St. Louis, MO – Edge Technologies has announced the hiring of John Burford as the new South Central Regional Sales Manager, which includes the states of Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, Southern Illinois, Missouri, and Texas; as well as the country of Mexico.
John Burford, a native of Houston, TX, brings 30 years of extensive experience in all facets of the machine tool industry. He began his career in 1984 as a CNC milling specialist and programmer working for H&H Instruments. During his 9 year tenure with the company, he worked his way up to Shop Foreman. In 1993, he moved on to Fyco Tool & Die as Product Manager, and, in 1999 became the Shop Foreman at Drilltec Technologies.
Seeking a new challenge, in 2001 John enrolled at the University of Houston. While working toward a degree in Marketing, he went into business for himself and opened a successful e-commerce marine electronics company. It was here that the “sales bug” bit him.
After graduating with a BBA in Marketing from the University of Houston in 2009, he spent time as a Sales Representative at Welker, Inc. selling crude oil and natural gas sampling equipment for companies working in the Gulf of Mexico (Shell Oil, Texaco, Kinder Morgan). He quickly developed a reputation as an outstanding salesman and in 2011 became the National Account Manager for Bass Tool & Supply, specializing in carbide tool applications. While at Bass he worked one-on-one with clients developing custom tooling packages and specialized on-site training programs for employees. His clients ranged from small job shops to multi-location production facilities.
“In addition to having a wealth of experience in specialized machine tool sales, John’s history as a shop manager and skilled machinist are invaluable when working with our customers,” said Rick Bauer, Edge Technologies Sales & Operations Manager. “He knows first-hand how matching the right machine to the right application enhances shop productivity”.
“I’ve always been on the distribution side of the industry, so when the opportunity arose where I could work directly for a respected equipment manufacturer like Edge, I jumped at the chance”, says Burford. “Edge Technologies has a reputation for building & selling the finest bar feeders in the world, and I’ve very happy to join the team!”
Edge Technologies provides bar feeding, loading and unloading products for CNC lathes in the precision metal working industry. Edge Technologies has extensive experience and a history of success, demonstrated by 30 years of sales and service, including more than 9000 successful installations of magazine bar feeders in the North American marketplace.
