Lift, Direct Lift, Revolution, Hanmecson, nogra and Blitz.

In the new structure, the brands operate relatively independently, with each having its own product portfolio, distribution channel and sales team. The VSG umbrella enables the brands to collaborate, leveraging core competencies in areas such as manufacturing, new product development, engineering and quality control to best serve their customers, according to the group.

The brands also share “back office” operations like marketing, human resources and finance. The organization has spent the last several months assimilating Chief, a leading global collision-repair equipment brand. This consolidation was completed ahead of schedule and was transparent to customers.

In order to accommodate the relocation of the Chief business to VSG’s Madison, Ind., campus, one of its administrative/manufacturing buildings is being remodeled to serve as Chief’s new headquarters. Chief pulling equipment and computerized measuring systems are being manufactured in VSG’s ISO 9001-certified facilities in both Madison, Ind., and Haimen, China.

The new Chief business team is in place, led by Mike Cranfill, VSG vice president of collision. Other key Chief representatives include Bob Holland, OEM and strategic accounts sales manager; John Cardell, eastern region sales manager; Pam Reilly, western region sales manager; T.J. Schultz, northern region and Canadian sales manager; Lee Daugherty, customer service manager; Richard Perry, manager of training and industry affairs; Mickey Swartz, director of engineering and technical support; and Brent Johnson, technical manager. The customer service/inside sales and technical support teams are now in place in Madison.

“The new team has really taken hold of the business and is moving it forward quickly,” says John Podczerwinski, VSG general manager for North and South America. “Not only have we smoothly integrated Chief into VSG, we also have implemented a number of improvements. For example, we are introducing new anchoring for the Kahuna lift/pulling
system at NACE this week. The corporate changes we’ve made will strengthen the ability of all our brands to better meet the needs of our customers.”

For more information about VSG, visit www.vsgdover.com or www.chiefautomotive.com.