The OEM said the acquisition may come as a surprise to the underground mining community, as DBT just concluded the full integration of the Long-Airdox Company.
“Another acquisition was at the top of our goals for 2003 and complementing our product line with the industry’s premier know-how in low seam continuous mining is the perfect achievement of this goal,” said DBT America COO Luis de Leon.
The acquisition includes all intellectual property assets associated with the Dash continuous miner product line as well as all aftermarket spare parts, repair and rebuild services. The aftermarket business both in the United States and Australia will be integrated into DBT’s already established customer service facilities.
DBT intends to immediately integrate the low-seam Dash Zero and Dash One products into their existing series of continuous miners.
According to Bill Ramer, DBT America’s vice president of continuous miners, the Dash Zero and Dash One are the perfect complements to the groups existing series and will allow the capability to serve customers worldwide who operate in seams as low as 32 inches and as high as 17 feet.
“This was the main driving force behind the acquisition as it increases our potential market and improves our competitive position,” Ramer said.
As for the remaining Dash series machines, Ramer said, “The combined engineering groups will review and fully integrate the existing and acquired products to provide a full range of continuous miners to suit each specific application.”
Since 1984, EIMCO manufactured the industry renowned Dash series in Bluefield, West Virginia, and has had a stronghold on the low seam niche market. However, EIMCO recently closed their Bluefield facility in an effort to lower costs and refocus their strategy to survive tough industry times and increased competition.
According to EIMCO president Darryl Mills, “This is when DBT approached us and the offer to join a worldwide industry leader in underground mining solutions was too enticing to fall on deaf ears.”
DBT intends to move quickly through the integration phase, which is already underway and be fully functional with the new product line by the beginning of 2004.
