Bobcat
Bobcat Company announced its 2025 Dealer Leadership Groups, recognizing its 55 highest-performing dealers across respective business divisions in North America.
The honorees were chosen through a comprehensive evaluation, honoring top-performing dealers in each division: construction, grounds maintenance equipment, material handling and portable power. In select categories, the process not only allows dealers to benchmark their performance against peers but also assesses key performance metrics to identify the top-performing dealers within Bobcat’s extensive North American network. This consists of over 660 dealer enterprises across the United States and Canada.
Construction Dealer Leadership Group includes:
Bobcat of Brantford, Inc. – Ontario, Canada
Bobcat of Chadron – Nebraska
Bobcat of Chico – California
Bobcat of Gloversville-Johnstown – New York
Bobcat of Juneau – Alaska
Bobcat of Lincoln – Nebraska
Bobcat of New Hampshire
Bobcat of New York City – New York
Bobcat of Woodsville – New Hampshire
Brooks Farm Equipment, Inc. – Alberta, Canada
DJM Equipment – New York
Ironhide Equipment Inc. – North Dakota
North Jersey Bobcat – New Jersey
Swanston Equipment Corp. – North Dakota
Upstate Equipment – New York
White Star Machinery – Kansas
Portable Power Dealer Leadership Group includes:
Air Equipment Rental Corp. - Ohio
Ascendum Machinery – North Carolina
Central Power systems & Services – Missouri
Hoffman Equipment – New Jersey
O’Leary’s Contractors Equipment & Supply Co. – Illinois
Paper Material Handling – Washington
Volvo Construction Equipment & Services – Corona, California
As members of the Dealer Leadership Groups, representatives from these dealerships will function as the “voice” for the dealer network and meet with Bobcat senior leadership throughout the year to provide insights and feedback.
Felling Trailers
Felling Trailer’s online auction for the custom Team Warrior FT-3 light utility trailer, dedicated to the company’s team member Kevin "Op" Athmann, an extraordinary welder-fabricator for over 19 years, who passed away in May 2024, concluded with a winning bid from Julie Pallow. A cancer warrior herself, Julie and her husband, Larry, decided to participate in the auction, ultimately winning with a final bid of $6,000.
All proceeds from the winning bid will go directly to support Kevin's family, providing critical financial assistance to cover essential needs such as medical bills, housing costs, and necessary supplies.
United Rentals
United Rentals Inc., the world’s largest equipment rental company, was named to “The 250 Best-Managed Companies” list by the Wall Street Journal. The ranking was developed by the Drucker Institute based on its holistic model for measuring corporate management effectiveness, which reviews performance across key business drivers.
The 250 Best-Managed Companies list, published annually since 2017, is one of the industry’s most prestigious corporate management awards. To determine the rankings, the Drucker Institute evaluated U.S. publicly traded companies on 35 corporate performance indicators using data inputs from third-party providers. The research included a new metric, “digital positioning score,” which looked at a company’s activity, as compared to industry peers, across online search, website traffic, social media and its apps.
PPI
The Plastics Pipe Institute’s (PPI) Building & Construction Division new technical document provides design and installation recommendations for transitioning from polypropylene pipe to other piping materials using flange adapters and connections. PPI TN-71, Flanges and Flange Adapters for Polypropylene (PP-R & PP-RCT) Piping Systems, is now available on the division’s website.
Polypropylene (PP-R and PP-RCT) pressure pipe and fittings are usually joined to each other by butt fusion, socket fusion, sidewall outlet fusion, or electrofusion methods. ASTM recently published the new ASTM F3722-24 Standard Practice for Heat Fusion Joining of Polypropylene (PP) Pipe & Fittings to give guidance on joining those types of fusion connections.
Flanged assemblies are commonly used for connections to fittings and valves from PP pipes to pipes of other materials (e.g., CPVC, HDPE, steel), or as end connections on fabricated pipe spools and assemblies.
According to Lance MacNevin, P. Eng., director of engineering for PPI's Building & Construction Division, “Flanged joints prevent leakage by compressing a deformable gasket material into irregularities in a less deformable material to seal possible leak paths.
PPI TN-71 step-by-step installation procedures for flanged connections include tightening sequences for bolts, bolt torques, re-tightening recommendations, and much more. Several illustrations show each component of a flange joint while also explaining the terminology used for these types of connections. It was published in October 2024 with input from industry experts including PPI staff and members who are manufacturers of PP-R and PP-RCT piping systems.
PPI TN-71 contains detailed information about selecting proper gaskets and bolts, calculating bolt torque, making flanged connections to join PP pipes to butterfly valves, and safe disassembly of flanged connections.
Founded in 1950, PPI is the non-profit North American trade association representing the plastic pipe industry, including several manufacturers of PP pipes, fittings, and valves. PPI formed its Polypropylene Pressure Pipe Steering Committee in 2018 to develop industry publications, collaborate on standards, and create educational information about these systems. UI