Reporter:
reporter | by Equipment World staff
American Augers, Trencor
retain brand identities
after acquisition
A
merican Augers drills
and Trencor trenchers
will retain their brand
identities as they are
incorporated into The Charles
Machine Works (CMW) fold,
says Tiffany Sewell-Howard, CEO.
“American Augers (AA) will
remain a separate entity, similar
to our HammerHead acquisition, and production of Trencor products will be moved to
the AA facility in Ohio,” said
Sewell-Howard in an interview
with Equipment World.
CMW, known for the Ditch
Witch brand, bought the two
lines from Astec Industries, in a
$55 million deal expected to be
finalized by the end of this year.
“For the past several years,
we’ve focused on our vision
of becoming the CMW family of companies, the authority
in the underground construction business. This addition is a
great step towards that vision,”
Sewell-Howard says. “We want
to address all the needs of the
underground market.”
The deal gives CMW high
horsepower models in both
trenchers and drills. The largest current Ditch Witch trencher
is the 115-horsepower RT115.
Trencor models range from the
250-horsepower T765 to the
1,300-horsepower T1860.
With the American Augers
and Trencor acquisition, the
Charles Machine Works gains
high horsepower directional
drills and trenchers.
On the drill side, American Auger models start at the
60,000-pound max pullback DD6, and top off at the 1.1-millionpound max pullback DD-1100.
Ditch Witch’s current largest
model is the 100,000-pound
JT100. “We see tremendous
growth in the pipeline and
water and sewer markets, which
require large machines,” SewellHoward says.
CMW plans to keep the
American Augers facility in West
Salem, Ohio, and transfer the
Trencor line, now manufactured
in Tennessee, to the Ohio plant.
Also retained: the direct-to-market sales approach of both lines.
“I believe American Augers
has a strong brand and strong
relationships with customers,
and we are going to continue to
support those,” Sewell-Howard
says. “As we go forward, we will
look at how we can leverage the
entire CMW family of companies
to help these brands be even
more successful.”
While there is some overlap
with these lines and the traditional Ditch Witch customers,
the acquisition gives CMW the
ability to expand its reach.
“We now have the opportunity
to cultivate these relationships
by providing broader solutions,”
Sewell-Howard says. “They
are going to be a tremendous
addition to the CMW family of companies. We are able
to strengthen our competitive
stance, expand our capabilities,
and offer new products, new
brands, and new channels to
the underground construction
market.”
– Marcia Gruver Doyle
MGruver@randallreilly.com
EquipmentWorld.com | December 2012 13