Alta Equipment Group will acquire Ginop Sales, a Kubota distributor with three locations in Northern Michigan, and Ambrose Equipment, a LeeBoy dealer with locations in New Hampshire and Massachusetts. The deals expand Alta’s network to more than 60 locations across Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, New England, New York, Ohio, Virginia, and Florida. Ginop generated approximately $65 million in revenue for the trailing twelve-month period ended August 2021. “The acquisition of Ginop strengthens Alta’s business and product offerings in our home state of Michigan by expanding our relationship with Kubota, a world-class OEM,” says Alta CEO Ryan Greenawalt. “The acquisition builds on our strategy of providing customers with superior equipment and unrivaled product support. For over six decades, Ginop has been Northern Michigan’s trusted source for construction and agricultural equipment. Alta is honored to carry on the Ginop legacy and excited to add their talented team to the Alta family.” Ambrose generated approximately $35 million in revenue for the trailing twelve-month period ended August 2021. “For over three decades, Ambrose has been the ‘go-to’ asphalt paving products dealer in New England, says

2021 marked a new year for “The Dirt” and a new host. Bryan Furnace began hosting the weekly videos in July, bringing his experience as an equipment operator to a broad range of topics for contractors and the construction industry as a whole. From interviews to commentary, Bryan delivers his ground-level, straight-forward perspective to bear on everything from retaining employees to the infrastructure bill. Here are Bryan’s top five Dirt videos from 2021, as determined by the most views on equipmentworld.com: (Want to make sure you don’t miss an episode of The Dirt? You can do so by subscribing to our Equipment World Daily Report newsletter or the Equipment World YouTube channel. We also post a new episode each week at equipmentworld.com.)  1. How Does the Infrastructure Bill Affect Contractors? In this episode of The Dirt, we give you all the important details of the $1 trillion infrastructure bill, which has since become law, and how it affects contractors. Bryan interviews Daniel Fisher, senior vice president at the Associated Equipment Distributors, to find out what’s in the massive legislation –

Some 20 years ago ASV showed the world a new kind of rubber track system that used oscillating bogie rollers in an undercarriage that practically floated over the ground. This type of machine came to be known as the compact track loader, and while ASV has changed hands several times, they’ve continued to innovate and refine the concept. Yanmar acquired ASV in 2019, and fittingly the new ASV RT-40 is powered with a Yanmar engine rated at 38.2 horsepower. “The Yanmar engine is an ASV engine,” says Buck Storlie, product manager, “and it is fully serviceable at Yanmar or ASV dealers.” The small frame loader features a 48.3-inch width, an 8.4-foot lift height, a 931-pound operating capacity and a 7.1 mph top speed.  And like all ASV CTLs the RT-40 offers high tractive effort, low ground pressure and lots of pushing and digging power thanks to ASV’s Posi-Power system. With its 4,000-pound weight and maneuverability, the RT-40 will be a staple in the rental market and ideal for landscapers and contractors who want to get in and out of narrow

A backup camera is always a good idea for cars and commercial vehicles. But multiple cameras – side, rear and interior – are even better. Samsara has developed a new product that connects all these camera feeds to the company’s Connected Operations Cloud. And with the Samsara system, you can use your existing cameras. When combined with Samsara’s AI Dash Cams, customers gain 360-degree visibility in a single dashboard. This increased visibility combined with cloud connectivity allows managers to access video footage immediately and exonerate drivers from false claims.  Cameras don’t lie “We can now seamlessly integrate our existing cameras with Samsara’s platform, quickly retrieve video footage through the cloud in minutes, and significantly decrease our volume of backup incidents and associated payouts,” said Sajid Ordagic, safety manager at Rasmussen Group, an Iowa-based heavy construction company. Trucking companies large and small can face a barrage of insurance claims and lawsuits, everything from backup incidents and sideswipes to major accidents. Without cameras proof of innocence is hard to come by. But, according to Ordagic, his company has seen a 30% reduction

Slightly less than a year ago the residents of one of the hottest states in the country woke up to find their power out, pipes burst and icy havoc everywhere. The big freeze that hit Texas, February 13, 2021 and lasted almost a week, killed more people than the Alamo and racked up billions of dollars in damages. That should be warning enough to take winter seriously. Whether it’s your tools or equipment you should understand the worst that could happen and prepare for it. Here’s a checklist of the dangers and what you can do to prevent them. The #1 Rule No set of rules could possibly cover all the contingencies for different brands and types of equipment, mobile, stationary, rubber-tire, tracked, low and high horsepower, diesel, gas, hybrid or fully electric. So the #1 rule is to check with the equipment dealer or OEM or consult the manual first. Also don’t do this slapdash or just whenever you get around to it. Use our list here as a starting point but then study your equipment and needs, develop

