Making the leap from remanufacturing to new manufacturing

Next-generation straddle carrier has intelligent controls, electrohydraulic braking.

There are plenty of roles to be filled in the world of industrial equipment, including end users who need specific types of machinery to run effective operations. There are also distributors and dealers who supply and service a variety of products. And, of course, there are manufacturers who engineer and develop equipment in the first place. Most companies are perfectly content to put their full energies into successfully serving only one of these purposes, but other businesses may find themselves branching out from one area to another.

In the case of Great Lakes Power (GLP), an Ohio-based company founded in 1973, it began primarily as a franchised distributor for Twin Disc Inc., a manufacturer of transmissions, clutches, and powertrain components. Through organic growth and strategic acquisitions, it has evolved into an organization that focuses not just on service and distribution but on engineering and manufacturing as well.