Page 180 - Peterson 85 Years and Going Strong

WEILER ALLIES WITH CAT
In 1990, Caterpillar bought out Barber-Greene to re-establish itself in the paving market. In 2005,
Cat sold some of the Barber-Greene products to an Iowa-based group of engineers to avoid emissions compliance issues. The group started to develop and Caterpillar-ize those road wideners and windrow elevators with time-proven Cat components. As the Weiler brand grew, it gained respect and a reputation for top-notch customer service within the industry. In 2012, Caterpillar and Weiler entered into an agreement to market Weiler products exclusively through the Caterpillar dealership network.
To date, the brand is offered at all US Cat dealers
and many others around the globe. Weiler products complement the Caterpillar line and include remixing and material transfer vehicles, small pavers, rollers, and screeds for Cat pavers. Weiler continues to listen to its customers and work with the Cat Global Paving group to develop new products for its line. Today, Weiler products retain their own branding but are warrantied as if they belonged to Caterpillar.
PAVING THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST
Peterson’s northern territory of Oregon and south- ern Washington was involved in paving long be- fore Peterson arrived. “We’ve been with Weiler products since the beginning,” recalls Kevin Culli- gan. “Even before Peterson, we were selling some of these remix vehicles and pickup machines and road wideners as Halton-Cat. Back in the early 1990s, when Cat bought Barber-Greene, we were selling the ten-foot pavers to customers like Lake- side Industries and Baker Rock, who still has one of the original AP1055s. We knew these guys on the strength of the wheel loaders and graders and excavators we sold them. They knew our ability to do product support and after-sales support, which was a great differentiator for us. It still is today.” Peterson’s Oregon/Washington paving team has a firm grip on 75 percent of the market share today. In California, with three times the population and physical footprint, Peterson’s paving market share is 80 percent.
INTELLIGENT COMPACTION
The latest technology to hit the paving market is called Intelligent Compaction. It’s a new qual- ity-control process Caltrans requires that gives them a window into the details of a paving op- eration under contract. Onboard computers re- cord data, like how many times an area has been covered, what the mat temperature is, and if any spots were missed. In 2017, O.C. Jones spent $100,000 to upgrade three of their Cat rollers with the Trimble CCS900 Intelligent Compaction sys- tem to comply with the new Caltrans spec. “We’re pretty self-sufficient in most areas, but we really rely on Peterson for all the training we require,” says Mel Frisk, equipment manager for OCJ. “This new intelligent compaction gear on our rollers makes it more complicated. And it’s hard to find personnel who can run this stuff. But it does make a better product for us. It’s just part of the growth
178 | PETERSON: 85 YEARS AND GOING STRONG