Thibodaux man finds niche in truck, machine repair

March 25
March 25, 2009
Vernal Oliver Sr.
March 27, 2009
March 25
March 25, 2009
Vernal Oliver Sr.
March 27, 2009

First-time business owner Mike Boudreaux, with the help of his wife Stella Faye, has started his own truck and heavy machinery repair business, Fleet Equipment Maintenance, in Thibodaux.


“He can fix anything with a motor,” Stella Faye said.


Boudreaux has been a certified “grease monkey” since he was 12 years old, starting out repairing automobiles and motorcycles.

“The best part of it is being able to fix something that is broken and have it work again,” he said.


The majority of his work experience has been on-the-job training. But in the early 1980s, Boudreaux enrolled in the Nashville Auto-Diesel College in Tennessee, where he earned his certification to work on trucks and heavy equipment.


“Ever since I came out of technical college, I knew I wanted to own my own business one day,” Boudreaux said. “But I had to get the hands-on experience first.”

Boudreaux worked for other mechanic shops for nearly 30 years before starting his own business last May.


As a mechanic, Boudreaux believes his job is to help companies maintain their vehicles and equipment to prevent a lapse in their production rates.


“He’s helping the smaller businesses in the surrounding area keep their operations moving on a steady pace,” Stella Faye noted.

The market is competitive for Boudreaux as an independent businessman. However, he finds it rewarding to move to the sound of his own drum.


“I feel like I am really accomplishing something with my business,” he said. “Though I am still not setting the Tri-parishes on fire with customers, I am making a comfortable living doing what I love.”

Not to mention that he is able to work on the older equipment that many younger mechanics are not familiar with, which keeps him a tool above his competition.

Boudreaux specializes in auto mechanics and industrial maintenance mechanics. He services oilfield, distribution, lumber, shipbuilding and trucking companies, as well as machine shops.

His clientele stretches across seven parishes including Terrebonne, Lafourche, St. Mary, Jefferson, St. James, Assumption and Ascension parishes.

On the auto mechanics side, Boudreaux works on semi-trailer and transfer trucks. In industrial maintenance, Boudreaux has several specialties that include working on excavators, forklifts and cranes.

An excavator is an engineering vehicle with an articulated arm, buck and cab mount on a pivot atop an undercarriage with tracks and wheels. It is commonly used for mining, driving pilings, river dredging, demolition and digging trenches and holes.

Forklifts or lift trucks transport material from one place to another. Boudreaux said since their creation in the early 1920s, they have become an indispensable piece of equipment in manufacturing and warehousing operations. The biggest forklift Boudreaux has worked on weighed 70-tons.

In south Louisiana with the booming oilfields, many offshore companies make use of cranes because they create mechanical advantages. Boudreaux said a crane uses one or more simple machines to move loads beyond the capability of a human.

The lifting machine, equipped with a winder, wire rope and sheave, is commonly used in the transport industry for loading and unloading freights, in the construction business for the movement of materials and in the manufacturing industry for the assembling of heavy equipment. Boudreaux’s biggest feat is a 375-ton crane.

Boudreaux is available nearly 16 hours a day for on-site repairs because he does not have a mechanic shop. But, by year’s end, he hopes to have his own shop for servicing trucks and equipment.

Mike Boudreaux has made the transition from aspiring mechanic to business owner. The Thibodaux resident runs Fleet Equipment Maintenance, a truck and heavy machinery repair business. * Photo by SOPHIA RUFFIN