Tag: business: Page 46

Business

Swift change in Ferguson a lesson in leadership: America needs more Andy Griffiths, fewer Jack Bauers

If you blinked you missed it, but yesterday Missouri Governor Jay Nixon gave the country one of the finest examples of leadership we have seen in a long time. If you run a business or any large organization where conflict occurs, it was a valuable learning moment. Nixon traveled to Ferguson, Missouri and put an […]

August 15, 2014

Business

Briggs & Stratton to acquire Allmand Bros. for $62 million

Briggs & Stratton announced today it will acquire Allmand Bros, manufacturer of towable light towers, industrial heaters and solar LED arrow boards. The Holdredge, Nebraska-based Allmand has sales of about $80 million, according to Briggs & Stratton, which will acquire all outstanding Allmand shares for $62 million in cash. The transaction is expected to close […]

August 14, 2014

Business

John Deere cuts outlook as low demand for farm equipment drops profit 14% in 3Q

Despite improving performance from its construction and forestry equipment division, John Deere reported a second-straight quarter of declines in profit and sales as the company continues to deal with a lower demand for farm equipment. Construction and forestry equipment sales shot up 19 percent to $1.75 billion with operating profit soaring 81 percent to $194 […]

August 13, 2014

Business

Bursting bubble of big tobacco financing gives glimpse of road building’s future without a gas tax increase

Last week I wrote about how states that engage in public-private partnerships (P3s) and other types of debt and bond financing would create short term gains and long term disaster for the road building industry. This weekend I read an article on ProPublica, an independent journalism site, that shows how the exact same thing—only using […]

August 12, 2014

Business

ARA: U.S. equipment rental will grow 7.6% in 2014, exceed $51 billion in 2018

U.S. total equipment rental revenue will grow 7.6 percent this year, reaching $35.8 billion, but the American Rental Association is even more bullish about rental in the coming four years. ARA says rental revenue will grow 10.5 percent in 2015, reaching $39.6 billion; another 10.2 percent in 2016, reaching $43.6 billion; 8.9 percent in 2017 […]

August 12, 2014

Business

PHOTOS: Tour John Deere world HQ; an engineering feat not unlike the company’s equipment

[imagebrowser id=117] In 1958 Deere & Company’s board of directors approving a radical and forward thinking design for it’s new Administrative Center, now the company’s world headquarters and one of the Midwest’s top architectural landmarks. The building, which opened in 1964, was the brainchild of William Hewitt, Deere’s president at the time, and the world-renowned […]

August 7, 2014

Business

What it’s like to work at Bobcat: New office gives equipment giant a tech startup feel (PHOTOS)

No. 12 Story in 2014 « No. 13 No. 11 » [imagebrowser id=118] Taking cues from several tech companies, including Microsoft, Google and Sundog, Bobcat opened its $28 million Acceleration Center in Bismarck this week, designed to promote “chance encounters” among its employees, and in the process create a facility unique in the construction equipment […]

August 7, 2014

Business

What contractors can learn from the fast-food business

One of America’s unique talents is a genius for logistics. We practically invented the concept and have put it to use doing more work in less time with better results in everything from overnight deliveries to fast food. A few months ago I pulled into the parking lot of a Chick-fil-A restaurant at noon. As […]

August 6, 2014

Business

The 6 signs of a bad construction boss

Managing employees can be one of the toughest jobs to face when running a company. Too often, contractors build their business without having any training, guidance or expertise in how to deal with their people effectively. If you’re in the black, you might not worry about how good of a boss you are, but poor […]

August 5, 2014

Business

Wages for construction workers and heavy equipment manufacturing workers are on the rise

We’re now five years into the economic recovery following the Great Recession and pay raises, according to a report from the Associated Press, are uneven across U.S. industries. Overall, pay in the U.S. has risen at a rate roughly equal to inflation: about 2 percent per year. Using data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, […]

August 5, 2014

Business

Cummins sales, profit and expectations rise in 2Q due to stronger demand in North America

Cummins has announced gains in both sales and profit during the second quarter. The company has raised its full-year forecast as a result. During the quarter, sales rose to $4.8 billion, up 7 percent over the same quarter in 2013. Cummins says the increase was due to stronger demand in North American on-highway markets and […]

August 5, 2014

Business

Mud in Your Mouth: How Rex’s Outrageous developed Road Crew Crunch, a line of construction-themed snacks

Blame it on Grandma. “My grandmother had a snack mix she called Gravel,” relates Daren Rexroad (but please call him “Rex”), “made of peanuts, pretzels, cereal and white chocolate.”  Using her recipe, Rex started experimenting, substituting dark chocolate there, milk chocolate here. Soon he had several snack mixes people were urging him to start selling. […]

August 4, 2014