Editor’s Message — Toro Goes Underground
Toro is one of those world class equipment brands that people recognize immediately — whether you’re a homeowner or landscape pro — but most general construction contractors are fairly new to owning iron that’s painted Toro red. As Toro is turning 100 years this summer, we thought it was a good time to remind our readership of the recent acquisitions and product line additions that Toro has brought to the construction market in the last two years — pedestrian trenchers, ride-on trenchers, vibratory plows, trowels, screeds, mud buggies, even horizontal directional drills.
“For Toro to venture into the underground market is a head-scratcher for some who don’t know our company very well, and if you do, it makes perfect sense,” explained Rick Rodier, general manager of Toro’s Sitework Systems Business in an article for our sister publication Trenchless Technology. “We are already in the dirt market. We understand what it takes to support contractors and professional contractors. Seventy percent of The Toro Co.’s revenue comes from our professional segments compared to our consumer/residential businesses.”
Toro has certainly diversified its professional segments. In 2012, it announced it was acquiring the utility and underground product assets of Astec Underground Inc., which included lines of vibratory plows, trenchers and horizontal directional drills. This July, during its 100-year milestone celebration at its headquarters in Bloomington, Minn., the company specifically took time to recognize its new underground side. Toro’s Sitework Systems presented Toronto-based Trenchless Utility Equipment Inc. with the 2014 “Excellence in Toro Underground” recognition award.
For the last two years, the company has also been growing a whole new line of light construction, concrete and hardscape equipment, which it acquired from Stone Construction Equipment (also in 2012). The Stone acquisition has given Toro a whole new construction footprint, while growing its rental market presence, using hardscape products like concrete and mortar mixers, material handlers, compaction equipment, vibrators and other concrete power tools.
“I don’t think that the founder could have imagined 100 years ago that Toro would grow to be a Fortune 1000 company, or that more importantly, you’d be a leading corporate citizen in Minnesota. Your contributions to this state have been enormous,” said Minnesota Governor Mark Dayton at the company’s July 14th celebration.
A lot has happened to The Toro Motor Co. since it was founded on July 10, 1914, to build engines for The Bull Tractor Co. in St. Paul, Minn. The company has grown to be a worldwide provider of turf, irrigation, landscape, rental and (yes) construction equipment. Sales in 2013 were more than $2 billion, and its presence extends to more than 90 countries. Traditionally, its products have been utilized by golf courses, sports facilities, parks, farms, cities and landscapers, but today it has a growing presence with construction professionals, utility contractors, directional boring crews and dirt contractors. As we celebrate its centennial year, now is the perfect time for our readership to revisit the Toro product line at one of the company’s many dealer locations worldwide.
Keith Gribbins, Managing Editor
kgribbins@benjaminmedia.com
