Hilltip, a leading manufacturer of snowplows, spreaders, de-icing sprayers, sweepers and other road maintenance equipment, has acquired all assets of Industrial Metal Products Inc., an Indiana-based manufacturer of truck beds and other metal products. The arrangement provides growth opportunities for both companies’ products, while aiding Hilltip’s expansion in the North American market.
The acquisition of Industrial Metal Products will allow Hilltip to manufacture its products in North America using the company’s Fort Wayne, Ind., facility, which will be expanded for increased production and storage capacity. In addition to the logistical benefits of production at the Indiana location, Hilltip will establish staff resources and a customer service team to better serve dealers and customers in the U.S. and Canada.
“We are now able to manufacture all our industry leading products in the United States and distribute throughout North America,” said Craig Sandmann, managing director of Hilltip Inc. North America. “This includes our complete line of spreaders, sprayers and brooms, as well as established Hilltip products lines we have yet to offer domestically.”
Industrial Metal Products will continue production and development of its existing product line as a separate division of Hilltip, and it will still carry the Industrial Truck Beds brand name.
“With 20 years of experience in the truck equipment industry, Industrial Metal Products has a lot of brand equity,” said Sandmann. “We anticipate growing the Industrial Metal Products brand and business, while expanding Hilltip’s North American footprint with our innovative winter maintenance technologies. The synergies between our management teams and dealer networks provide tremendous opportunities for both product lines. It’s an exciting development for our employees, dealers and customers.”
Headquartered in Pietarsaari, Finland, Hilltip Oy is a manufacturer of road maintenance equipment in Europe founded by brothers Tom and Frank Mäenpää. With equipment designed and built in an area that averages at least six months of snowfall every year, Hilltip is known for durability. Opening its U.S.-based subsidiary, Hilltip Corp., in 2020, the company is now bringing these products to the North American market. For more information, visit www.hilltipna.com.
About the Author
Michael Roth
Editor
Michael Roth has covered the equipment rental industry full time for RER since 1989 and has served as the magazine’s editor in chief since 1994. He has nearly 30 years experience as a professional journalist. Roth has visited hundreds of rental centers and industry manufacturers, written hundreds of feature stories for RER and thousands of news stories for the magazine and its electronic newsletter RER Reports. Roth has interviewed leading executives for most of the industry’s largest rental companies and manufacturers as well as hundreds of smaller independent companies. He has visited with and reported on rental companies and manufacturers in Europe, Central America and Asia as well as Mexico, Canada and the United States. Roth was co-founder of RER Reports, the industry’s first weekly newsletter, which began as a fax newsletter in 1996, and later became an online newsletter. Roth has spoken at conventions sponsored by the American Rental Association, Associated Equipment Distributors, California Rental Association and other industry events and has spoken before industry groups in several countries. He lives and works in Los Angeles when he’s not traveling to cover industry events.