Underground Construction - March 2019 - 4

EDITOR'S LOG
Robert Carpenter | Editor-in-Chief

Welcome to Our New Home (Page)
Sometimes updating your home is a
good thing. And sometimes completely scrapping the old home for a new
one is a great thing. Underground Construction has long been the industry
leader and is now proud to announce
the arrival of a new, custom-built
website designed to meet the evolving
needs of the underground construction and rehabilitation industries.
As of March 1, Underground
Construction is reasserting its place
as the premier online resource for
the underground utilities industry with a greatly enhanced website
at UConOnline.com. Our team has
spent countless hours refining, redefining, reconceptualizing and finally
redesigning the website to meet the
needs of on-the-go industry professionals.
Our new website, while broadbased in scope and organization of
content, is much easier to navigate,
allowing you to quickly find and consume the information you're interested in. It's superior to any other website you'll find covering underground
infrastructure.
But a well-organized and attractive
website is just part of the equation.
Without stellar content, any website
falls short of its goals. Fully recognizing that challenge, we're taking dramatic steps to make UConOnline.com
the top instant news source.
The monthly Underground Construction magazine remains industry's best
source for in-depth news and features,
award-winning editorials and more.
But UCOnonline.com represents a return to a virtual daily newspaper.
Content will not only be driven by
our existing staff, but we've added
a new associate/digital editor to the
team in Jason Cockerham. He is a
technology expert, as well as a veteran of producing and generating quality content. He will lead a daily effort
to scan multiple sources for information about all markets important
to our readers. Our staff will provide

MARCH 2019 | UConOnline.com

exclusive content to further populate
our website with high-priority and
quality news you won't find anyplace
else in the market.
Take a look; add UConOnline.com
to your favorites. Read it over coffee,
lunch, at home on the couch or just
during a pause in the daily action at
your office. You'll be amazed at the
quantity and quality of information
you can glean in just a few minutes,
or data you can research in detail.
However you use UConOnline.com, it
will soon become an essential part of
your daily routine.

Toro Buys Instant
Leadership
Another family-owned company has
gone the acquisition route to become
part of a mega-corporation.
Probably the biggest industry news
in some time occurred mid-February
when Toro announced its acquisition
of the Charles Machine Works, better
known for its suite of underground
infrastructure companies led by Ditch
Witch, Hammerhead, American Augers/Trencor, Subsite, Radius and
others.
While the deal was negotiated
for several months under tight lips,
most at CMW had no idea a sale was
approaching. With the passing of
CMW founder Ed Malzahn in 2017,
several companies had started making inquiries about purchasing the organization. Over the past year, Toro
emerged as the most practical suitor.
For a mere $700 million, Toro finally achieved what it had been after
for several years: a leading place at
the table of underground infrastructure construction-directional drilling and trenching, in particular.
When Toro entered the market by
acquiring the old Astec Underground
HDD rigs and trenchers, it hoped
its landscape dealers would take on
HDD and trenchers. A few did, but
not enough to make a significant
market impact. The equipment was
too different and too expensive for

most of its traditional landscape-focused dealers.
Toro, to its credit, continued to
invest in its fledgling rigs/trenchers
line-up. By all accounts, the machines
are solid and productive. But the
narrow range of equipment left holes
in its market coverage and it never
achieved the "aha!" moment that
would convince contractors to give
up their Vermeer or Ditch Witch for a
Toro rig which, albeit a good machine,
was not really a better machine.
Finally, Toro opted to buy what it
wanted since entering the market-
that equipment line-up, diversification and market share they've always
craved. But they also bought a lot
more, such as large HDD equipment
and track trenchers, locators/electronic equipment, specialty tooling, a
used/resell equipment network and
especially, totally different construction equipment, such as piercing
tools and ramming equipment.
Perhaps most significantly, Toro
is now in the rehabilitation business
with the HammerHead product lineup, including pipe bursting, lateral and
mainline CIPP lining and recently adding UV-light cure to the suite of products. Further, Subsite now owns sewer
inspection cameras and lateral reinstatement robotic equipment through
its acquisition of RS Technical.
Now, many decisions are facing
Toro and a lot of anxiety exists at the
CMW companies. CMW is used to being a family company, with a certain
amount of flexibility and familiarity
concerning management. While
Toro is a well-respected and strong
company, it is also a publicly traded
company answering to stockholders
and a non-family board of directors.
The profit motive may differ from
what the people at CMW are
accustomed to.

http://www.UConOnline.com http://www.UConOnline.com http://www.UConOnline.com http://www.UConOnline.com http://www.UCOnonline.com http://www.UConOnline.com

Underground Construction - March 2019

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