TAK in CAT Country

Dave Carlson, is a business man from Peoria, IL who knows his compact equipment. Mention Takeuchi to him and you'll immediately see a twinkle in his eye. Carlson, owner of CEX, Inc has been in the business of excavating for the last 16 years.

Carlson grew up on a farm just outside of Peoria. He majored in AG Business at Illinois State University and worked several years after that managing agricultural properties for a Peoria bank. He then worked in sales for a couple of years as a technical marketing rep for Advanced Drainage Systems. Tired of being on the road, Carlson started his business with a single Bobcat 642B wheeled skid loader moving dirt and building decks for various home builders. From that point, his business has been built around a fleet of Takeuchi equipment that has helped him complete jobs including sitework, storm and sanitary sewer installations, demolition, concrete work, specialized retaining walls and snow removal. Included in his fleet of track loaders are a TL8, TL10 and a TL150 while his fleet of excavators includes a TB016, TB260 and a TB175.

His first Takeucki machine purchased was a TL126 back in 2003. It didn’t take long after that purchase that Carlson knew Takeuchi would play a key role in growing his business. In making his purchasing decisions Carlson continues to objectively evaluate and compare competitors models side by side with similar Takeuchi machines.

But, time and time again it’s a Takeuchi that ends up in his yard. Selling points that have won Carlson over are ease and smoothness of machine operation, durability, visibility, resale and the ability to put raw power to the tracks and buckets. Carlson has been extremely impressed with his last 3 machine purchases within the last year which include TL8 and TL10 track loaders and a TB260 excavator. Carlson states, “I traded in older versions of these machines and I was really impressed with the upgrades Takeuchi has made. These machines are horses in their class and, definitely blow the competition away.”

As Carlson gives a ton of credit to Takeuchi for growing his business he is as quick to give the same amount of credit to Central Illinois Ag and their personnel. Relating that he was loading his TL10 one Saturday evening getting ready for snow removal and a warning light came on. Carlson states “I literally trust my life to Takeuchi machines and wouldn’t be comfortable with any others in some of the difficult conditions in which I work”.