A few days ago I wrote a post about a seized fireworks auction that we ran for the PA Department of General Services.  Well it all came down to working the phones and getting people excited about confiscated fireworks.  This isn’t a commodity that we see very often and we will be lucky if we run another auction for fireworks, but it just goes to show that anything can be sold at auction.  At the end of the day the results we great, the DGS was happy and the high bidder is going to have a great 4th of July!  Now fireworks aren’t exactly our specialty like machinery and rolling stock, but the fact of the mater is that PA had a problem and we provided them a solution.  My assumption is that in the past the DGS either sold these fireworks directly to a licensed firework buyer or they had a clucky bid/ask based process that I’m sure was more than a headache for someone whose job description isn’t selling fireworks.  So not only did we solve the problem of getting rid of the fireworks but we created a competitive bidding environment which always has positive results.  It will be interested to see what’s in store next from the DGS.  I thought that a church organ and pews would be the most interesting thing.  But then we were giving three trailer homes and fireworks. What’s next?

About a year ago, we made a presentation to Tower Automotive.  We were among at least 20 to 30 asset recovery groups that pitched them for their business, and out of all those groups they chose us.  What it really comes down to is that they trusted us to not only protect the integrity of their infrastructure, but that we were able to follow through on our commitment to service and results.  The fact is that we have a strong online presence which results in less overhead per project.  Anytime that we can built an auction in cyberspace, we make it more cost effective and are able to reach a greater buying group.

One of the things that we did for Tower was to build a mirror site for them.  This site looks and actually is part of our regular site, but is only accessible for specific Tower employees and buyers.  We have basically built them a virtual warehouse where we can internally re-deploy assets from one Tower facility to the other.  These assets are presented internally via our website and then they can be purchased from facility to facility.  Once those assets have been in the virtual warehouse for a while, without any interest, they are “moved“ to a public auction on our public site.  It works very well.

Right now we are in a “pre-sale” phase with over 130 presses that are available for immediate sale in four different Tower Automotive facilities in the united states.  The first round of presses available via online auction will be from the Granite City, Il facility.  Additional auctions will be hosted through July. 

We continue to build on our relationship with Tower Automotive and have specific employees within our company that are assigned to monitor asset activity and provide a helping hand when needed.  This is just another example of our company creating long term relationships with clients rather than only servicing companies that are in a liquidation phase.  So often established companies that are market strong do not realize the potential of their assets in the auction market.  Many times when machines go offline the emphasis is getting the new equipment in place to minimize downtime.  But that emphasis on production is also a period of depreciation on the assets removed.  We try to minimize that depreciation by exchanging those assets for revenue, that can often provide some financial relief for recently purchase machines.  It’s a cycle that we believe works and has always put a smile on our clients face.

With the tremendous success of our previous textile mill auction we are please to announce round two.  Michael Frate posted the next installment of textile mill equipment from one of the countries major textile companies.  This auction features: TSUDAKOMA Airjet Looms, SCHLAFHORST Open End Spinning Frames, MURATA Vortex Spinning Frames, Draw Frames, Backwinders, Warpers, Slashers and More.  These assets are all located in South Caroline and Alabama.  This auction is unique because there are only a few companies in the world that are interested in bidding on this type of equipment.  There are always growing concerns about accepting international funds, but our accounting department has a built in process to verify and accept these moneys and turn them into revenue for our clients.  Our success in this space just shows that our auction platform can transcend the language barriers and utilize the power of the internet to create a stellar return for our clients. 

Another example of how we are constantly taking on new challenges, The PA Department of General Services has asked us to help them move confiscated fireworks.  I thought Clint Francis was joking when he asked me to build an outreach e-mail for his seized fireworks auction.  I thought that I had missed a machine brand name somewhere, but as I soon found out . . .they were in fact seized fireworks.  Clint built this as a Private Featured Auction or PFA.  We use these for auctions that are by invitation only and are not part of our public auction calendar.  We are still able to utilize the same technology to run these auctions, but we are able to keep their location on the web private and only distribute the link to those individuals that have the credentials to participate in the auction.  We use these private auctions for ExxonMobil and for the numerous scrap metal service contract bids that we run each year.  The bid is still open and we are in the beginning stages of inviting people to bid.  The results should be interesting.