Underground Construction - November 2017 - 54

BUSINESS LATEST INDUSTRY NEWS
ments, and cutting large pipe
diameters up to 42 inches.
The warehouse has 48-by-48foot column spacing and includes
an early-suppression, fast-response
fire sprinkler system, and movable racking system. Landscaping
features include 127 trees; low-flow,
high-efficiency sprinklers with
pressure-regulated nozzles; and drip
irrigation in non-turf areas.
GF Piping Systems supplies a full
range of plastic pipe, fittings, valves,
actuators, fusion machines, secondary containment, heat exchangers,
custom products, and sensors
and instrumentation for industrial
process control.

Vac-Tron Equipment

Vac-Tron Equipment welcomed a
new dealer to its network. Empire
Southwest LLC is a third-generation,
family-owned Caterpillar dealership
that sells, rents and services heavy
equipment, tractors and power-generation equipment to contractors
throughout Arizona.
"Vac-Tron is an industry leader
in vacuum excavation and their
equipment lends itself to the same
clientele that we serve with our
excavation lines from Caterpillar,"
said Michael Rodoni, rental manager
at Empire CAT. The partnership also
meets the Arizona dealer's ongoing
goal of offering "customers safer and
more efficient products," he added.
In other news, Vac-Tron hosted
a Red Carpet event to celebrate its
6,000th unit being built, and the debut of its low-profile, trailer-mounted industrial vacuum unit on the
silver screen.
The machine played a key role
in the comedy, Logan Lucky, as the
way actors Channing Tatum, Daniel
Craig and Adam Driver safely dug
and quickly sucked money out of an
underground vault at a NASCAR race.

ucononline.com

Okahumpka, FL-based Vac-Tron is
an innovative leader in the industry,
offering more than 30 vacuum products, and more than 50 wet and dry
uses, through 115 dealer locations in
North America.

Core & Main
After its acquisition by Clayton,
Dubilier & Rice and becoming a
freestanding enterprise on August 1,
HD Supply Waterworks became Core
& Main..
"The name Core & Main allows us
to continue our incredible journey
as a leading distributor in the water
infrastructure and fire protection
industries, as well as adjacent
markets," said Steve LeClair, CEO. "As
an independent company, Core &
Main has an exciting opportunity to
accelerate our growth."
Those words were soon put into
action by acquiring Minnesota Pipe &
Equipment, a waterworks distribution company with three branches in
the state (Farmington, Rochester and
St. Cloud).
"This acquisition will bring the
best of both worlds together," said
Wade Baumberger, president of
Minnesota Pipe & Equipment. "The
relationships we already have established, combined with the resources
of Core & Main as a large national
distributor, will benefit all of the
contractor and municipal customers
in the area."
When completed, the acquisition
will bring Core & Main to a total of
249 branches in 46 states, serving
a customer base of approximately
37,000 municipalities, private
water companies and professional
contractors.
St. Louis, MO-based Core & Main
is North America's largest distributor
of infrastructure products for all
aspects of the water, wastewater,
clean water, landfill, energy and fire
protection industries.

Hydra-Flex
Hydra-Flex Inc., manufacturer of
innovative fluid-handling equip-

ment, was named winner of the Best
New Product Design category in
the Minnesota Business magazine
2017 Manufacturing Awards. Its
Ripsaw Rotating Turbo Nozzle
was recognized for its exceptional
design, superiority, and success in
helping hydro excavation operators
dig faster, save water and lower
overall operating costs - by at least
35 percent.
"To have our design recognized
by Minnesota Business and the manufacturing community is an honorable testament to our equipment,
employees, customers and partners,"
said Jaime Harris, CEO.
The Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN,
maker of innovative fluid-handling
equipment for multiple industries,
was also a finalist in the Best In Class
and Sustainability categories, and
Harris was named Executive of
the Year.
Hydra-Flex's was also recognized in the Inc. 2017 5000 List of
America's Fastest-Growing Private
Companies for the fourth-consecutive year, and as one of only 146
manufacturers this year.

Caterpillar/Kennametal

A new Caterpillar partnership, with
Kennametal Inc., will provide customers globally with special order
rotors, and diamond and carbide
earth-cutting tools, technology and

industry expertise for mixing and
road milling applications.
"By combining our proven products and expertise with Caterpillar's
world-class machines and extensive
dealer network, we will deliver
unmatched earth-cutting solutions
to road rehabilitation customers
around the world," said Pete Dragich,
vice president of Kennametal Inc.
and president of the company's
Infrastructure Segment.

Topcon Positioning Group

Topcon Positioning Group launched
a new web-based service for integration with the MAGNET Collage
desktop mass-data-processing
software. MAGNET Collage Web is
designed to simplify collaboration
and sharing of 3D point cloud data. It
offers a single-environment, universal-access solution for professionals
processing and publishing data from
laser scanners, mobile mapping devices, modern paving scanners and
traditional surveying instruments.
Free access is available on the
MAGNET Collage Web page of the
company website, so potential users
can see the software first-hand and
"fly a model."
In other news, PPI Group, a positioning distributor with two locations
in Portland, OR; and Kent, WA, has
become a Topcon Solutions Store.
"Industry professionals can count
on Topcon Solutions Stores for a local
partner to address all their positioning, design and workflow solution
needs," said Jamie Williamson, executive VP and general manager.
Topcon Positioning Group, headquartered in Livermore, CA, designs,
manufactures and distributes precision measurement and workflow
solutions for the global construction,
geospatial and agriculture markets.
Underground Construction November 2017

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Underground Construction - November 2017

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