A team from Cascade Corp is promoting Wedgelock-brand products during the 18-20 January summit and Condex trade show of the Associated Equipment Distributors at a National Harbor, Maryland, resort.
Cascade acquired the rights to manufacture and sell Wedgelock products in North America in a 25 November transaction with Norco Attachments LLC, of Brownsville, Texas, a subsidiary of Norco LLC. Terms were not disclosed.
Some dealers of Fairview-based Cascade now work with customers needing construction accessories as well as those in the materials handling industry with forklifts.
Wedgelock Equipment Ltd, of Upper Hutt, New Zealand, was established in 1984, began direct sales in the US in 2006 and contracted with Norco Attachments in early 2010.
Construction equipment dealers and operators use Wedgelock hydraulic and manual quick couplers, including the I-Lock-brand coupler system, for excavators and backhoe loaders.
Cascade's new rights in the North American market include Wedgelock-related patents, trademarks, intellectual property, technology processes and engineering orientation. No equipment changed hands. "We will utilise existing [Cascade] equipment to manufacture Wedgelock" products, says Pete Drake, Cascade vice president for the Americas.
Cascade plans initial Wedgelock production in its Fairview manufacturing facility with some work possibly transitioning to Cascade's Pacific Services & Manufacturing LLC (PSM) subsidiary in Woodinville, Washington. Cascade bought PSM in 2006.
PSM and another Cascade subsidiary, American Compaction Equipment Inc (ACE), of Lake Elsinore, California, offer lines of buckets, thumbs and grapples and soil compaction products to the construction industry. Now, in parallel with Cascade, PSM and ACE also will market the complementary Wedgelock line. Cascade bought ACE in 2007.