As Carolina Handling, one of the Southeast’s leading material handling solution providers, celebrates its 55th anniversary and the latest round of industry awards, Brent Hillabrand, its President and CEO, sees three key reasons for the company’s continued success and growth.

“Companies are facing significant material handling challenges due to the rapid growth in e-commerce, increasingly complex operational demands and continuous pressures to limit costs and find greater efficiencies,” Hillabrand explained. 

“There is tremendous growth in intralogistics and automation. We can use our experience and expertise to help them organize data into meaningful and actionable business metrics. We will continue to invest more and more on equipment monitoring and automatic data-capturing solutions.”

Excellence

After starting with just five associates working in an old gas station in 1966, the company has grown to nearly 600 associates, including more than 300 service technicians, as it operates centers in Atlanta, GA; Birmingham, AL; Charlotte, Greensboro and Raleigh, NC; and Greenville, SC, together with an equipment distribution center in Piedmont, SC. 

Through five decades of business and technology cycles, including the dot-com bust, 9/11, the 2008 recession and COVID-19, the company’s constant commitment to excellence and service has made Carolina Handling one of the largest, fastest-growing material handling organizations in the country. 

“We are committed to excellence, innovation and mutually beneficial relationships, and our associates are the common thread in all three aspects of our success,” noted Hillabrand.

The company is the exclusive Raymond Solutions and Support Center in the Southeast for North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama and Florida’s Central time zone territory. 

Earlier this year, it was awarded the prestigious MVP (Most Valuable Partner) Award by the Material Handling Equipment Distributors association as one of the industry’s premier providers. The company recently earned its 30^th consecutive Raymond Dealer of Distinction Award and has also been named as one of Business North Carolina’s Top 125 Private Companies.

Empowerment

“We are committed to providing an environment that encourages associates to realize their full potential. Every associate has the opportunity for ongoing personal development and advancement. In turn, our associates are passionate about helping our customers,” said Hillabrand. 

Carolina Handling associates receive some of the most comprehensive training and career development support within the industry.

The company maintains an average on-site time for technicians of just 1.1 hours from the initial request, and nearly 90 percent of calls are completed on the first visit.