Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/96778
Industry Beat IN THE NEWS Kirby Smith Opens Odessa, Texas Branch Kirby-Smith Machinery, Inc. held a grand opening celebration Oct. 16-17 for its newest branch location off of I-20 and Loop 338 in Odessa, Texas. The Odessa Chamber of Commerce and Midland Hispanic Chamber of Commerce both performed ribboncutting events, welcoming Kirby-Smith Machinery to the Permian Basin area. Over 300 attendees participated in the grand opening. Pictured from left to right : Glen Townsend vice president/general manager, Kirby-Smith Machinery, Inc.; Chuck Thompson, area manager, Kirby-Smith Machinery, Inc.; Ed Kirby, president, Kirby-Smith Machinery, Inc.; Wayne Boring, Odessa Chamber of Commerce Linda Terrell, Odessa Chamber; Peggy Shumard, Odessa Chamber; Kevin Demel, territory manager, Kirby-Smith Machinery, Inc. (Background) Wayne Boring, Odessa Chamber. Company, and Cecil I. Walker Machinery Co. recently announced that Whayne Supply and Walker Machinery have acquired from Caterpillar Global Mining LLC the Bucyrus equipment distribution and support business for their territories. Whayne Supply and Walker Machinery are authorized Cat dealers in Kentucky, southern Indiana, southeastern Ohio and portions of West Virginia. Boyd Company LLC has established Whayne-Walker Underground Mining as the business unit to meet the distribution and support needs for these new products. Titan Machinery Inc. has completed the acquisition of Falcon Power Inc., which consists of two Case construction equipment dealerships located in Phoenix and Flagstaff, Ariz. Falcon Power Inc. reported revenues of approximately $5.5 million. Alta Equipment Company acquired Northern Michigan Equipment Company, a Case construction equipment dealer located in Traverse City, Mich. Employees of Northern Michigan Equipment will be retained, including Jeff Dohm, former owner, who will serve as Alta Equipment's branch manager in Traverse City. The Traverse City location will be an authorized Volvo service and parts center, but parts and service will still be available for Case equipment. Astec Industries, Inc. entered into agreements to sell its American Augers, Inc. subsidiary as well as certain assets related to the Trencor large trencher product line of Astec Underground, Inc. to The Charles Machine Works, Inc. of Perry, Okla. for approximately $55 million in cash. Not included in the sale are the American Augers vertical oil and gas drilling rig product line and the four-track surface miner product line manufactured at Astec Underground. The vertical oil and gas drill rig product line will be relocated to GEFCO, Inc., a subsidiary of Astec Industries, Inc. located in Enid, Okla. The company will continue to manufacture and expand the surface miner product line at its Astec Underground facility where it will also continue to manufacture its newly developed line of high pressure pump trailers used for fracking and well servicing. Caterpillar Inc., Boyd Company LLC, owner of Whayne Supply Xylem Inc., a global water technology company, has acquired 16 | www.cedmag.com | Construction Equipment Distribution | December 2012 privately held Heartland Pump Rental and Sales, Inc., headquartered in Carterville, Ill. Heartland has been a strong business partner with Godwin in dewatering pump rental, services and systems design since 1995. Godwin is part of the Xylem portfolio. Terex Construction, a business segment of Terex Corp., announced it will supply Takeuchi Manufacturing (U.S.), Ltd. with eight new models of Takeuchi branded skid-steer loaders. This agreement will provide Takeuchi with a comprehensive range of high-specification, highperformance, vertical and radial lift skid-steer loaders to complement their existing line of compact equipment. Doosan-Bobcat has selected Charter Software as one of its two preferred business system vendors for its Bobcat dealers as Navision, the software long-used by Bobcat dealers, is being phased out. Charter Software will work with Doosan-Bobcat on new e-commerce integration as well as enhancements to existing integration between the ASPEN system and Bobcat. Bobcat Company has introduced a plan for Tier 4 solutions that includes a Doosan-built non-DPF (diesel particulate filter) engine to be added to some of its equipment lineup for 2014. Development of the new Tier 4-compliant engine was a collaboration between Bobcat, Doosan and some of the world's top engineering consultants and engine design firms — Ricardo, FEV and others. John Deere Electronic Solutions has completed construction of a 90,000 square-foot building that will provide additional office space for its growing engineering staff, test labs and enable the company to expand its power electronics capabilities.