Aside from Trencor, the Astec Industries range includes other famous brands such as American Augers, Roadtec, Carlson, Telsmith, Breaker Technology, Kolberg-Pioneer and Johnson Crushers.

Founded in 1972 with a vision of bringing state-of-the-art technology to traditionally low-tech industries, and supported by a service driven corporate culture, Astec Industries has grown to be come a leader in many classes of infrastructure development equipment worldwide.

A similar philosophy followed in Australia, when in 1995 Q-Pave had three employees working from an office in founder Paul Commins’ house.

The first Trencor trencher was sold in Australia in 1996, and although the market for the 60 - 130 t class of machine is not large, Trencor is well represented in Australia in this class. Remarkably, this market success has come without the appointment of a single dedicated salesperson. Q-Pave concentrated on providing major contractors with quality after-sales support.

With growth has come the need for further expansion and investment, and Paul Commins felt that this could best be achieved with a change of business ownership. Astec Industries so highly values the Australian market that it elected to purchase the assets of Q-Pave and create a new, wholly owned subsidiary, trading as Astec Australia.

In speaking about the change, Paul Commins said “We are excited about the benefits that this will bring to our customers in Australia. I am grateful for the support of our staff, and our loyal customers, in helping the business to grow to its current size. The emphasis on customer support won’t change! The resources of Astec Industries will allow this to be further developed, and also expose the market to a broader product range.”

Astec Industries and Q-Pave have been strong supporters of the Australian Pipeline Industry Association (APIA), sponsoring conferences and encouraging their young people to engage with the industry through the Young Pipeliners Forum. This will continue under the new ownership.

For Astec Australia it will be business as usual. In the short term there will be increased levels of inventory and a gradual introduction of more product lines from the Astec Industries family of companies, particularly in crushing and screening where Astec is market leader in some sectors and number two worldwide.

David Smale has been appointed as General Manager and Paul Commins will assist in the transition for six months, before enjoying retirement.

Astec Industries Chairman Dr J. Don Brock commented “We at Astec recognise the importance of the Australian market, which is one of our key export markets, and appreciate its acceptance of our products. We see Astec Australia as a means of reinforcing that bond, and continuing to bring innovation and service to the local market.”

“Every future has a history, and often we are asked why so many names,” commented Astec Underground President Alan Odgers. “Astec Underground entered the underground construction market with the acquisition of Trencor. The Trencor brand dominated the large-trencher market and has done so for more than 50 years with high-performance rock trenchers and other specialised excavation products used by contractors worldwide, particularly in the pipeline industry.

“Next, we added American Augers, the world’s leading manufacturer of boring machines and horizontal directional drilling equipment. American Augers introduced its auger boring equipment in 1970 and its first directional drill model in 1988. The American Auger’s product line-up features the world’s largest selection of HDD models with pullback between 100,000 and 1.3 million pounds.”

Astec Underground then formed a strategic alliance with Case for the sales and support of the company’s well-known line of trenchers, vibratory ploughs and HDD products. “Now, the former Case products are manufactured and sold under the Astec Underground brand,” said Mr Odgers. “Because American Augers and Trencor are long established and enjoy significant brand recognition, we will continue to market these brands, along with the other Astec Underground product lines.”

“Our corporate culture is all about keeping our customers working and this culture is driven from the top. We show a loyalty and a commitment to our customers and this loyalty is often returned.”

US-based H.L Chapman Pipeline Construction started specialising in the trenching business in 1984. President and founder of the company H. L. ‘Fritz’ Chapman said “We do all kinds of trenching. We will work for any kind of utilities from water to sewer to gas and electrical and we work for any kind of communications company for lines such as telephone and fibre optics.

“I’ll tell you one thing, there is no way that anyone could do as much trenching with backhoes. It just has to be done with trenchers.”

Mr Chapman said that one of the things that general contractors like about his trenchers is the fact that as they are digging the trench they are also helping the contractor get ready for back fill by producing good spoil. “The trenchers make a spoil that is perfect for putting back into the trench after the pipe or cable has been placed. If you were blasting the rock or ripping it up with a backhoe, you’d have these big chunks that have to be hauled off. But with trenchers, spoil averages about 7.6 cm plus or minus. Occasionally you might get something a little bigger than that, but most of it is perfect for backfill purposes.”

Mr Chapman said his company also has three special Roadminer attachments for the big Trencor 1660HDs and that his company does a lot of high volume excavation work with them as well.

“I guess it seems like we’re a little bit partial to Trencor trenchers. I use of lot of them because I think they are probably the best trenching machines on the market,” Mr Chapman said.

Mr Odgers commented “It’s customers like HL Chapman that are our best advertisement. They understand the business, they understand the machines’ capabilities and they deliver for their customers. These are the qualities that we at Astec Underground strive for also.”

Astec Australia looks forward to continuing the growth of the Trencor product range in the Australian market; continuing to build on a long and successful history of quality products and deep customer satisfaction.