Kohler Company To Start Making Portable Generators

November 20 -- Kohler Co. will start making portable generators next year, joining competitors like Generac Holdings Inc. and Briggs & Stratton Corp. that already make both standby and portable generators.

The privately held Kohler-based company has made standby generators, but not portable ones. That will change in January when it formally unveils a line of portable generators that range from a 2-kilowatt inverter to a 12.3-kilowatt gasoline generator, the company said Wednesday.

The line will also include trash pumps and water pumps.

“Today Kohler offers a complete range of generators up to 3.2 megawatts that are relied upon in myriad applications: construction, telecom, residential/light commercial, industrial, mobile and marine,” said Manny Rumao, senior product manager, in a prepared statement. “Adding portable generators helps us further meet our customers’ needs for clean, efficient and dependable power.”

Generator demand has increased nationwide in recent years in the wake of devastating storms like Superstorm Sandy.

Generator manufacturers say that demand for portable generators spikes immediately after such storms, then demand for home standby generators jumps for several months afterward. The move by Kohler allows it to play in both spaces.

Jeff Engel          www.bizjournals.com   

Deere Dealers to Sell Honda Products in the US

September 20 -- John Deere is phasing out its Deere-branded walk-behind lawnmowers and snowblowers starting in 2012, as part of a sales and marketing agreement with Honda Power Equipment.

Honda premium power products  will be sold at participating John Deere dealerships in the U.S., and  Deere will no longer sell its own walk-behind lawnmowers and snowblowers. Deere will continue selling its riding mowers and lawn tractors.

“Deere has made it very clear in the recent past that we're focused on global growth businesses, and the two of them we're most focused on are agriculture and construction equipment,” Deere spokesman Ken Golden said Tuesday.

“We've sold walk-behind lawnmowers since the 1970s, but have not manufactured them ourselves for a long period of time. We believe this is a necessary product offering, but not one that fits into Deere's core competencies,” he said.

Under the terms of the agreement, participating Deere dealers will offer Honda’s  walk-behind lawnmowers, generators, tillers, water pumps and snowblowers. Shipments of Honda inventory to Deere dealerships will be phased in, beginning in 2012.

It will not affect sales of Deere riding mowers or lawn tractors, Mr. Golden said.

“We want to offer a high-quality product for our customers and our dealers, and Honda is known for its commitment to quality, durability, and customer service, just like Deere,” he said. “So this is a good match for a Deere customer.”

Sales of Deere lawnmowers have remained “very strong,” Mr. Golden said, but the company does not publicly break out figures for individual product lines, he noted.

“They're a small part of our overall business. We think that Honda has already made the investment to have a very sustainable business in this area,” Mr. Golden said. “We hope this relationship lasts a long time; they're a leader in this product.”

Deere has also contracted with a third party to manufacture its walk-behind mowers and snowblowers for at least a decade, he said. The agreement with Honda also will not affect Deere's commercial turf and golf-course equipment business.

Honda does not make a riding mower, so that also is “a nice match” with Deere, Mr. Golden said. “Our customers will go to a John Deere dealership for the riding mower line.”

“This new alliance with John Deere allows Honda Power Equipment to expand its reach by providing products that meet the high quality and reliability standards that John Deere customers have come to expect,” Scott Conner, vice president, Honda Power Equipment, said Tuesday in a news release.

John Deere dealerships are independently owned and the company said all 1,500 active dealers that sell lawn equipment will be offered the opportunity to sell the Honda product line during a sign-up period beginning later this year, Mr. Golden said. Deere said it may also consider the agreement for Canadian dealers in the future.

Customers who want to purchase a new Honda power product, or service an existing product, at a Deere dealership will be able to do so at participating Deere dealers after the dealer is added to the Honda sales network. Deere said the program could take through 2013 to be completely phased in, but there are about 200 dealers that already sell the Honda products, Mr. Golden said.

This is not the first time Deere has discontinued a lawn care product line, he added. A couple years ago, Deere added Stihl chainsaws to its dealerships, after it stopped making Deere-branded chainsaws.

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Echo Expands in Lake Zurich to Accommodate Shindaiwa Merger

July 12 -- Echo Inc., maker of hand-held outdoor power equipment, opened its new 129,000-square-foot warehouse in Lake Zurich today.

The new facility at 400 Oakwood Road brings the total operation of the U.S. headquarters in the Lake County community to 540,000 square feet.

"We're just about ready to move in," said Joe Fahey, vice president of marketing for Echo, a company that has been in the United States for about 30 years.

The warehouse expansion is necessary to accommodate the merger with Shindaiwa about nine months ago. Shindaiwa, which was based in the Portland area, will move most of its operations to the new Lake Zurich warehouse.

"We brought the Shindaiwa operations here with the expansion so we can better serve our Shindaiwa dealers," Fahey said.

He added that the goal is to ultimately move more of the Shindaiwa operations from Japan.

"This will ultimately mean more local jobs," Fahey said.

Echo in Lake Zurich now employs more than 700 people at the office, manufacturing and warehouse complex in Lake Zurich.

"This is a big day for us. It's a culmination of all the efforts of the merger and bringing the brands together," Fahey said.

Echo develops and manufactures hand-held outdoor power equipment for commercial and high-end residential clients. Shindaiwa has focused more on the commercial market, Fahey added.

Top items for the privately held company include grass trimmers, blowers and chain saws.

Power edgers, bed re-definers, power pruners, sprayers, earth augers, water pumps and safety accessories are other items included under the Echo brand.

Founded as Kioritz Corp. of America in 1972, the company serves landscaping, arborist and industrial markets. It changed its name to Echo in 1978, and today operates as a subsidiary of Yamabiko Corp., a billion dollar company.