Industry and business news 11/2/18

Komatsu America teams up with the Chicago Blackhawks for the 2018-2019 season

Oct. 23, 2018—Komatsu America Corp., a leading global heavy equipment manufacturer, recently announced plans to partner with the Chicago Blackhawks for the 2018-2019 season. The Komatsu logo will appear prominently on the ice for all regular season home games. As the first agreement with any of Chicago’s pro sports franchises, the presence will raise the company’s local profile and expose the brand to a more mainstream, national and international TV audience. With local distributors in several North American markets with NHL teams (Boston, NY, Philadelphia, St Louis, Winnepeg, Phoenix, Las Vegas, etc.) the hospitality component allows Komatsu sales teams to continue deepening customer relationships during slower, winter months and find distributor cross-collaboration opportunities at home and away games.

Doosan selects Chris Caldwell as 2018 Hometown MVP Contest winner

Oct. 23, 2018—Doosan Infracore North America LLC selected Chris Caldwell of Roanoke, Va., as the Grand Prize winner of the 2018 Hometown MVP Contest. Chris won four tickets to Game Four of the 2018 World Series presented by YouTube TV. Hometown MVP Contest entrants were asked, “How do you use construction equipment to make your community strong?” Chris is an equipment superintendent at Branch Civil—a site development, design-build and heavy-highway construction firm—who has been with the company for more than 23 years. The certified equipment manager detailed in his entry how Branch Civil helps build schools, improves critical infrastructure in his growing community and performs works to help protect the ecosystem near the company’s jobsites. In his entry, Chris wrote: “We perform wetland mitigation, which keeps our environment healthy and thriving. We are an employee-owned company, and we are community minded. We give back to local charities and nonprofits often.”

Volvo celebrates 20 years of world class excavator development in Korea

Oct. 18, 2018—With the company enjoying the effects of a strong global market—much of it driven by the success of its booming excavator product line, it was fitting that Volvo CE should recently celebrate two decades of excavator production at its Korean manufacturing facility in Changwon. At an event at the factory, Volvo CE President Melker Jernberg thanked the 2,200 employees, business suppliers and customers for their commitment over the last two decades, and highlighted the importance of excavators to the future success of the company. Volvo CE now exports excavators to 120 countries worldwide from its Changwon Plant, a factory that accounts for more than half of the company’s global excavator production. As of June 2018, the plant had produced 200,000 excavators, and exports have surged tenfold since 1998.

Teletrac Navman survey reveals labor shortage's widespread impact on the construction industry

Oct. 11, 2018—Teletrac Navman, a global software-as-a-service provider that leverages location-based technology for GPS tracking solutions, recently announced findings from its 2018 Telematics Benchmark Report: Global Construction Edition. The survey found that with 42% of organizations experiencing a talent shortage, more are taking action to address it, including increasing pay (50%), offering better benefits (35%) and providing flexible work arrangements (29%). The survey also found companies are seeing benefits from GPS tracking and investing in their fleets. 

Prophix Software joins Viewpoint Strategic Partner program