What's Happening in Construction 

This week's Super Six focuses on the construction industry which is served by our Galaxy brand. We begin with a fun video from Caterpillar -- a moving golf course!

• You have to hand it to the marketing folks at Caterpillar -- the challenge was to find a creative way to communicate the carrying capacity of some of the biggest dump trucks on earth. Equipment World magazine shares their video of two Japanese women professional golfers trying to hit greens built in the dump truck beds . . . while the trucks are on the move. Very entertaining, and hats off to Caterpillar for hitting a hole-in-one on this marketing tactic. 

• On a more serious note, Equipment World reports that the EPA has released their draft fuel economy rules for medium and heavy duty diesel trucks. Fuel economy is definitely a major focus for the Aeolus brand of medium/heavy truck tires, which are distributed in the U.S. by us. Click here to check out the Aeolus line-up of SmartWay-verified fuel efficient tires.

• Roads & Bridges magazine reported this week that a bipartisan group of senators introduced legislation that would spend $275 billion over the next six years on U.S. infrastructure projects.

• If the bill goes through, that will be good news for Hitachi and other heavy equipment manufacturers. According to Bloomberg Business News, Hitachi Construction Machinery Co. is cutting back production due to slowing construction spends in China.

• Construction Equipment magazine reports on the new vertical-lift S740 skid steer loader from Bobcat, equipped with a Tier 4-Final engine that, at 74 horsepower, does not require a DPF or SCR technology. This skid steer would be a joy to operate on our Galaxy Beefy Baby tires.

• Construction Equipment magazine also details how motor grader manufacturers are beginning to focus more energy on the rest of their machines—and incorporating customer requests that may include the spread of joystick controls —now that the Tier 4-Final engine changes are largely out of the way.
• We end this week's Super Six with a story from Origination News on how bankers and commercial real estate developers are protesting new restrictions on construction lending, arguing they are poised to hurt credit availability and drive loans into risky, unregulated sectors.