Clay Eubanks

Clay Eubanks, vice chairman of Takeuchi, is celebrating four decades with the company. In September 1984, Eubanks was a college student who began working part time in Takeuchi’s warehouse near Atlanta, GA. He cleaned up the facility and pulled parts from inventory. Over the next 40 years, Eubanks took on more and more responsibility. He honed his knowledge of the equipment industry and rising through the ranks to his current position.

After his stint in the warehouse, Eubanks moved into a full-time role as Takeuchi’s central region sales manager based in Texas. He later moved back to Atlanta and ran Takeuchi’s retail store. He then became the company’s Southern region manager. Eubanks was eventually promoted to national sales manager, general manager, and finally, president of Takeuchi-US. His current position as vice chairman of the board took him to Takeuchi’s global headquarters in Nagano, Japan where he currently lives and works.

“I’m proud to have been a small part of growing two new segments in the construction industry—the compact excavator and the compact track loader—both products that Takeuchi was the first to develop,” Eubanks said. “In the early days, no one knew what these machines were, and it was a real thrill traveling the country and demonstrating what they could accomplish. What started out as laughter often turned to amazement.”

Eubanks says that, over the past 40 years, technology has had the greatest impact on the compact construction equipment industry. When he began his career with Takeuchi, there were no cell phones, tablet computers, or even laptops. Machines were very basic and not connected in any way. Technology has truly made its mark, and he doesn’t see that trend changing anytime soon.

“I believe the industry will continue to evolve with more machine control and technology-driven features,” Eubanks said. “What won’t change is the need to listen to customers and provide what they want and need. It’s up to us to determine how technology can help us achieve that higher level of customer satisfaction.”

As Eubanks reflected on his long career path with Takeuchi, he hoped that other young people will be able to find a lifelong career with the company as he did back in 1984.

Click for a previous Turf Magazine article entitled “Investing in Heavy Equipment for Landscaping.”