With its customization and flexibility, General Equipment & Supplies makes setting up portable aggregate processing plants easier with the correct machinery for local materials and climates.

“We provide plug and play, and we feel we do it better than anyone,” says Don Kern, Vice President of Aggregate Sales for General Equipment & Supplies in Fargo, North Dakota.

General contractors and crushing, mining, and oil exploration companies rely on General Equipment’s aggregate team to develop a processing plant to meet their needs. The company’s aggregate team ensures the cone and jaw crushers work seamlessly with screens and other equipment, working with a fabricator to marry the different components.

“The equipment we put together is customized for what we know about our own territory,” Kern says. “We are in a cold, wet, sticky climate with a lot of clay and a short season.”

General Equipment knows this part of the country well and how to help contractors and mining companies succeed.

“We have the glue to hold it all together and make it work properly,” Kern says.

Kern says, the company would not take a crusher developed in a dry climate and expect it to succeed in Minnesota or the Dakotas.

“It will not work,” he adds. “We have significant differences in materials and sources. If you do not recognize that, you end up with a subpar plant.”

General Equipment innovates for the aggregate industry and shares best practices.

“We are good at innovating because of our customers,” Kern says. “We listen to our customers and learn what their needs are. Through collaboration, we build something highly productive with low maintenance.”

The company offers for sale, rent or lease-to-own crushing, screening, material-handling equipment and power generation.

“Most of our projects start as a rental or rental to purchase,” Kern says. “We are flexible and do whatever works for the customer.”

General Equipment invests heavily in the latest aggregate machinery, so customers have many options to choose from. But the company’s advantages do not stop with the sale or rental.

“The things that set our company apart are our parts and service departments and product support,” Kern says.

The company employs long-tenured technicians and electricians who can set up, maintain, and repair the equipment on the clients’ sites. Equipment also can be brought into one of the service shops. However, technicians are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week for on-site emergency repairs, which reduces any downtime.

Four employees of the former General Diesel and Equipment founded General Equipment & Supplies in 1984, with one location in Fargo, North Dakota, and 22 employees.

“General Equipment focuses on building meaningful relationships by earning trust,” Kern says. “We pride ourselves on asking the right questions and providing creative solutions.”

Second-generation of the founders continue to lead the company, which has grown to 12 locations in the northern United States and Canada. Offices are located in Fargo, Minot, Bismarck and Williston, North Dakota; Rapid City and Sioux Falls, South Dakota; Shakopee, Duluth and Hibbing, Minnesota; Urbana, Iowa; and Regina and Winnipeg in Canada. General Equipment employs more than 250 people.

Those employees live by the company’s core values: “Work hard, do the right thing, be innovative and have passion,” says Anna Hettenbaugh, Marketing Manager for General Equipment.

“We hire and promote based on our core values,” she says. “Our company culture is closely aligned with those values.”

It is evident talking with Kern that he is passionate about his work.

“I love crushing,” Kern says. “Real people doing real work is exciting. There is nothing more satisfying than crushing rock. We build purposeful plants and use the best components to enable our customers to be highly successful.”