Companies in the News: Updates from Echo, Case and more

Echo purchased of an additional 103,000-square-foot warehouse, 20-acre campus in Lake Zurich, Ill. As the company embarks on its 50th anniversary in 2022, the need for an additional space is one of many historic milestones Echo will celebrate.

According to Ryan Ladley, Echo’s vice president of operations, production has been very focused on vertical integration, to help lower costs, be more flexible, quickly respond to the rising product demand and grow its employees’ skillset. Some examples of how Echo has become more vertically integrated include:

• Expanding in-house injection molding capability and capacity
• Assembly automation: ongoing efforts to automate to improve safety, quality and efficiency of the overall operation

“Vertical integration improves our flexibility to respond quickly to increasing customer demand. It also allows for internal growth of our employees who are obtaining an entirely new skill set,” said Ladley. “We have more automated machinery on-site, meaning that we need more technically skilled operators to run the equipment. This has created opportunities for our employees to learn our automated technology. There is nothing more satisfying than helping our people grow professionally as they step up into these more advanced, technical roles.”

Case Construction Equipment donated a TV450B compact track loader (CTL) and numerous attachments to Camp Southern Ground, a multimissioned nonprofit organization in Fayetteville, Ga., founded by Grammy Award-winning artist Zac Brown of Zac Brown Band.

For the majority of the year, Camp Southern Ground is committed to supporting veteran mental health and wellbeing with two programs that help veterans find community, direction, purpose and healing during — and even long after — their transition back to civilian life. During summer months, Camp Southern Ground is a residential summer camp serving kids from varied backgrounds and abilities. Camp Southern Ground’s inclusive model brings together typically developing children, children with neurodevelopmental differences, children from underserved areas and children from military and veteran families with programs that challenge, educate and inspire.

Representatives from Case have previously participated in meetings with veterans at the camp on networking skills and careers in construction. Scott Wine, CEO, CNH Industrial, and Terry Dolan, Case Construction Equipment vice president for North America, delivered the CTL to Zac Brown at the camp on Dec. 2, 2021. The loader will be used in development and maintenance projects to expand facilities and capabilities at the camp.

“Really good things happen at this camp — healing, growth and education — giving veterans the skills to transition to the next stage of their careers, and giving kids the confidence and social skills to excel in their personal relationships,” Dolan said. “At Case, we talk a lot about building communities — and the strongest communities are built on the kind of strength and character that Camp Southern Ground provides. We’re honored to be partners in this mission together.”

LMN has been certified as a Great Place to Work in Canada, based on results of an employee survey conducted by Great Place to Work Institute Canada, a global authority in workplace culture and experiences.

LMN’s growing employee base of more than 100 Canadian employees participated in the survey in early November, with more than 80 percent rating the company as a great place to work. This is the first time LMN has participated in the industry survey of leading employers.

“We are thrilled to make this prestigious list of great companies across Canada based on feedback from our employees,” said Mark Bradley, CEO at LMN. “We’ve worked hard over the past 12 years to create a culture at LMN that is focused on innovation, teamwork, client satisfaction and supporting each other. This recognition is a reminder that as much as we love what we do, our employees love making an impact each day.”

GT Mid Atlantic will now offer Takeuchi equipment at three additional dealer locations in Folcroft, Pa.; Vineland, N.J.; and Freehold, N.J. Each will sell and support Takeuchi’s compact equipment, including excavators, track loaders and wheel loaders. These locations now join GT Mid Atlantic’s current Takeuchi sales and service locations in Baltimore, Aberdeen, Upper Marlboro and Frederick, Md., as well as Folcroft, Pa.

An entity of Groff Tractor Holdings, GT Mid Atlantic serves Maryland, New Jersey, Delaware and the Philadelphia area. The company said it prides itself on employing strong sales and service teams with decades of experience in the equipment industry. All GT Mid Atlantic locations stock a variety of new, used and rental equipment and attachments for customers in the construction, demolition, landscaping and maintenance and government agencies.

GT Mid Atlantic will hire a dedicated compact sales specialist at each of the three new locations to focus on Takeuchi machines, drive sales and rentals, conduct demos and build customer relationships in those markets. All sales personnel will attend a special sales training class conducted by Takeuchi’s business manager and regional product manager. GT Mid Atlantic will also send staff to Takeuchi’s corporate sales training in Pendergrass, Ga., on an annual basis.

ManagedMowed will head into the new year on the heels of its most expansive year yet.

The landscape management company opened 18 new locations in 2021 and signed 12 new franchise agreements with a mix of single-unit and multi-unit deals. As the year comes to a close, ManageMowed is now expanding its services to several new markets across the U.S., including Texas, Oklahoma, Missouri, North Carolina, California and Colorado.

Exacto plans to expand its services beyond chemical development.

To support innovative developments and enable year-round testing, Exacto has added in-house resources such as fully controlled plant growth capabilities and chemical and spray chamber assets.

With the help of Scag Power Equipment, decorated Top Fuel Driver Tony Schumacher is ready to mow down the competition and make a bid for a category-best ninth series title.

Scag Power Equipment has joined forces with the fan-favorite driver who said in October that he would be returning to the Don Schumacher Racing stable to compete on the NHRA Camping World Series circuit full-time in 2022.

Scag joins DSR as a primary partner where it will have top billing on Schumacher’s 11,000-hp machine at five events during the 2022 season. Additionally, Scag will serve as a co-primary supporter at six races, sharing equal branding space with the Maynard family, who joined drag racing’s winningest organization at the start of the 2021 season, and later announced they would be expanding their relationship to become one of Schumacher’s primary backers in 2022.

Yanmar Compact Equipment has adopted a Premium Red paint color across all its machines globally. The new Premium Red paint color brings Yanmar’s compact equipment in line with Yanmar Group’s image.

The shift from the well-known Yanmar yellow is more than simply a cosmetic color change. For Yanmar Compact Equipment, the symbolism of this change resonates on a deeper level.

“Yanmar Compact Equipment is on a journey of transformation,” said CEO Giuliano Parodi. “For us, Premium Red sends out a clear signal that we are one company, with a clear product strategy, but our transformation goes far beyond our machines; we are challenging the way we think and the way we work, to transform our products, our business and our brand to create even more value for our customers.”

In product transformation, Yanmar CE is currently evaluating several alternative fuel and powertrain technologies and recently unveiled its first electric mini excavator prototype, the new SV17e.