Equipment Report

NEW HOLLAND-CASE MERGER MOVING FORWARD

The United States Department of Justice has given the green light to the proposed merger of Case Corp., Racine, Wisc., into New Holland N.V., the global equipment maker that is part of Italy’s Fiat S.p.A.

In a November press event, the merger of the two companies into an entity named CNH Global N.V. was announced.

The companies have agreed with the Justice Department to make two divestiture moves in order to receive approval for the deal:

Case Corp. must sell its 50% stake in Hay & Forage Industries, a Kansas-based farm implement company

New Holland must sell its Versatile four-wheel drive tractor line and its Genesis two-wheel drive tractor line, along with the Winnipeg, Canada plant where the machines are made.

“We are moving quickly to complete the merger of Case and New Holland and then rapidly begin the integration process,” says Jean-Pierre Rosso, chairman and CEO of Case Corp., and Umberto Quadrino, chairman and CEO of New Holland N.V., in a joint statement.”

The two CEOs are projecting a cost savings of $400 million to $500 million by combining the companies. In North America, the newly-combined entity will operate from headquarters in Racine, Wisc., according to a source within the company.

The estimated combined 1998 revenues of Case and New Holland are about $12 billion, CNH President and CEO Steven Lamb noted at a press conference held in the Chicago area on Nov. 17. “We are extremely excited about the opportunity in front of us,” Lamb comments.

Part of CNH’s strategy will include emphasizing product differentiation between the Case and New Holland product lines. Case and New Holland equipment will retain their brand names and be known as separate product lines of CNH, Lamb says. There is varying geographic recognition of the brand names of Case and New Holland and CNH wants to keep the market strengths those names carry, he says. “We are moving to execute a global platform strategy but still give the customers the differentiation they want,” Lamb says.

At the same time, a move toward “product commonality” will involve making parts for similar Case and New Holland product lines interchangeable to give the company more leverage when it comes to purchasing materials and to keep costs down for the buyer.

KOMATSU TO BUILD NEW FACILITY

Komatsu America International Co., Vernon Hills, Ill., is beginning construction on a new parts distribution facility in Las Vegas. The facility is scheduled to open in June and will replace an existing 46,000 square foot facility in Hayward, Calif. The facility will carry stock and emergency order inventory for West Coast distributors and will also include office space and conference rooms for distributor and customer meetings.

 “Komatsu is proud to announce our commitment to Las Vegas, which is the optimal location for this facility,” says Moe Iverson, vice president - parts division. “This facility will improve product support for our distributors and customers on the West Coast … and enable daily truck service and reduced freight charges for parts, providing our West Coast customers with faster and more efficient parts support.”

INSTALLATIONS

IPS HINGE-SIDE BALER

A patented single-ram hinge-side baler made by International Press and Shear (IPS), Baxley, Ga., has been installed at City Scrap Metal in Lee’s Summit, Mo.

“The baler works great,” says City Scrap Metal owner Greg Thompson. “I would have had to hire 10 people to do the work that the IPS hinge-side baler does.”

The CD-965-HS model baler has been able to make several types of bales for City Scrap Metal including 1,400-pound bales of copper tubing, 1,900-pound bales of aluminum siding, and 900-pound bales of whole aluminum UBCs.

SVEDALA HEAVY-DUTY SHREDDER

A Svedala 60” x 80” HD (heavy-duty) shredder and accompanying equipment has been installed at Calgary Metals in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.

The system includes the shredder—designed to handle autos, light iron and miscellaneous ferrous scrap—as well as dual rotary drum magnets, an “anti-blending” nonferrous screening device and hydraulic feed rolls.

According to Calgary Metals president Rick Dvorkin, car parts, white goods and metal procured from construction and demolition sites will be among the materials fed to the new shredder.

BRUCE MOONEY RE-DESIGNS MRF SYSTEM

Bruce Mooney Associates Inc., Allison Park, Pa., has overseen the $1 million dollar renovation of a single-stream MRF operated by waste hauler Werlor Inc. in Defiance, Ohio.

The redesigned system, which will quadruple the MRF’s capacity, includes an eddy current system that automatically separates aluminum cans from the rest of the stream and a Bulk Handling Systems disk screen that separates old newspapers from the containers in the single stream.