Eldridge Hi-Lite

The Quad City branch of Iowa Machinery was established in 1991 in Davenport Iowa on East 59^th street. We have physically moved our operation 4 times since finally settling in the Eldridge Blackhawk Industrial Park. Everyone has moved a household and we all know what a chore that can be. Try moving a business and keep the business operational at the same time. The number of times we have moved qualifies us as professional business movers. Iowa Machinery acquired C.E. Armstrong and Sons in 2000 and we in turn were acquired by MH in 2001. We have had as many as 12 employees right after the Armstrong acquisition but have stayed at 6 as we are now for most of that period. We moved into our current and permanent location in Eldridge in 2006. It has approximately 1,000 sq ft of office space, 2,500 sq ft of warehouse and a new 2,500 sq ft repair center/blade welding facility.

Our area of service is totally driven by our customers. We all know that our job is to get the customer what he needs when he needs it. We sell a multitude of industrial tools, tooling, machinery and services to our customers. All 6 of us realize we may have to wear different hats in order to perform our job. There is never a lack of things to do and it makes it much easier when everyone cooperates with each other.

 We have a total of 67 years experience in the Industrial Distribution business between the 6 employees, and cover the Eastern 1/3 of Iowa and the Mississippi River valley area in Illinois and Missouri.

We do have one official award given to our branch. It was awarded by the Rock Island Arsenal’s commander to us in 2004. It is the “Commanders Certificate of Appreciation” award given to suppliers that have performed in an outstanding manner to help complete a vital mission for the Arsenal. We were instrumental in supplying vital and difficult to find hardware and soft goods to retrofit the Humvees in Iraq and Afghanistan with armor plating to help protect our troops.

 As far as areas of interest go every June we are fortunate to have either the Navy Blue Angels or the Air Force Thunderbirds fly directly overhead for 3 days prior to the Quad City Air show. They practice their routine and get familiar with the area landmarks in preparation for the weekend shows. They fly as low as 200 feet above our building. We are only a mile from the Davenport airport and we are directly in their flight path. The Quad Cities also has the John Deere Classic Golf tournament every year which is a very big deal. Davenport is also the home of the St. Louis Cardinals minor league team the Quad City Bandits. They have one of the most modern ballparks in the country for single A baseball. Eldridge is also closing in on the 10 year mark for accident free work days.

Chicago baseball is definitely the most watched sport. Although there are 2 different “camps” in our branch most of us know that the “Cubs Rule and the Sox Drool”. We can agree that our favorite snack is pretzels. Unfortunately, we do not have a go-to Geek in Eldridge; we are definitely “geekless”. Tom Vanzuiden has been trained in how to free up our office printer but I don’t think that takes him to Geek status. We all have a sense of humor and share jokes and snappy “comebacks” throughout the week. We all believe that work is something we need to do so we might as well enjoy what we do and who we do it with. Jeff has said many times “If you don’t like what you’re doing, do something else.” I guess with 67 years of experience we must enjoy what we’re doing.