Southeast Industrial Equipment Inc.

About Southeast Industrial Equipment Inc.

Southeast Industrial Equipment Inc. (SIE) is one of the Southeast’s largest material handling equipment dealers. Our company has 10 branches in four states — North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia and Georgia — and we are expanding to more states soon! SIE employs more than 415 associates, with more than 200 of them being road service technicians. Our technicians travel to customer locations to repair and maintain forklifts and other material handling equipment.

SIE is a second-generation, family-owned operation that has been in business as a Toyota forklift dealership since 1987. Steve Thorne purchased the company in 1994 with the goal of growing the business while still maintaining a family atmosphere. In 2006, Steve turned over the day-to-day operations to his son, Cory Thorne. Under Cory’s leadership, SIE has continued to evolve as the premier supplier of quality equipment and superior services in the material handling industry.

Our Values

Our philosophy is that our associates are our biggest asset. Providing a safe, secure and rewarding work environment is part of our mission statement. We strive to hire for attitude and aptitude, and we value honesty, work ethic, teamwork, customer focus and continuous improvement. Our daily decisions are based on our Pillars of Performance.

SIE’s four Pillars of Performance are:

• Safety, above all else
• Courtesy
• Efficiency
• Definitive Care

Our Culture

As a family-owned business, we believe in treating our associates like family and in giving back as much as we can. Our president likes to say, “When the company does well, our associates do too.” Associates often receive bonuses when the company has a good month of performance.

We call ourselves the “SIE Family,” and we like to get together as much as we can. We encourage each of our locations to have group outings or events, and often they are family friendly. We also have a companywide year-end party with accommodations, awards, nice door prizes, dinner and dancing!

What We’re Looking For

We’re looking for self-motivated, reliable candidates with a thirst for knowledge to work on all types of forklifts and material handling equipment. The ideal candidate will have a strong mechanical aptitude, a passion for tinkering and working on things in their spare time, and familiarity with basic tools and troubleshooting. Excellent communication skills are needed to successfully interact with co-workers, managers and customers.

An automotive technician’s knowledge, skills and abilities can often be applied to forklifts. SIE pays an hourly rate, not a flat rate per job like the automotive industry, so our technicians get paid for the time they put in. Forklift technicians typically work regular business hours and enjoy a Monday-through-Friday workweek.

What We’re Offering

We will provide on-the-job training for students and the opportunity for graduates to jump-start their careers as a full-time employee with SIE at an above-average starting pay rate. Our full-time technicians receive paid training by certified in-house trainers, iPads, tools, safety boots, safety glasses and laundered uniforms. Road technicians are also equipped with a cell phone, company van and gas card.

(Early Employment program graduates at SIE.EE will be awarded tuition reimbursement of $300 per month for five years, starting six months after graduation.)

What We Require to Receive Incentives

Students must have worked at SIE part time (20 hours per week) as a developmental technician while in school completing the NASCAR Technical Institute/Universal Technical Institute program.

Students must be in good standing with SIE and UTI, must graduate with at least a 3.0 GPA, and while at SIE must be punctual and maintain good work attendance.

(Tuition will be reimbursed if these requirements are met, and ONLY for as long as the graduate is employed with SIE.EE full time.)