Acquisition update

Optimistic outlook after first year in the road building business

Volvo's first year in the road building business since it acquired Ingersoll Rand's road building division a year ago has been positive, according to Richard Owen, vice president for Volvo CE European road machinery division.

Mr Owen, who joined Volvo from Ingersoll Rand said, "We have been fortunate in being acquired by a company that has as its core values many of the things which are important to the road building business. Quality and performance are always important for customers but reliability, focused service, support, customer care and back up with expert personnel is absolutely vital to any road building contractor. So from that perspective the culture of Volvo is very beneficial to our business but we were also aligned with it in many ways already."

He added the main focus during the past year has been the integration of the existing product range into the Volvo family and to ensure Volvo quality standards are applied to the range.

He added the company intends to expand the product range and has plans to bring more European orientated products to the portfolio.

Meanwhile, the road building market, apart from North America, has never been stronger, according to Mr Owen. He added a large chunk of business will come back from the North American market, assuming it recovers, and the company is expecting growth in the European compaction product line. He said India and China are strong markets and the company predicts continued growth in these countries.

"We already see benefits from being part of a bigger company because it is easier for us to leverage supplies and obtain components," Mr Owen said.