Ohio Machinery Co. entered the ag industry in 2003, doing business as Ohio Cat, and established its agriculture equipment division in 2008. Over the past 18 years, Ohio Ag Equipment has continued to grow within the ag industry and establish itself as a trusted and knowledgeable equipment dealer in Ohio. The rebranding illustrates this evolution.

“We have grown our business and footprint in Ohio over the last several years. Our brand relaunch represents the natural evolution of that transformation. Today, Ohio Ag Equipment offers seven full-service, ag dedicated locations across Ohio. It’s imperative for our brand to reflect and promote our company as it is today and the tremendous value we offer,”

said Mike Mampieri, Ohio Ag Equipment’s General Manager.

Mampieri continues,

“The new logo, website, and tagline reflect a new era for Ohio Ag Equipment, one that better represents our core values, what we do, and how we operate. While reluctant to depart from the recognizable black and yellow that saw us through from 2003, we feel it is time to modernize our look, symbolizing our move toward a stronger, stand-alone identity.”

Source: Ohio Ag Equipment

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“Though last year was one of the toughest in memory, Alliance Parts didn’t let off the accelerator to continue fueling our growth strategy. We maintained our focus to expand our retail footprint and provide more options to deliver greater value for every one of our customers,”

said Brad Williamson, director, Alliance Parts.

“Looking ahead into 2021 and beyond, we plan to ramp up our expansion by introducing even more product lines, opening more new retail locations, and further leveraging the ExceleratorParts.com platform to truly serve as a one-stop-shop for all fleets’ value parts needs.”

Alliance retail locations primarily stock Alliance Parts and Detroit Reman products, but for added value, can be used as order pickup locations for the full offering of DTNA Genuine and Premier parts to provide a one-stop-shop for DTNA customers. Alliance Parts grew its retail footprint by nearly 55 percent in 2020 and expects to increase it by an additional 50 percent in 2021. Recently opened Alliance Parts retail channels include locations at the following dealerships:

• Fyda Freightliner in Columbus, Ohio
• Delta Truck Center in French Camp, Calif.
• Empire Truck Sales in Winona, Miss.
• Empire Truck Sales in Monroe, La.
• Empire Truck Sales in Natchez, Miss.
• Freightliner Northwest in Albany, Ore.
• Freighter of Grand Rapids, Mich.
• Hans’ Freightliner of Cleveland, Ohio
• I-State Truck Center in Lakeville, Minn.
• Kansas City Freightliner in Kansas City, Mo.
• New West Truck Centers in Lethbridge, Alberta
• Truck Center Companies in Liberal, Kan.
• Truck Centers, Inc. in South Bend, Ind.
• Truck Country in Marengo, Ill.

In addition to expanding its retail footprint, Alliance Parts expects to grow its product portfolio by an additional 30 percent in 2021. Recently added parts offerings from Alliance Parts include:

• Grilles
• Fenders
• Coreless Brake Shoes
• Aero/Flow Below
• Calipers
• Mud Flap Hangers
• New Cascadia Bumpers
• Brake Pads
• Series 60 Engine Components – turbos, injectors, water & fuel pumps, and more
• Electric Shifters
• Headlights
• Suspension Bushings

All Alliance Parts meet or exceed original equipment specifications for quality, fit and finish and are backed by a one year/unlimited mile nationwide warranty.

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Motorists are encouraged to slow to posted speed limits, eliminate distractions while driving, and be watchful for roadway workers and their equipment.  This year’s theme is, Safe Work Zones for All: Protect workers. Protect road users.

Every day, Ohio Cat employees, customers, and vendors work in, and around, job site work zones. Support National Work Zone Awareness Week (NWZAW) by participating in the following events:

Virtual Kick-Off Event

Monday, April 20, for the first National Stand-Down to prevent Struck-by Incidents.

Go Orange for Safety on Wednesday,

Wednesday, April 22, Roadway safety professionals are encouraged to wear orange to show support of work zone safety.  Go Orange Day is a time to show support to safety.

Source: Ohio CAT

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CEO Scott Barbour said:

“We manage a precious resource – water. We do it cleanly, effectively. And we do that with highly recycled content.”

