Tigercat Celebrates 10th Anniversary

Ten years passes since Tigercat sold the first 726 feller bunchers in Florida and Georgia

PARIS, ON, AUG 21, 2002 – It all started in 1992 when a small group of engineers from Canada toured the southeastern US, interviewing dozens of loggers and compiling research that clearly indicated American loggers required more reliable and productive drive-to-tree feller bunchers.

Tigercat president, Tony Iarocci, explains. "When we began, life expectancy and trade-in value of some competitive machines was at an unacceptably low level. High quality components and thoughtful design allowed us to engineer longer life into the equipment."

Although Georgia logger Robert Clary saw the prototype Tigercat 726 at the Tifton Logging Exposition in the spring of 1992, he didn’t pay much attention to it at the time. Eddie and Johnny Hodge of Williston Timber in north Florida purchased the prototype 726 cutter immediately after the show.

Later that year Clary and son, Toogie flew to Florida to see the machine. Toogie operated the Tigercat 726 for a few hours unknowingly in high gear. It was only after he had stopped that Eddie Hodge informed him that there was a low gear to be utilized during felling. "I didn’t need to demo the machine in low gear, " explains Toogie. "If it ran that well in high gear, it would be unbelievable felling trees in low gear."

Robert adds, "We decided to buy that machine on the plane ride home." He remembers anxiously awaiting delivery of the machine. "It seemed to take forever to get here but it was definitely worth the wait."

In the decade that followed, Tigercat has transformed from a small, single-product company to a full line forestry equipment manufacturer, employing over 230 people. Tigercat machines operate in forests throughout North America, Europe, Russia, Chile, Brazil, Argentina, Australia and New Zealand. 

Tigercat attributes its success to a number of factors. Owner and Chairman, Ken MacDonald explains. "Engineering, high quality manufacture and assembly, prompt supply of parts and service back-up and a team of strong customer-oriented dealers have all been important factors, contributing to our rapid growth and success. Interestingly, all these factors are simply offshoots or by products of the company moto, ‘Treat people the way you want to be treated.’ We believe the degree to which we have been able to adopt and follow this behavior differentiates us as a company."

Martin Jennings, Tigercat Production Manager, oversees all manufacturing operations and remains true to this motto. "We hire highly skilled assemblers to build these machines. We don’t cut corners to save costs. We emphasize that they need to build the machines as if they were going to buy them."

Tigercat wishes to thank all it partners -- employees, distributors, vendors and most important, everyone who has a Tigercat machine on the job.

About Tigercat

Tigercat Industries designs and manufactures premium quality forestry and off-road equipment with manufacturing facilities in Canada and Sweden and world-wide distribution. The diverse forestry line includes complete full-tree and cut-to-length harvesting systems.

Tigercat and the Tigercat logo are registered trademarks of Tigercat Industries Inc. Other brands and product names are trademarks of their respective owners. Copyright (c) 2001 Tigercat Industries Inc.

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