Equipment Report

John Deere Construction Equipment Co. (JDCEC), Moline, Ill., has implemented CE Tech, a program incorporating the company, dealers and colleagues to recruit students who are then sponsored by a dealer. The students receive a two-year associate degree and then work for that dealer after graduation. The program has been launched at Southwest Georgia Technical College, Thomasville, Ga.; Navarro College, Corsicana, Texas; Southeast Community College, Milford, Neb.; and Central Lakes College, Staples, Minn.

Demand for qualified technicians is reported to be more than 25,000 in the next five years, according to the Associated Equipment Dealers Foundation, Chicago.

“Recruiting and retaining good service technicians is a challenge right now,” says Mick Sims, manager of customer support and marketing development for John Deere. “Most equipment distributors get their people by hiring from related industries or competitors.”

JRB CO. CONSOLIDATES BRAND NAMES

JRB Co., Akron, Ohio, has consolidated its demolition and recycling attachment series, as well as other construction attachments, under the single JRB brand name. The attachments had previously been marketed under the CXI brand name.

“Bringing the attachments under a single brand umbrella eliminates confusion for end-users who find more and greater users for all of our attachments, beyond traditional applications,” says Randy Baird, JRB CEO.

The change affects the crushers, cutters, shears and smashers that will now be under the CXI name.

AMERICAN BALER BUILDS IN TELFORD

The Telford works of Lindemann American Baler Ltd. have started building machines from their parent company, American Baler Co., Bellevue, Ohio. The first unit was an A-MAX 7243 high density, wide mouth horizontal baler with a scheduled delivery to the Far East this month.

Work has also started on metricating American Baler’s PAC range, starting with five standard models from the 3029-7 to the 5029-8. Recycle Direct Ltd., Bridgend Glamorgan, was appointed as the first UK-based dealer from the company and will support and build orders locally from Telford.

J. MCINTYRE MACHINERY RECEIVES AWARD

J. McIntyre Machinery Ltd., Nottingham, England, has been awarded a Queen’s Award for Enterprise Innovation 2000 for the development of its aluminum dross cooling system, TARDIS. TARDIS is a system for the rapid cooling and recovery of aluminum from aluminum dross. The more than 80 systems currently in operation are at companies such as ALCOA and Nordic Aluminum in Iceland.

HUSTLER CONVEYOR LINKS WITH PMDS

Hustler Conveyor Co., St. Charles, Mo., has entered into a long-term agreement to be the preferred U.S.-based supplier of conveyors to Professional Management Disposal Systems (PMDS), Oxford, Mich. PMDS provides equipment and systems designed to improve the efficiency and environmental compliance of solid waste and scrap metals operations.

“PMDS has chosen Hustler’s heavy-duty conveyors and equipment to complement its patented technology and now can deliver a cost-effective system serviced by Hustler Conveyor’s well established, strong dealer and representative organizations” says Hustler Conveyor vice president Paul Griesedieck.

PMDS offers patented hardware and technology designed to generate immediate savings in the operational costs of client facilities once they have implemented the systems.

OMNIQUIP TEXTRON AWARDED ARMY CONTRACT

A contract between TRAK International, a division of OmniQuip Textron, Port Washington, Wisc., and the U.S. ARMY to purchase forklifts has been extended.

The $11.4 million contract is to purchase another 96 SKY TRAK ATLAS variable reach forklifts, bringing the total to more than 1,100 Atlas machines acquired by the ARMY.

The original ARMY contract was awarded in 1997 and the primary use of the machines is for loading and unloading 20-foot containers and transporting U.S. Air Force pallets.

RRT AWARDED PROJECT

RRT Design and Construction (RRT), Melville, N.Y., has been awarded a contract by Aurora Project Inc. for a turnkey system for processing electronic scrap plastic.

An RRT system designed to process post-industrial scrap plastics, mostly computer components, at a rate of 15,000,000 pounds per year, is expected to be operating by spring.