This article originally appeared in Construction Equipment Guide (CEG) West Edition #21 – October 4, 2023
Jack Yao is excited. And with good reason. His company, Bedrock Attachments, has experienced huge increases each year since expanding to the United States in 2018 and its global business is poised for even greater growth.
“It’s been good,” Yao said. “It’s been growing and every year it grows more. We have been growing around 40 to 50 percent each year since moving to the U.S. in 2018 and shows no sign of slowing down in the U.S. market and globally.”
Yao’s inventory features nearly 1,000 attachment models.
Yao’s career in construction started humbly enough in China — working for a company as a translator traveling with customers to purchase heavy equipment throughout the region.
The great recession of 2008 changed everything.
The company that Yao worked for was hit badly in 2008, but it did rebound in the coming years. Yao values the period of time that they worked together and continues to have a great relationship with the owner and manager of that company.
“I’m very grateful for what they taught me and the trust they had in me,” Yao said.
Bedrock Attachments’ Team at Conexpo 2023
Relationships built as a translator over the years led to Yao brokering equipment on his own.
“I built trust and companies would have me buy equipment on their behalf,” Yao said. “I had integrity and was precise about condition and specs of each machine, which was rare in China.”
By 2011, Yao’s reputation had spread beyond Asia and his focus was moving from machines to attachments.
“I was able to earn a great deal of trust with large customers in South Africa and Europe,” Yao recalled, “and began to see the need for attachment solutions. Motor graders were a big part of our business and the demand for rippers was huge. OEM ripper attachments were very expensive to buy and hard to find. Even after-market rippers are expensive with a long lead time.
“That’s when I started to make our own rippers, which became very popular,” he added. “Customers began asking if we could make other models and that is where the attachment business was created. There weren’t many companies focusing on those special attachments.”
Officially, Bedrock Attachments was born in 2015. A dealer network was established in Australia, Europe and Africa. But it was Yao’s move to the U.S. in 2018 that proved to be a game changer for the young company.
Availability has been key to Bedrock’s success, according to Yao.
“We have three warehouses in Los Angeles, two in Houston, one in Savannah, Georgia, and one in Chicago,” Yao said. “When a customer needs something, we can find it at the nearest location and deliver it to them quickly, often the next business day.”
Supply chain issues that plagued the industry during the pandemic years did not deter Bedrock.
“We were able to deliver because we manufacture our own products and we make the attachments that the other manufacturers don’t,” Yao said. “So having these items in stock in our warehouses has been a huge advantage.”
Expansion into skid steer attachments, buckets and long reaches are helping fuel growth.
“As is moving our focus beyond just the Caterpillar brand,” Yao said. “We used to be more focused on the Caterpillar brand. Now we make wheel loader buckets of different sizes and other attachments for many brands.”
Yao noted that modifications are constantly under way to address regional needs.
“For instance, Texas and the Northeast use attachments in very different ways, because of the land conditions, the snow and ice, etc.,” he said.
Attachments from Bedrock can save a customer as much as 60 percent over OEM products, according to Yao, with a much shorter delivery time.
While the U.S. business flourishes, Yao is also focusing on growing his global presence. He is creating a multi-cultural, global business by having representatives in several countries that speak the native language and industry knowledge local to the community.
Yao is proud of the focus on other countries.
“These representatives are working with some partners or end users very closely, they speak the language and they go visit and they go to shows there,” Yao said. “They learn what is needed in each community. We know the markets much better now.
“One example is that, in Honduras, the local representative realized the need for solar panels, so they are now selling solar panels,” he added. “Generators also continue to grow in the global community, so we are also selling those.”
Back in the U.S., Bedrock’s hiring practices at the home office in Irvine, Calif., include hiring a multi-cultural staff— including people from Morocco, Russia, Guatemala, Venezuela and China. Yao has found that by “hiring other immigrants, they bring a lot of knowledge along with the local resource context, it has been really helpful. I find this is a good thing in the United States as these immigrants are smart, intelligent and hardworking and they’re ready to fight for the American dream. They’re not going to settle and just lie down.”
Yao is proud of the culture he is establishing at Bedrock.
“This is not a Chinese company,” Yao emphasized. “This is not a traditional American company; we want to be a multi-cultural company. We want to accept all cultures here, so even for lunch, one person gets a turn and they decide which restaurant to order from and everyone orders a dish for himself —and we go to the kitchen and we eat together. It’s a great opportunity to try many different foods and try foods from other cultures. Otherwise, I would never order Moroccan food. I don’t know what I’m eating, or what is good or what to order.”
Yao also sees the importance of making a difference in communities, by donating to various charities, including orphanages, as well as a customer’s preferred charity and IEDA’s scholarship foundation.
These are exciting times at Bedrock equipment — both in the lunchroom and the boardroom.
About Bedrock Attachments
Bedrock Attachments is a leading provider of world-class heavy machinery attachments for industries, including construction, mining, forestry and more.
Based in Irvine, Calif., it offers attachments ranging from buckets and blades to rippers, couplers and other specialized tools — all designed with a strong focus on enhancing productivity, reducing downtime and ensuring the utmost safety of operators.
Source: Nearly 1,000 Attachment Models Spur Bedrock’s Success : CEG (constructionequipmentguide.com)
