
Chicago Pneumatic’s RX Hydraulic breaker line is moving to the newly created Epiroc company.
Epiroc was born from the mining and rock excavation technique business area and the hydraulic attachment tools division of Atlas Copco. In the United States, the Epiroc organization started operating under its new name on Dec. 1. Atlas Copco remains a separate company, focusing on industrial customers.
As a result, the Atlas Copco-owned Chicago Pneumatic (CP) will see its RX breakers move under the umbrella of the new company.
“The branding goes away in March, but we’re continuing on with the RX hydraulic attachment line within the Epiroc group,” said Matt Cadnum, Epiroc’s vice president of hydraulic attachment tools for the United States and Canada. “It’s going to look almost identical, without the CP on the side.”
New Epiroc attachment centre
As part of the focus on its hydraulic attachments, Epiroc has opened a new dedicated Hydraulic Attachment Competency Center in Independence, Ohio. The facility combines a customer centre, repair shop and configuration centre, as well as a parts and supply warehouse with a dedicated team focused solely on hydraulic attachments.
Parts and supplies were relocated from the Atlas Copco Distribution Center in Charlotte, North Carolina, to help streamline all operations related to hydraulic attachments.
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“Everything else continues. It’s the exact same factories and exact same R&D, the only thing that changed is a dedicated team that’s focus on hydraulic attachments. That’s what we’re doing different,” Cadnum said.
Placing all operations related to hydraulic attachments, including its online presence, has significantly increased operating efficiency. As well, the move hasn’t disrupted sales or service, according to Cadnum.
“Is everybody happy about it? No. Is it a disruption to our business? A little bit. And I really mean a little bit,” Cadnum said. “Our product is solid. it’s a well-received product and we have a good position in the market, there’s a reason for that. The products not changing. It’s just more focused.”
The competency centre will focus its energy solely on its 89 models of hydraulic attachments including combi cutters, concrete busters, pulverizers, multi grapples, compactors, bucket crushers, hydro magnets, steel cutters, drum cutters and, of course, hydraulic breakers.
“We’ve been doing hydraulic breakers longer than anyone. We had the first patent in the early 60s to prove that. It’s been our products development and evolution ever since, under a few different names,” Cadnum said. “Now it’s Epiroc, and I think we’ll have a home there for a while.”