A few years ago a large municipality had workers in a trench without protection and an Aluminum Trench Shield on site.  OSHA caught them and since they had trench shoring but didn’t use it, they got a willful violation and cost them over $150,000 in fines.  The unnamed Municipality decided to buy mod  series shoring for each of their crews.  Our dealer decided to make a bad situation a little better for both and offered a package deal to the municipality.  He offered the shoring, a small trailer and a job box that they could bolt to the trailer.  They could keep their pins, keepers, slings etc. together and locked when not in use.  The unnamed municipality loved the idea and bought several.  That is thinking outside the “box”.

Despite the current challenges to the economy, Pro-Tec’s Mod Series (Modular Aluminum Trench Shields) have never been more in demand than now.  Even when manufacturing for steel products slowed, we had a good backlog of aluminum orders, particularly Mod Series.

Pro-Tec’s rental division has struggled to keep up with the demand.  We have always had a consistent need for rentals involving spot repairs seem to have evolved into large, multiple shield orders. Read the rest of this entry »

Well, I wish I could say that 2009 was a year of records and good times, but that would be lying, and I don’t want my mom to wash my mouth out with soap.  So I will just write exactly what 2009 was.  2009 will go down as one of the toughest years in the history of Pro-Tec Equipment.

We could mostly likely classify 2009 as the  year of extremes.  We have gone from being extremely slow, to extremely busy, back to extremely slow.   President Obama calls for hope, and that is really what the underground construction industry has boiled down to, hope.

However, 2009 hasn’t be a lost year, good things have happened for Pro-Tec Equipment this year.   Through our innovation program,  we have released the 7.5’ tall Aluminum Trench Shield line, saving, in some cases more that $500 in trucking.   2009 also will go down as the year that Pro-Tec Equipment went social, networking that is.  With the launch of a Facebook and twitter page, Pro-Tec Equipment has set itself up to have the most open communication in the industry.

So what does 2010 hold for us?  Well, there is the Winter Olympics in Vancouver. BC (Russia vs.  Canada in hockey, what a match that will be), the World Cup in Brazil (could the USA Team make it to the semi’s) and probably the most important item, the release of the bulk of the “Stimulus” money from the U.S. government.  Here’s to putting 2009 in the books and starting 2010 with a bang!