WAUKESHA, WI – We Energies, which provides electric service and natural gas to customers in Wisconsin and Michigan, has recognized DUECO, Inc. and its sister company, Utility Equipment Leasing Corporation (UELC), with a Star Award for helping to improve its fleet operations.

“There is never a time that I have contacted DUECO or UELC with an urgent need and it has not been handled quickly and efficiently. All departments within both companies go above and beyond to satisfy our needs,” said Maurice Brown, fleet supervisor and Dueco liaison for We Energies, noting special recognition to the companies’ sales, leasing, service, and new vehicles departments.

The Star award recognizes excellence in five categories: customer satisfaction, reduction to labor costs, safety at the workplace, innovation, and supplier and workforce diversity. According to We Energies’ management, DUECO and UELC work hard every day to exceed expectations and have a strong sense of duty and innovation. The companies manage and control equipment cost by utilizing a lean material and manufacturing process for continuous improvement and help focus We Energies’ limited resources on the big-bang payback areas. As a result, We Energies has been able to trim significant inefficiencies and standardize equipment specifications to better manage their fleet operations. Company management also credited the organizations with playing a key role in helping it achieve and maintain top quartile performance when benchmarking their equipment costs against other major utilities.

DUECO is the largest privately-owned provider of Terex Hi-Ranger bucket trucks, Terex Telelect digger derricks, cranes, stringing and tension equipment and utility trailers in the country, and has been supplying We Energies with its products for more than 50 years. Milwaukee-based UELC was founded in 1967 offers rental and leasing units ranging from bucket trucks and digger derricks to cable pullers and track vehicles.