Page 174 - Peterson 85 Years and Going Strong

We’ve always looked at Peterson as a partner. Their support and knowledge of the Cat product are unsurpassed. They are the go-to guys when we have questions
or concerns.
– Kelly Kolander, past owner & CEO, O.C. Jones Inc.
Al Hodson (L) with Derek Pasut at Peterson Demo Days in 2015
According to Kolander, “Having a paver break down in the middle of a shift is the worst possible nightmare in a paving operation.Tens of thousands of dollars are at stake every night when you’re out on a freeway. We’d had our eye on the Cat paver for quite some time, and when things started com- ing together, we switched. It was the right prod- uct with the right modifications at the right time. Blaw-Knox was having struggles with their paver. Caterpillar wasn’t. We had watched the different generations of [Cat] pavers come out. And we had a big highway overlay coming up on I-880 where it made sense to give Cat a try because the crew would have three or four months to get used to it, not just four or five days.
When Caterpillar gets involved in a product, they may not be the best right at the start, but eventu- ally, they get it right. And they finally did. That’s when we switched.”
CAT’S HISTORY IN THE PAVING MARKET
Peterson’s history in paving goes back to the mid- 1980s when Caterpillar first took on CMI. In June 1984, Caterpillar signed an agreement with the Oklahoma-based manufacturer to market their products through Cat’s own dealership network. In 1985, Caterpillar bought out CMI and rebranded their paving products with the Cat logo. The buy- out was part of Caterpillar’s efforts to rebuild and diversify after the devastating recession of 1982. After a few lackluster years, Caterpillar dropped the concrete pavers and asphalt plants, retaining only the grinders and asphalt pavers. In 1988, Cat bought Raygo to expand into the roller market. And in 1992, they purchased Barber-Greene— one of the Big Three in the paving industry—and hit the paving market full-force.
Initially, Cat rebranded the existing Bar- ber-Greene machines and painted them yellow or green according to customer preference. Those early pavers were a combination of Barber-Greene and Cat componentry. But in 1996, Cat came out with their new AP1055 paver—completely re-en- gineered from the ground up using all-Cat parts and components and painted Caterpillar-yellow. “Those first pavers didn’t meet expectations,” ex- plains Kevin Culligan, GM of Peterson Machin- ery (retired 2019), who was with Halton-Cat at the time. “There were some growing pains with those early 1055s as Caterpillar worked through the problems. But when both the dealer and Cat- erpillar showed up, the customers’ response was, ‘Holy moly. These guys are really going to stand behind this thing.’ Caterpillar was very proactive about improving its product and did it over a rela- tively short period of time. And they did a heck of a job. It’s a hell of a machine.”
“It really comes down to the paving crew,” says Ko- lander. “They get accustomed to certain brands and they like what they like. To change brands is a big deal, so we were very deliberate and intentional as we watched what was happening in the industry.
172 | PETERSON: 85 YEARS AND GOING STRONG