Underground Construction - October 2017 - 48

CMW had its
roots as a
blacksmith and
machine shop.

By Jeff Griffin Senior Editor

Family, Customer Values Fuel Growth Of CMW

D

Ditch Witch has been a wellknown and -respected name in the
underground construction industry for decades.
The world's first small, service-line trencher carried the Ditch
Witch name, and over the course
of nearly 70 years, the product line
has steadily evolved and expanded to include not only trenchers,
but a wide variety of equipment
designed specifically to place pipe
and cable in the ground.
Ditch Witch is owned by The
Charles Machine Works Inc.
(CMW), located in the small,
northern Oklahoma community
of Perry, but the Charles Machine
Works name never has been widely known or recognized. That is
changing.
Over the last few years, CMW
has quietly built a family of companies that offer a broad selection
of equipment used for installation, maintenance and rehabilitation of underground pipe and
cable. Because CMW is a privately held company and its stock is
not publicly traded, the business
press pays little attention to it and
its growth. But utility providers
and the underground construction industry are becoming aware
that Ditch Witch is one of several

48

ucononline.com

CMW companies, all focused
on underground
construction.

Becoming the
Underground
Authority
"Today, Charles
Machine Works
offers the mostadvanced equipment and solutions
for underground construction and
service in the world," said Rick
Johnson, CEO. "We are the only
company in the market focused
exclusively on providing solutions
over the complete life cycle of underground pipe and cable.
"Through our family of market-leading companies, we offer
solutions for small to large new
installation methods, a range of
same-path repair and rehab technologies, underground obstacle
awareness and pipeline inspection
electronics, used and reconditioned equipment, after-market
tooling and emerging-market
solutions.
"Today our companies work together with customers to do what
others cannot do. We consider
Charles Machine Works to be 'The
Underground Authority,' and that
Rick Johnson, Charles
Machine Works CEO

is how we want to be recognized."
To accomplish that goal, CMW
has acquired companies that provide underground services and
technologies that complement and
go beyond those of Ditch Witch:
* Subsite Electronics - underground awareness and inspection
electronics
* American Augers - large horizontal directional drilling and auger
boring equipment
* Trencor - large trenchers
* HammerHead - pipe bursting and
cured-in-place-pipe lining
* Radius HDD - after-market HDD
tooling for all brands
* MTI Equipment - seller of reconditioned HDD equipment of all
brands
* DW/TXS - a joint venture that
produces basic HDD models
in China for emerging markets
that do not require technology
demanded in North America and
Europe.
Each company continues to operate under its own name and remains where it was located before
being acquired by CMW.

Vision
"I'm not sure whether some are
confused by retaining names of
established companies we've ac-

quired," said Johnson, but the
industry didn't really know Charles
Machine Works, and it does know
American Augers, Subsite Electronics, HammerHead, Radius,
MTI, TXS and, of course, Ditch
Witch."
Johnson said CMW believes
there is a value in allowing what
made each company successful to
continue to represent its leading
brand in its niche market, and that
it is important to keep the existing
brand names in front of customers
and the marketplace.
"When we have the opportunity
to tell customers our story," he explained, "we walk through the family of companies, highlight their
capabilities, focus on the opportunities they provide, and we find
they appreciate the fact that we are
right there beside them every day
working in the dirt."
The role of CMW in operations
of the individual companies focuses on leadership and guidance,
along with market experience and
capital investment.
"Recognizing that each of the
companies was quite successful
prior to Charles Machine Works,
we want to maintain their focus
and allow them to do what they do
Underground Construction October 2017
http://www.ucononline.com
Underground Construction - October 2017

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Underground Construction - October 2017