In addition to recycled scraps and waste from its own facilities, the company also buys refuse – plastic bottles, drums, other discarded plastic – from the likes of Rumpke, Waste Management and SWACO. The end result is that while around 10% of ADS pipes were made from recycled material a decade ago, now 65% of its products are.

That’s a figure that’s only going to grow.

ADS used more than 400 million pounds of recycled material in its products last year. That will rise to more than 550 million after the $1.08 billion summer acquisition of Connecticut-based Infiltrator Water Technologies.

Though the environmental reasons are important to the company, the business case is a good one as well. Barbour said the materials are less expensive, with savings of between 10% and 15%. There’s less volatility in pricing as well compared with the fresh resin that makes up the rest of the mix. So it’s a better-margin, more predictable product.

The Infiltrator acquisition also is going to grow revenue. The combined companies would have had $1.6 billion in sales in 2019. The deal is a key piece of ADS’ three-year strategic plan introduced last year. Though ADS is a billion-dollar, 5,000-employee business and growing, the industry is a hyper-local one. The company has 48 pipe-making facilities around the U.S., plus distribution yards in Houston, Miami and San Francisco.

Barbour said geographic differences mean different needs. Rain abatement in the northwest U.S. is different than the Midwest, for example. Beyond that, manufacturers face a broad patchwork of construction codes that can very by municipality, county and state.

Erik Schroder, plant manager of ADS’ London facility, also noted that because the company transports pipes, the bulk of its truck space is taken up by air. That makes it more inefficient the further the travel so it’s important to be operating near key markets. Because of this the competition tends to be regional more than national.

The London facility is fairly typical for ADS. It has three production lines and around 70 employees including 15 delivery drivers. It services Columbus, Cincinnati, Dayton, Kentucky and Indianapolis.

Primary customers are road, agriculture and commercial construction — drainage for farm fields, water retention and detention below parking lots, for example. About 10% of business is with contractors who buy through retailers like Lowes and Home Depot.

“It’s a good business, but it’s truck heavy,”

he said.

ADS handles between 70% and 80% of it own distribution.

“We’re a manufacturing, logistics and transportation company,”

Barbour said.

About 32% of the market is plastics, he said. Chief competition is reinforced concrete or steel. The pitch for plastic is that it’s lighter, easier to handle and has fewer joints, which reduces leaks.

Since the business is so geared toward construction, the big growth opportunities are in the busiest building states, or “the crescent,” as Barbour called it. Those are places like Florida, Texas, Arizona, California and Washington, D.C.

“We need to be good in those states,”

he said.

California has been a tough state because of logistics and distribution issues. Texas is good for private business, but the public business is building. With the help of a new lobbyist the company is building its government connections in smaller cities like Amarillo in hopes of building up to larger deals in the state’s larger cities.

“That can be a nice growth engine for us,”

he said.

Beyond that, strength in cities where construction is strong also is important, Barbour said, including places like Columbus, Indianapolis and Minneapolis.

Source: ADS

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Smart Ag will improve farmer’s operational capacity by enabling them to use automation and driverless technology on their farms.

“My dad was born in 1911 and witnessed many great advances in agriculture first-hand, from pulling equipment with horses, to tractors to auto steer,” said Tim Norris, Ag Info Tech CEO and VP Sales. “I never imagined that I would be able to experience change on the level he has, but this advanced level of artificial intelligence (AI) with Smart Ag will rapidly change how agriculture operations are performed. In comparison, Smart Ag and autonomous equipment will be as big as the tractor was after the horse.”

Smart Ag, based in Ames, Iowa is an investor-backed technology company developing autonomous farming solutions for row crop agriculture. The company was founded in 2015 and is offering aftermarket retrofit kits to automate farm equipment, as well as a platform to connect, manage, and safely operate autonomous agricultural machinery. Smart Ag is led by successful ag entrepreneur Colin Hurd and former John Deere ISG and Ag Leader Manager Mark Barglof.

For more information about Smart Ag and to request a demo of Smart Ag’s technology, visit Ag Info Tech at the 2018 Farm Science Review at Lot #394, which is at the corner of Silage Street and Friday Avenue. Ag Info Tech will also have a Smart Ag system running this fall in Knox County, Ohio. Smart Ag will go into full release in 2019.ù

Source: Ohio Ag Net

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