Yearly Checkup: Industry-Railway Acquires ESCO Equipment Company

Last February, we acquired ESCO Equipment Company. Following the acquisition we signed a multi-year distributor partnership with Pandrol to distribute Railtech Matweld hydraulic tools and Rosenqvist rail equipment throughout the U.S. and Canada with Railway Supply Group?s sister company- Davanac Inc. This step allowed our IRS team an opportunity to focus on the strategy in which we wanted to distribute these exciting new products. Support, training, and safety were seen as the most crucial points to communicate to customers the benefits that not only the new products, but our updated team had to offer. Here are the highlights of how we have made strides in these areas to ensure our customers were receiving the highest quality and safest products possible.

Support

The acquisition of ESCO brought IRS not only new business assets, but a group of railway professionals with decades of knowledge and experience to further support the products we distribute and represent. Tom Gehr, Tom Dickey, John Danner, and Rich Brawner, all joined the team and have been an asset to introducing products to the market. Their expertise has not only helped in field support, but has brought new insight and knowledge to our other partnerships and relationships throughout the industry. IRS aims to be an educational resource for our partners and customers, and these professionals allowed us to maintain that quality support for new offerings.

Training

Pandrol is a recognized supplier of rail fastening systems, such as Fastclip and e-clip. Knowing that customers needed to understand the power of this machinery allowed our sales team the opportunity to simultaneously train customers while seeing the results first hand. Rich Brawner, for example, was able to show this power of the CD 200 with Union Pacific Railroad in the summer, during a commuter operations rail replacing project. Being able to go into the field and train customers has allowed not only our own knowledge of the products to grow, but to truly see the merit behind our machinery.

A snapshot of the UP training, taken by Rich Brawner.

Safety

Pandrol machines and equipment allow for a safer work environment, something IRS has tried to make clear in the field throughout the year. With one Pandrol machine, a project that previously could take a whole crew to accomplish can now be done with two to three people. This also makes for a more cost effective and timely solution to many welding and track maintenance issues. There is also the bonus of safety training or demonstration videos, that show how products fully function and can be requested per customer need.

While we are proud of these strides, we hope to expand and improve even more in the upcoming future. The IRS team would like to thank all of those who have helped us through this transition. If you have any questions, comments or concerns about our Pandrol line or other offerings please feel free to contact us.