TWI, headquartered in Tulsa, Oklahoma, is a leading manufacturer of worm gear and planetary winches, swing drives, speed reducers, and load and system monitoring devices for the mobile equipment market. The company serves many of the leaders in the mobile crane, oil field, towing, government, heavy hauling, utility, construction, refuse, and aerial work platform markets. TWI was founded in 1929 by a truck salvage operator who utilized the gear sets from the rear axles of Model T trucks for his initial winch designs. The company was a division of Vickers Hydraulics from 1946 to 1986.

TWI was revitalized by a 1986 management buyout led by Ron Hoffman and a few key managers who teamed with an outside investor to buy the company. The company focused on aggressive growth and market share gains with continuous product development and superior customer service.

In 1995, the owners realized that the company was well positioned for additional growth with key OEM customers, but that this new business would require significantly increased investment in equipment, facilities, and workforce. TWI had strong profitability and a great growth record and was fully capable of continuing as a privately held company. “We began to ask ourselves if we were ready to leverage the company to meet tomorrow’s growth, limit our future expansion, or explore the opportunity to sell the company to a larger entity that could support the company’s growth initiatives,” said Ron Hoffman, former president of TWI. “We challenged our thinking as to when do we ever make a decision to sell the company.” All the owners had different expectations for their retirement plans, career aspirations, and personal investment goals. The majority of each owner’s personal wealth was tied up in the company, and they were all intrigued with the possibility of cashing out to allow themselves to diversify their personal investment portfolios and estate plans. “We wondered how we could best meet all of these personal ownership goals and yet maintain the future of the company in the best interests of the customers and employees,” said Hoffman.

They made a conscious effort to explore the possibilities of selling TWI to a larger entity that could support their planned growth opportunities. The owners developed a list of potentially compatible suitors and approached them with a profile of the company. They did not approach any competitors or financial buyers but instead sought buyers that had a history of long-term ownership of their acquisitions. “My desire was to remain with the company, but I was not willing to go back into a rigidly structured corporate environment,” said Hoffman.

Dover quickly rose to the top of the list, not because of the monetary offer, but because it wanted the company to remain intact with its employees and responsive culture. Essentially, TWI wanted to be a part of encouraging and facilitating its vision of internal growth, product development, and complementary acquisitions. Hoffman remembered saying, “This Dover group appears to be an ideal match. It almost seems too good to be true.”

TWI joined Dover Resources in December 1996. “We have been thrilled to find that Dover has totally supported our plans to grow with limited involvement,” said Hoffman. TWI quickly outgrew its leased facility, and Dover showed its long-term commitment to the company by approving a new 82,000-square-foot plant in Jenks, Oklahoma.

This state-of-the-art facility, coupled with a world-class focused factory approach, has strengthened TWI’s ability to serve the dynamic demands of its customer base.
“It was our belief that the winch industry had a number of entrepreneur owners much like TWI who might be evaluating their opportunities to sell their companies. Dover has provided us with the capital to pursue complementary acquisitions that have diversified our products and markets. We have already completed three acquisitions: DP Manufacturing, the Greer Company, and Pullmaster,” Hoffman concluded.

DP Manufacturing
DP Manufacturing (DP Winch) was acquired in November 1999 and added breadth to the Tulsa Winch planetary product offerings. DP Manufacturing brought to TWI the government winch market, broadened distribution, and expanded product offerings for the towing and utility markets. The two companies are an ideal fit in that they share a similar culture, a dedication to customer service, and a focused commitment to product development. DP Winch has two manufacturing facilities in Oklahoma and has brought fabrication capabilities to the group.

The former owner of DP Manufacturing was exploring his retirement options and wanted his business to end up in the hands of a company that would continue to nurture the growth of the business in the best interest of its customers and employees. He was aware of the support that Dover had provided TWI and felt that TWI’s acquisition of DP Manufacturing offered the best ongoing stability for his company. After a brief transition period, he was able to retire satisfied that his company was in capable hands.

Greer Company
The Greer Company, located in Santa Ana, California, was acquired in April 2000. Greer is a leader in the design and manufacture of load and system monitoring products sold under the Microguard® trademark to customers in the mobile crane market. These indicators warn the operator of an impending overload and can be configured by the OEM customer to disable functions that might contribute to an unsafe condition. Greer’s customer base is essentially made up of the same OEM mobile crane customers served by TWI. This strategic acquisition broadened the product offering of TWI and brought electronic expertise to the group. Greer was formerly owned by Morgan Crucible Company plc of England. Through Dover, TWI offered Morgan Crucible the opportunity to divest a division that no longer fit the core competency of the company to a corporate entity that had the financial stability to properly grow the business. The synergy between TWI and Greer would facilitate the growth of both companies.

Pullmaster
TWI most recently acquired the Canadian company Pullmaster Winch Corporation, a leading manufacturer of planetary hydraulic winches. This complementary add-on brings leadership in several market niches not served by TWI, such as commercial fishing, logging, and marine dredging. The previous owner of this privately held business faced many of the same issues most owners face in preparing for retirement. The “courting process” took place over several years, and Dover was selected as the best choice for continuing to build upon the strong legacy of his company.

Today, TWI is in a market leadership position in the North American geared solution and electronic monitoring market and is poised for international expansion. According to Steve Oden, TWI’s president, “Dover has brought the right blend of encouragement and resources to allow TWI to grow beyond its abilities as a privately held company. Dover’s financial support and open sharing of ‘best practices’ across all of its companies has allowed us to more than double our sales since the group’s inception. Our operating culture and spirit of ownership has remained intact with Dover’s decentralized management style.”