Equipment Report

Two Cat Dealers Pick up Precision Husky Line

Two Caterpillar dealers have signed distributor agreements with Precision Husky Corp., Leeds, Ala.

Louisiana Machinery Corp., Reserve, La., and Thompson Machinery, Nashville, Tenn., have both agreed to represent the Precision Husky line of ProGrind tub and horizontal grinders through their dealerships.

Louisiana Machinery Corp. has 12 locations, all in Louisiana. Thompson Machinery has five locations in Tennessee and three in Mississippi.

The ProGrind line of grinders includes five tub grinder models as well as horizontal grinders, chippers, de-barkers and other wood grinding equipment, including a combination loader-chipper.

Telsmith Inc., Mequon, Wisc., has put together a corporate brochure in time for ConExpo-Con/Agg that touts the company’s full line of products for the aggregates industry.

The brochure divides Telsmith’s products into more than a half-dozen lines of equipment, including: Gyrasphere cone crushers, Silver Bullet Series cone crushers, portable Gyrasphere plants, jaw crushers, portable jaw plants, impact crushers, vibrating screens, modular plants and the Stratacrawler series of track-mounted crushers.

Erin Systems Inc., Portland, Maine, has agreed to be the North American distributor of a line of mobile, track-mounted crushers made by the Hartl family of Austria. According to an Erin spokesperson, the focus will be on a new line of crushing equipment being developed by the Hartl family over in Austria. In addition, Erin says it will be able to handle the parts and service of Hartl equipment currently in the field.

The new Austrian-made line will be marketed under the name Powercrusher and sold either directly or through alternate distributors. Picking up the new crusher line "is a logical extension of our business," says Howard Fiedler, national sales manager for Erin Systems. "It will further help round out our offerings to C&D recyclers."

Screw Conveyor Corp., Hammond, Ind., which changed its name in 1998 to SCC Industries, has decided to revert to its original name. The third generation, family-owned business was incorporated in 1932 as Screw Conveyor Corp. The name change in 1998 did not achieve the desired affect, says Garry Abraham, CEO, general manager of Screw Conveyor Corp.

"The bulk material handling field has come to recognize us and our name as people they know and trust," Abraham says. "When we changed, we lost valuable identity and name recognition. Now we have taken our name back, and we want to assure our many customers that we never left."

Fuchs Loaders, Dallas, has named J.W. Burress Inc., Roanoke, Va., and Warrior Equipment, Montgomery, Ala., as dealers to carry the Fuchs line of scrap handlers.

J.W. Burress will serve Virginia, North and South Carolina and eastern Tennessee from its nine locations. Warrior Equipment will serve Alabama and Arkansas from its 13 locations.

George Schlemmer has been named territory manager for Kolberg Pioneer Inc., Yankton, S.D., and JCI Inc., Eugene, Ore. Both companies are part of Astec, Chattanooga, Tenn.

The sales territory Schlemmer will manage includes Ontario, Ohio, Indiana, West Virginia and parts of Pennsylvania and Michigan.

He has more than 15 years in the construction and aggregates industries, including in his previous Kolberg-Pioneer/JCI position as a sales engineer. Schlemmer will relocate to Wooster, Ohio, to better serve his territory.

Kolberg-Pioneer and JCI make, install and service crushers, conveyors, screening plants and other equipment used by the aggregates industry.

Volvo Construction Equipment (Volvo CE), Asheville, N.C., has acquired the rights to the Scat Trak skid steer loader line of equipment. Scat Trak loaders were formerly manufactured by the OmniQuip subsidiary of Textron Inc., Providence, R.I.

The assets acquired by Volvo CE include exclusive manufacturing and product design rights to the line of five different skid steers (with operating capacities ranging from 1,350 pounds to 2,450 pounds), tooling and inventory. Volvo did not acquire any of the OmniQuip manufacturing facilities in Port Washington, Wisc., but instead will assemble the skids steers at its Asheville plant.

Volvo CE executives say the product range will be further developed and launched globally under the Volvo brand in late 2002.

"Compared to the market’s leading skid steers, the Scat Trak machine emerged as a very competitive product in our extensive tests," adds Tony Helsham, president and CEO of Volvo CE.

"At the right time and without adding any manufacturing capacity, we have acquired a new first-class product range, which is essential to the further development and broadening of our product range," adds Leif Johansson, president and CEO of parent company AB Volvo.