MHC Kenworth-Oklahoma City recently celebrated its opening as MHC Kenworth’s newest and most environmentally-friendly dealership among its 41 Kenworth locations with a grand opening that drew more than 500 people. The grand opening featured a trade fair with 18 vendors and a ribbon-cutting ceremony attended by MHC Kenworth executives Tim Murphy, Mike Murphy, Ken Hoffman, Dave Douglas, Mike Bozzoli and Jeff Johnson.
Representing Kenworth Truck Co. were Bill Kozek, Kenworth general manager and Paccar vice president; and Gary Moore, Kenworth assistant general manager of marketing and sales. Andy Douglas, Kenworth national sales manager for specialty markets, made a special presentation on compressed natural gas and liquefied natural gas-powered Kenworth trucks and provided an update on efforts in Congress to pass national legislation encouraging the use of alternative fuel vehicles.
“We’re pleased so many of our customers joined us in celebrating the opening of our new facility,” said Tim Murphy, MHC Kenworth president. “We were proud to show them the green technology that will reduce our carbon footprint.” The multimillion dollar MHC Kenworth-Oklahoma City features energy-saving green technology in a nearly 100,000-square-foot facility located on 15 acres adjacent to U.S. Interstate 40.
The new location offers a service shop with 26 service bays and a body shop with 18 bays. The parts department features nearly 4,400 square feet of parts display space and 31,000 square feet devoted to a parts warehouse. “To meet our longstanding mission of providing best-in-class service, we needed to significantly expand our dealership in Oklahoma City,” Murphy said. “This new facility offers nearly triple the amount of space for sales, parts and service that we had at our previous location.”
The building uses a geothermal system designed to keep the ambient air temperature more consistent, reducing the amount of fuel and electricity needed to heat and cool the building. The building also features a heating system that burns recycled engine oil, motion-controlled lights that turn off and on in response to available natural light and translucent hollow-core overhead doors in the body and service departments designed to allow natural light to illuminate those areas without affecting air temperature.
The MHC Kenworth- Oklahoma City service department is designed to maximize functionality and productivity by making the work area more efficient for service technicians. The parts department is located in close proximity to the service department so shop technicians can access the parts they need more easily, particularly high-usage parts. “For our customers, that means their trucks spend less time in our shop and more time out on the road making money,” said Dave Douglas, vice president.
The dealership – which also offers Kenworth PremierCare parts and service programs and a Paccar Leasing (PacLease) franchise – is open 24 hours, seven days a week. The phone number is 888-823-3768 (toll free) or 405-717-4500. Key personnel include Jack Constant, branch manager; John Burns, service manager; Shane Obannon, parts manager; Joel Heat, body shop manager; and Brad Brooks, used truck sales manager.
MHC Kenworth-Oklahoma City is part of MHC Kenworth, which operates 41 Kenworth dealerships in 10 states. Earlier this year, MHC Kenworth Colorado was named 2010 Kenworth Dealer of the Year for the United States and Canada. “Our ability to make a significant investment in this new location is a tribute to the work of our employees,” Murphy said. “It’s our employees, who continue to maintain a strong reputation of service among our customers by offering them stellar service, who made this possible.”
