Finning’s move from Vernon to Kelowna now official
Finning spent many years in Vernon but closed up shop there last summer and moved to Kelowna.
While the industrial equipment dealer's Kelowna branch opened in September, the official and private grand opening is Saturday, April 22.
“The building is new but a lot of the staff are the same and the facility is state of the art compared to the older building we had in Vernon,” Carla Leddy, service support administrator for the new plant told iNFOnews.ca.
The facility at 2070 Matrix Cres. in Kelowna's Airport Industrial Park is also the new home for the Cat Rental Store that had been in West Kelowna.
“We sell heavy duty Caterpillar machines,” Leddy said. “It’s a full service shop and we have technicians working out in the field repairing equipment.”
"Our new location is centrally located in the Okanagan Valley to better support our customers from Osoyoos to Salmon Arm and Nakusp to the Connector," Shawn McGuire, senior public relations advisor with Finning, said in an email to iNFOnews.ca.
"Our 11,305 square foot facility employees 25 staff and is more environmentally friendly. The pre-cast concrete design offers improved heating, cooling and energy efficiency. Other features include high efficiency lighting, motion sensors and on-site renewable energy."
The Saturday grand opening is by invitation only to staff and clients. It coincides with the 90th anniversary of Finning.
READ MORE: EV truck factory announces grand opening in Kelowna next week
The company was founded by Earl Finning who had worked as a salesman for the Caterpillar Tractor Co. in California before moving to Vancouver where, in 1933, he started a small business selling and servicing heavy equipment, according to the Finning website.
Finning now has a global reach and employs more than 12,000 people worldwide with its main operations in Canada, the United Kingdom and South America.
To contact a reporter for this story, email Rob Munro or call 250-808-0143 or email the editor. You can also submit photos, videos or news tips to the newsroom and be entered to win a monthly prize draw.
We welcome your comments and opinions on our stories but play nice. We won't censor or delete comments unless they contain off-topic statements or links, unnecessary vulgarity, false facts, spam or obviously fake profiles. If you have any concerns about what you see in comments, email the editor in the link above.
