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Industry Beat 14 | www.cedmag.com | Construction Equipment Distribution | April 2014 John Hugg, president of Hugg & Hall Equipment Co., was recently named Executive of the Year by Arkansas Busi- ness Publishing Group at the annual Arkansas Business of the Year Awards at the Statehouse Convention Center in Little Rock, Ark. According to Arkansas Business, during his tenure as an owner the company expanded into 13 different locations in Arkansas, Loui- siana, east Texas and Oklahoma and revenues grew from $12 million to $160 million. Hugg credited a balance of four profit centers in parts, rental, service and sales for propelling the company. LiuGong North America is sche- duled to move to a larger, 35,000- square-foot interim facility to support its expanding dealer network. The new facility, located at 22220 Merchants Way in Katy, Texas, will almost triple the amount of space currently housing the company's operations. Genie introduced the industry's first telematics-ready connector to enable telematics devices to be plugged into Genie boom lifts. The telematics-ready connector is now available on the Genie S-80 and Z-80 boom lifts, and will be available on the S-100, S-120 and ZX-135 models by the end of the first quarter. Xylem, a global water technology company, opened a new, 12,000 square-foot solutions branch in Pompano Beach, Fla. H&E Equipment Services appointed Rob Hepler as senior vice president of sales, assuming H&E's most senior rental sales position. Hepler will oversee planning and strategy, along with talent and sales development, to assist H&E's ongoing rental growth objectives. Beginning in 2015, John Deere Construction & Forestry Division will offer a retrofit kit to enable Interim Tier-4 (IT4) machines to be sold in countries where ultra-low sulfur diesel fuel is not available. The kit can be used on John Deere-powered crawler dozers, wheel loaders, articulated dump trucks, motor graders, excava- tors and backhoes. JLG Industries is expanding its customer training center in McCon- nellsburg, Pa. The $2.5 million, 15,000-square-foot center, due to open this summer, features a new, significantly larger bay for hands-on training and a ground course for hands-on driving and operating skills. Curry Supply Company, based in Martinsburg, Pa., has announced the recent addition of Bo Cowan as field sales representative, with responsibilities in the oil and gas industry throughout North America. Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper unveiled the much-anticipated New Building Canada Plan, the largest long-term infrastructure plan in Cana- dian history. In addition to $70 billion in stable funding for 10 years, the proposal includes dedicated funding for small communities, provincial- territorial allocations, project categories eligible for support, cost-sharing thresholds, and public-private partner- ship screening requirements. Bo Cowan Rob Hepler In the news Case Construction Equipment hosted an esteemed panel at CONEXPO-CON/AGG 2014 to high- light the problems facing American infrastructure and what can be done to remedy the situation. The panel discussion was the final stop of the Dire States tour undertaken by author and infrastructure expert Dan McNicol. McNichol's infrastructure road trip in a 1949 Hudson throughout the U.S. helped raise awareness about the nation's crumbling infrastructure. McNichol was joined by Jim Oberstar, former U.S. Congressman who was chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee; Janet Kavinoky, executive director, transportation & infrastructure, U.S. Chamber of Commerce; Jim Hasler, vice president, CASE Construction Equipment; and moderator Adam Snider, transpor- tation reporter for Politico. Oberstar summed up the Highway Trust Fund best. "It is not short of funds, it is short on political will – political backbone." Watch the panel discussion in its entirety at www.direstates.com. Dire States Panel Assembles at CONEXPO-CON/AGG John Hugg (left), president, and Robert Hall, vice president, Hugg & Hall Equip- ment Co. Photo courtesy of: "Little Rock Soiree" magazine 12_industry beat_KP.indd 14 3/27/14 4:23 PM