In 2020, we started an ongoing feature focusing on collectors of antique equipment and their favorite finds. Little did we know that the stories would become so popular. Readers seem to appreciate the historical significance of the old equipment and the personal stories behind them. And the collectors we’ve spoken with love to show their vintage machines, many of which underwent painstaking restorations. Along with being fans of antique equipment, they hope to reach a new generation and help preserve a bit of our country’s construction past. So here are the top five antique construction equipment stories on equipmentworld.com for 2021, with links in case you want to read more: Mike Oberloier1. 95 Years Under Water: Rare, Long-Lost Steam Shovel Rescued to be Restored An old steam shovel at the bottom of a Michigan lake since 1925 couldn’t be rescued. Then a dam break in 2020 changed everything. Because of it, Mike Oberloier was able to resurrect a dream his father had back in 1975, when he led an unsuccessful diving expedition to find the lost steam shovel of Wixom

Josh Burkholder grew up on his family farm and times were tough. Searching for ways to bring in family income, he started mowing lawns and then turned to construction. It’s a move that came out of necessity and he now says it “grew beyond anything I ever imagined.” This growth shouldn’t be a surprise when you look at his background. “My dad always drilled customer service into us,” Burkholder says. “We’re here to serve the customer. That’s where our bread and butter come from.” Along the way, several people have given his company a hand up, Burkholder says. There was the small community bank that loaned him the money for his first piece of equipment: a zero-turn lawnmower. “We still use them, “ Burkholder says, “even though we’ve outgrown them to some extent.” He also credits an engineering team with a local mining company with seeing Oak Hill’s potential in doing the mine’s reclamation work. In 2010, the mining company hired Oak Hill to move 170,000 yards of dirt, a job that they bid at around $500,000. “That was monstrous

Crime is on the rise everywhere and with so many construction companies powering down in winter, equipment theft is rising accordingly. Pandemic issues such as reduced staffing and unemployment also raise risks. Equipment thieves strike fast. They bring their own trucks and lowboys and it takes them only minutes to get a dozer, excavator or backhoe onto a trailer and down the road. In many cases, these stolen machines are loaded into a cargo container before the sun comes up (making it all but invisible to law enforcement) and then put on a ship bound for a country where they can never be traced. But there are a number of steps you can take to keep yourself from becoming a victim of equipment theft. Here’s a checklist of things you should do short term and long term to protect your iron this winter and all season long. Short Term Precautions Fully illuminate your shop building and equipment yard at night and eliminate any shadowed spots where thieves might hide. New LED bulbs cast a lot of light and use less

For being the simplest machine in most construction fleets, the compactor has benefited from numerous technology enhancements in recent years. Case proves the point with its new compactor duo in the E Series lineup, the SV215E and SV217E single-drum vibratory rollers. The two new models are built for fast, consistent soil compaction on varying lift depths and material types. High centrifugal forces and standard dual amplitude and dual frequency capabilities enable your operators to dial in compaction performance on each lift. Both rollers operate at 154 horsepower and weigh at 33,420 and 36,500 pounds respectively, with centrifugal forces up to 73,063 and 74,861 pounds. Each model is also compatible with ACEforce intelligent compaction technology to further ensure compaction quality, documentation and productivity. Consistent speed and compaction across the job site is enhanced with an electronic self-adjusting torque control system delivering constant power to the drum and wheels. This is further assisted by automatic traction control with HX drive propulsion system – optional on smooth drums and standard on padfoot models. The drive system enables E-series compactors to maintain stability and

Brooks Tractor will now carry the entire line of Merlo telehandlers at each of its seven locations, which serve the major metropolitan areas of Wisconsin, and provide support to upper Michigan. The line covers all segments of material handling. “Brooks Tractor is always looking for ways to diversify its fleet and add value to the customer experience,” said Truie Brobston, sales manager. “If we can be their one-stop shop, it helps us market the rest of our lineup. We were impressed with the technology the Merlo line has to offer and the overall fit and finish of their product.” Brooks is also an authorized John Deere, Hitachi, Atlas Copco and Dynapac dealer. The 20-year-old association has created a new program to support those working toward careers in the servicing and maintenance of construction equipment.Independent Equipment Dealers Association Heavy Diesel Tech Students Earn $5,000 Scholarships The Independent Equipment Dealers Association presented three, $5,000 scholarships to students at Western Technical College in Lacrosse, Wisconsin during a recent ceremony at the school’s heavy diesel program shop. IEDA created the scholarship program this year