Power Curbers Acquires Miller Formless
Editor's note: This story has been updated.
Power Curbers Companies has acquired Miller Formless Systems. The Illinois-based manufacturer of slipform pavers will continue to operate under its Miller Formless brand name. In 2020, Miller Formless acquired MBW's slipform paver line.
Power Curbers—which includes the brands Power Curbers, Power Pavers, and Anvil American—said in a press release that the acquisition “expands product offerings and enhances service and support for customers worldwide.”
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“The Miller products complement our Power Curber and Power Paver products very well,” president Stephen Bullock told Construction Equipment (see interview highlights below). “Their compact M1000 curb and gutter machine is outstanding in parking lots. That blends nicely into the Power Curber 5700D, which is our all-everything curb and gutter sidewalk and barrier machine.
“And then on the high end, the Miller 8800 is a market leader for barrier wall, particularly for variable barrier, bifurcated barrier wall. You line those three machines up, there's not much we can't do. And that, of course, abuts our Power Pavers line for road and airport paving."
“This acquisition represents more than just growth—it’s about uniting two businesses that share a deep commitment to quality and customer success,” Bullock said in the press release announcing the acquisition. “Miller Formless has been a trusted name in the industry for over five decades, and we are honored to carry that legacy forward while offering an even greater range of solutions to contractors.”
The company will introduce to Miller Formless “operational efficiencies that will benefit customers in the areas of machine delivery, parts availability, and after-sales support,” it said in the release.
Bullock told CE that some of those efficiencies include training and parts supplies.
“Cross-training both our sales and product support forces to be able to take care of customers for either product line will certainly make us more efficient, cut down travel time and wasted time traveling, because we'll have people closer to the customers,” he said.
“We have a goal at Power Curbers, that if a customer that calls for a part for a 5700, we keep parts on the shelf—every part for that machine all day, every day, and have about a 97.5% same-day part shipment rate. We're going to implement that at Miller on the 1000, and as quickly as we can get those parts on the shelves, [we’ll] be able to do that for customers.
“Then there will also be the potential between the three plants—Power Pavers in Iowa, Miller Formless in Illinois, and Power Curbers in North Carolina—to share resources, share labor. If one's busier than the other, there may be something we can outsource from one plant to the other, so we'll be looking for those opportunities.”
Finally, Bullock touched on the “intangible that I think is very important."
"These are two companies that have been friendly competitors for over 50 years, and whose culture[s are] very similar," he said. "That was a huge attraction for us. Miller's commitment to customers, to customer service was, very much aligned with Power Curbers.”
About the Author
Rod Sutton
Sutton has served as the editorial lead of Construction Equipment magazine and ConstructionEquipment.com since 2001.
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