HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Goderich Signal-Star, 2009-07-08, Page 18Page A erich Signal -Star, Wednesday, July 8, 2009
The name changed, but
the quality remained the same
Champion Road Machinery Ltd. of
Goderich was sold to the Construction
Equipment division of AB Volvo in
February 1997 for $175 million.
Then President and Chief Executive
Officer, Art Church, announced the
sale of Champion shares at $15 each
and indicated the sale would allow
the company to tap into an interna-
tional network of sales, distribution,
advanced technology and research
and development.
The relationship endured and
thrived for over 10 years and 2007
appeared to be a turnaround year for
the mad grader building company. It
was profitable and the build rate had
been increased to meet world demand.
Experience was the ,one con-
stant at Volvo Motor Graders.
in Goderich. At right, Hank
Roach, welds a tandem. At
top right, Don Fisher, a
37 -year employee has
worked in shipping/receiv-
ing, machining and welding.
Cliff Hallam, has over 38
years experience at Volvo
and worked at a plasma
burner unit.
The economy turned later that year
and global demand for construction
equipment waned as economies
around the world fell into recession.
However, in 2008, Volvo acquired
Ingersoll Rand in the United States
and announced in September 2008
that it would close the Goderich
manufacturing facility and move it to
Shippensburg, Pennsylvania
The construction division of Volvo
is located in Brussels, Belgium and
had sales of $2.5 billion in 1997. At
the time, it employed 7,300 people
worldwide.
The companies were introduced
through mutual interests in Brazil
where Champion had hoped to reach
a distribution agreement with Volvo.
Now, Brazil is the only facility within
Volvo that is manufacturing road -
building equipment.
At the time of the sale, champion
was interested in fitting into the com-
pany's international system of distri-
bution and sales. Also, the technical
expertise of Volvo's research and
development arm served Champion
well in the development of the grader
hydraulics and diagnostic computers.
The company has a long history in
Goderich and was owned by the
Sully family until it was sold to
Sequoia Associates in 1988.
on i l.•. (I
It has been our pleasure
to serve VOLVO
for so many years
We have taken great pride 10 make sure your staff always had
clean uniforms to look their best while building the worid's #1 grader