As summer starts to wind down and the calendar inches toward September, the AEM Manufacturing Express tour is firmly headed toward the home stretch.
After more than three weeks spent in Texas visiting manufacturing facilities across the state, AEM’s award-winning public engagement initiative will make its way to the Houston area to close out its month-long effort to tell the story of equipment manufacturing in the Lone Star State.
“Last year, we did over three-and-a-half months on tour and stopped to see over 80 members, but we did miss out on the state of Texas,” said AEM Director of State Affairs Nick Rudowich in a recent interview with KWTX-WAC in Waco about the tour. “So, this year we felt it was necessary to just do Texas as its own tour. It’s the No. 1 equipment manufacturing state in the country, and it really deserves its own.”
The economic impact of equipment manufacturing in Texas is both significant and undeniable. The industry supports 350,000 jobs in the state and adds almost $50 billion to Texas’s economy. Those contributions are worth celebrating, and it’s why AEM has spent the better of the last month traveling down and around the state to visit its members, engage lawmakers, and highlight the men and women of the industry.
On the heels of a successful four-day run in the Dallas/Fort Worth area, the AEM Manufacturing Express spent this past week inching toward Houston and making stops at the following member company facilities: Texas Hydraulics in Temple, Manitex in Georgetown, Caterpillar Engines in Seguin, Alamo Group in Seguin, and LiuGong in Katy.
Week Three opened with a celebration of Texas Hydraulics’ decades-long contributions to Temple. The event included the city’s mayor, Tim Davis, along with representatives from the Temple Chamber of Commerce and Temple Fire Department, and staff from staff from U.S. Rep. John Carter’s (R-TX) office.
Check out some photos from the Texas Hydraulics event below, or visit the AEM Manufacturing Express Flickr.
“What started as a small cylinder manufacturing company here in a small corner of Texas has grown into a now global facility,” said Naimesh Davé, EVP sales and business development at Texas Hydraulics in a newly published feature on manufacturingexpress.org. “Hydraulic manufacturing supports customer demands in tough applications in construction, utility, firetrucks, and bucket trucks. And I can say this for sure, none of this is possible without the great 200-person team we have here in this facility.”
Then it was off to Manitex on Tuesday, where the AEM Manufacturing Express celebrated with Rep. Carter and other local officials at an event in historic Georgetown. According to the city’s mayor pro tem, Kevin Pitts, Manitex arrived in Georgetown in 1993 when the population was 18,000 and the average household income was $28,000. Today, 31 years later, the population sits at 101,000 and the average household income is $95,000.
The company, now part of Tadano after being acquired shortly after the first of the year, boasts a strong reputation for building cranes that serve a wide variety of industries and continues to make its mark on the local community it calls home.
On Wednesday, the AEM Manufacturing Express rolled in Seguin for a visit with Caterpillar Engines and to celebrate CAT’s 100th anniversary. Just a little over a year ago, Caterpillar made a significant investment toward the Seguin facility’s efforts to quality parts and engines: $20 million for new equipment installations to assemble the company’s Cat® C13D industrial engine. The company’s Seguin facility, however, manages diesel and gasoline engines of all sizes, and approximately 70% of what is produced in Texas is used for export around the world. Caterpillar’s presence in the Lone Star State is significant, and the Seguin plant plays a key role in helping the company maintain its status as the global leader in manufacturing powerful and reliable diesel and gas engines.
Just down the road in Seguin is another AEM member company: Alamo Group. The global leader in the design, manufacturing, and distribution of equipment for infrastructure maintenance, vegetation management, and industrial applications welcomed the AEM Manufacturing Express to its corporate offices on Thursday for a stop on the heels of some major news. Earlier this week, the company announced that that Robert P. Hureau will succeed Jeffery A. Leonard as President and Chief Executive Officer of the Alamo Group, effective Sept. 2.
Finally, on Friday, the AEM Manufacturing Express closed out another week with a visit to member company LiuGong in Katy.
That makes three weeks down… and one to go. Today, the AEM Manufacturing Express commences with the final few stops of this summer’s tour: HCSS, Mahindra USA, U.S. Lubricants, CICB, KOBELCO, and Tadano America Corporation.
Follow Along!
AEM’s award-winning public engagement initiative has returned this summer to visit 22 facilities across the state of Texas throughout the month of August. Stay in the know on all things AEM Manufacturing Express by visiting manufacturingexpress.org.
