Business News for July: John Deere, Midwest Mole, Caterpillar, American Augers

The board of directors of Deere & Co. elected Samuel Allen as president, chief operating officer and a member of the board of directors effective June 1, and CEO effective Aug. 1. Robert W. Lane, chairman and CEO, will serve as chairman of the board until Allen’s expected succession as chairman.

A 34-year veteran of John Deere, Allen has been president of the Worldwide Construction & Forestry Division since 2005 and has been responsible for the global operations of John Deere Power Systems since 2003. Allen has served since 2001 as a senior officer of the company with early senior leadership responsibilities in human resources and industrial relations and the oversight of John Deere Credit’s global operations.

In addition, Allen has been responsible for the John Deere Intelligent Solutions Group and for Deere’s Advanced Technology and Innovation since 2007. Previously in his career, he worked in positions of increasing responsibility in many divisions within Deere.

Other senior executive moves include:

Michael Mack Jr., who has served as senior vice president and chief financial officer since 2006, to the position of president, Worldwide Construction & Forestry Division.

James Field, who until recently served as president of the Worldwide Commercial & Consumer Division and before that as vice president and comptroller of Deere & Company, to the position of senior vice president and chief financial officer.

Jean Gilles, who has served as senior vice president of John Deere Power Systems, to the senior officer position of senior vice president, John Deere Power Systems, John Deere Intelligent Solutions Group, and Advanced Technology and Innovation.

In other Deere news, the company is using the CTT show in Moscow to announce two new Russian dealers and affirm its commitment to growing the Russian and CIS (Commonwealth of Independent States) markets.

The dealers, UST (Universal Spetstechnica), based in Moscow, and ACT (Agro-Construction Technologies), based in Krasnodar, will together cover much of Russia. UST’s territory will be the Central, Urals, Siberia and Volga Federal districts of Russia, while ACT will represent the Southern Federal district of Russia.

UST is already well known in the forklift and industrial equipment arena. ACT, which has also been a John Deere agricultural dealer, will service Sochi.

John Deere construction product offerings from UST and ACT in Russia will run the gamut, including the small (313 and 317 skid steers), the medium (J-Series backhoes, including a special side-shift 325J) and large production models (844K four-wheel drive loader, 872G grader, and 850J dozer with outside “C”-mount blade). Seven K-Series loaders and two articulated dump trucks will also be introduced to the market, as they have been in North America. www.deere.com

Caterpillar recently reached an agreement with Eaton Corporation to have Eaton’s heavy duty transmission remanufacturing business done by Caterpillar’s Remanufacturing Division. The agreement calls for Caterpillar to remanufacture Eaton heavy duty transmissions at its Summerville, SC, facility beginning in the third quarter 2009. The agreement brings together the Fuller Reman brand and Caterpillar’s Remanufacturing Division. www.cat.com

American Augers has recently completed and been certified with the ISO 9001:2008 International Quality System and Standard for the design, manufacturing and distribution of its products and operations.

The entire quality management system was audited and certified by Smithers Quality Assessment Inc. Smithers is fully accredited by both the Dutch Council for Accreditation (RvA) and the American National Accreditation Body (ANAB), and is a member of the Independent Association of Accredited Registrars. 800.324.4930, www.americanaugers.com

Price Gregory (formerly Gregory & Cook Construction), has relocated their office in Houston to 920 Memorial City Way, Ste. 600, Houston, TX 77024. The contact numbers remain the same: phone (713) 780-7500 and fax: (713) 780-9388; Web: www.pricegregory.com.

Kubota Corporation has named Satoshi Iida as the new president of Kubota Tractor Corporation, based in Torrance, CA. Iida, who has a Ph.D. in mechanical and systems engineering, has been with Kubota Corporation for 29 years and served in the company’s engineering, utility tractor and construction equipment divisions. He was previously appointed to executive level management positions within Kubota, including his most recent appointment, prior to joining Kubota Tractor Corporation, as president of Kubota Europe in France. Iida is a member of Kubota Corporation’s Board of Directors.

Commercial Coating Services International (CCSI), a subsidiary of Insituform Technologies’ newly acquired subsidiary, The Bayou Companies Inc., recently surpassed one million man hours worked without filing a single lost time injury report.

According to Dave Hammon, CCSI’s Human Resources, Health & Safety manager, there have been no lost time injury reports filed since Dec. 13, 2004.

CCSI owns one of the world’s largest fleets of field joint coating systems and is a leader in field joint anti-corrosion coating with more than two million field joints coated worldwide. 636.530.8000, www.insituform.com

Portland, OR-based ESCO Corporation has announced that it has assumed 100 percent ownership of its ESCO SOLDERING joint venture, effective May 12. The ESCO SOLDERING business has approximately 450 employees and is located in Betim, in the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais – home to several large mining operations. The business will continue to be known as ESCO SOLDERING.

The joint venture was formed in May 2007 between ESCO and Soldering, a manufacturer of wear-resistant steel products for the mining, industrial, sugar, heavy construction and cement markets. The resulting partnership created a leading manufacturer and supplier of wear prod¬ucts for equipment manufacturers and end-user customers. 503.778.6612, www.escocorp.com

Kevin Cater has been appointed to the position of president of Ledcor Pipeline Inc. In this role, Cater will be responsible for overseeing Ledcor’s pipeline operations in the U.S. and will be based out of the company’s office in Houston, TX.

Cater’s experience in the energy sector, most recently as president of Willbros construction US, will be an invaluable asset as Ledcor pursues expansion in the U.S. focusing on strategic projects and markets. Coordinating business development efforts with Brad Sitton, COO of Ledcor Pipeline Inc., and Ledcor’s office in Denver, CO, Cater will leverage the company’s business model and track record in the Canadian market place.

Cater holds both a Bachelor of Science and Master’s degree in Business Administration. 780.395.4016, www.ledcor.com

Topcon Positioning Systems (TPS) has purchased a significant ownership interest of Destura, s.r.l, a software and hardware technology company located in Concordia Sulla Secchia, Modena, Italy. TPS has committed to buying the remaining ownership interest by 2014.

In conjunction with the purchase, TPS will purchase a large tract of land and several industrial buildings to be used as a training facility and field test site for Europe.

Destura designs and manufactures software and hardware electronic and mechanical products for the electronics, automotive, agriculture and telematics industries.

Destura products include data management boards, system diagnostic wireless interfaces, wireless transducers, transmitters/receivers and related systems, vehicle (automobiles and tractors) engine control unit devices and portable mobile navigation system devices, telemetry systems and high-frequency antennas and transducers, among others. 925.245.8300, www.topconpositioning.com

Griffith R. Morris has joined FMI’s Utilities Market Group as managing director of utility business development. Morris has served for four decades in the utilities, regulatory authorities and industrial companies, both nationally and abroad.

Morris focuses on advising senior executive management, regulators and government officials on matters such as corporate strategy, regulatory policy, financial condition and planning, organizational structure, regulatory compliance and corporate governance and ethics.

Prior to joining FMI, Morris served as senior vice president and a member of the board of directors of Stone & Webster, where he led the firm’s marketing, corporate development, financial services, risk management and operations consulting groups.

Morris holds undergraduate degrees in applied mathematics (Adelphi College) and electrical engineering (New York University) and has an Executive MBA (Harvard). He is a member of the NYSSA and the IEEE, and serves on the advisory boards of two energy industry start-up firms. 919.785.9211, www.fminet.com