My name is Wayne Bromley, President and 3rd generation owner of Giles & Ransome. I thought I would spend a few moments and share with you a bit of our corporate history… explain our corporate structure and the markets served by each of our divisions… as well as explain briefly our relationship with Caterpillar.
Giles & Ransome was founded in 1916 by Arthur Giles and my wife’s grandfather, Percy Allan Ransome, Sr. In the early years, the company sold primarily concrete mixers and pavers and was located at 17th & Sedgley, then later on Allegheny Avenue in Philadelphia. In 1931 we became a Caterpillar dealer and soon expanded our market presence and moved to a new location on Hunting Park Avenue, next to the current Tasty Baking facility. In fact, the neon sign on top of the parts department of our Bensalem headquarters, was originally on top of our Hunting Park Ave. facility.
In 1935 Arthur Giles died and his share in Giles & Ransome was purchased by the Ransome family, however, the name was not changed out of respect for his contributions.
Over the years the business grew and P.A. Ransome’s three (3) sons became involved in the business. Eventually, the second generation assumed leadership positions and P. Allan Ransome, Jr. became President of Giles & Ransome and Ernest L. Ransome, III (who is my father-in-law and current Chairman of the company) became Executive Vice President. Dawson Ransome became Vice President of Sales but, after a few years, left the company and founded Ransome Airlines, which at the time it was sold in 1986 was the world’s largest commuter airline.
By 1960 the company had grown to the point where it was necessary to move from our Philadelphia location. The decision was made to construct our current Bensalem facility in what was then Cornwells Heights. Over the years, as our business has grown and the types of products and services we offer expanded, we have added to our Bensalem facility. Currently, our Bensalem headquarters is about 200,000 square feet in size and is located on approximately 115 acres overlooking the Pennsylvania Turnpike. All of our corporate administration is located there, as well as our main parts warehouse (which contains about 50,000 line items valued at over $10 million). Also located in Bensalem, is our oil lab, service unit shop, our main sales and service facilities, as well as Corporate Administration and management for our construction equipment and engine divisions.
Perhaps I should now try and explain our corporate structure and the different markets we serve. Consistent with Caterpillars brand identity desires, Ransome-Cat is the banner under which we fly. Giles & Ransome, which is actually our corporate name, is our construction equipment sales & service division, and…along with G & R…how we are best known in the construction equipment marketplace. The primary markets we serve are housing and site development, road construction, quarry operations and the waste industry. In addition to Bensalem, Giles & Ransome has branch locations in Whitehall and Fleetwood, Pennsylvania; Hammonton and Toms River, New Jersey; and Bear, Delaware.
Ransome Engine is our Engine Division and serves the sales, rental and product support needs of a variety of engine markets. We are fortunate in that Caterpillar produces a wide variety of engine products that suit our territory quite well. Our primary engine markets are EPG, Truck Engine, Marine Engine, Industrial Engines, as well as Perkins Engines. Each of our engine markets is different and unique.
In addition to Bensalem, Ransome Engine has Branch locations in Hammonton, New Jersey and Bear, Delaware.
Ransome Rents, the Cat Rental Store is our Rental Service division. In the late 1990’s, Caterpillar made the strategic decision for all of their North American dealers to enter the rent-to-rent market to compete with the large national players…such as Hertz and United Rentals. Caterpillar saw this market as a growing opportunity for their new line of small construction equipment, as well as a strategic move to prevent the national rental companies from becoming de-facto equipment dealers. Giles & Ransome typically rents larger models of construction equipment, to customers that want the option to purchase the equipment they rent. The Rental Service business, however, is different. Customers that rent from Ransome Rent are renting to meet a specific need and are not given the option to purchase the equipment. Ransome Rents offers a wide variety of, typically smaller, Caterpillar construction equipment…as well as a variety of products commonly utilized in the construction industry; such as high lift equipment, air compressors, and small generators, to name a few. Ransome Rents currently has five (5) locations in Limerick, Allentown and Levittown, Pennsylvania; New Castle, Delaware; and Pleasantville, New Jersey.
I thought I now would spend a few minutes and explain what it means to be a Caterpillar dealer. Caterpillar is the leading manufacturer in the world for construction equipment and engines. They sell their products exclusively through their network of less than 200 dealers throughout the world. There are currently, in North America, approximately 50 families that own Caterpillar dealerships. As I mentioned earlier, the Ransome family became a Caterpillar dealer in 1931 and the territory for which we have sales & service responsibility…for the entire Caterpillar construction and engine product line…is Southern New Jersey, New Castle County, Delaware, and Southeastern Pennsylvania, which includes the Philadelphia region, as well as the Lehigh Valley and Reading areas.
Most Caterpillar dealers have been in their family for generations. There is a reason for this. Caterpillar, which is based in Peoria, Illinois, is a world-class manufacturer with a strong Midwestern culture that believes in establishing and nurturing long standing business and personal relationships with its dealers…who are the exclusive distributors of their products. As a result, Caterpillar takes a very active role in dealer continuity planning, as well as plays a key role whenever a dealer is not performing up to their standards of customer service or quality. Caterpillar, in conjunction with the support of my father-in-law and current Chairman, Ernest Ransome, played a key role in my wife, Jane and I being able to acquire the business from the second generation and they will no doubt play a key role in my desire to perpetuate the business to the fourth generation of family in our business.
I am proud to be a Caterpillar dealer…I am proud to be one of the larger family-owned businesses in the Philadelphia area…and I am excited about the future and the strategic direction we are headed.
