Founded 1997 | ||
 | ||
Vac tron dry material industrial excavation vacuum clean up
Vac-Tron Equipment, LLC is a company based in the United States. Vac-Tron designs and manufactures a brand of portable environmental vacuum clean-up equipment. The company is headquartered in Okahumpka, Florida, and was founded by President Don Buckner.
Contents
Vac-Tron machines includes gasoline, diesel and super diesel models for use by public and private sectors including underground contractors, directional drillers, utility companies, water/wastewater/storm water departments, military installations, municipalities, roofing companies and emergency and environmental cleanup teams. Uses include directional drilling, vacuum excavation, industrial clean-up, manhole, lateral and storm drain clean-out, and natural disaster clean-up.
History
In the mid 1990s, utilities were being placed underground. Huge increases in the number of buried cables, utility, gas and fiber optic lines also brought increases in the inherent dangers associated with cutting those lines. People, property and equipment were being endangered by prolonged utility outages, explosions, and electrocutions that resulted in serious injuries, loss of property and fines.
Locating those utilities was done mostly by backhoes or digging by hand. In 1997, Buckner launched Vac-Tron Equipment as a Division of American Manufacturing & Machine. He began educating directional drilling and underground industry leaders about a safer way to work around underground lines by physically locating them using a technique called vacuum excavation. Today, non-destructive excavating using pressurized water and a vacuum system to dig precisely is called hydro excavation. The use of air and a vacuum to dig precisely is called dry excavation.
In 2000, Vac-Tron Equipment moved from its original 6,000-sf manufacturing facility in Okahumpka into a 64,000-sf facility, situated on 10 acres almost directly across the street. That year, Buckner was named Entrepreneur of the Year for Florida and one of three finalists of the National Entrepreneur of the Year Award for construction/real estate, a competition sponsored by Ernst and Young, NASDAQ, CNN Financial and USA Today.
Vac-Tron was also recognized as the “13th Fastest Growing Private Company in the Country” by Inc. Magazine.
Expansion
In 2006, Vac-Tron entered into a strategic alliance with Vermeer Manufacturing to distribute vacuum excavation units through the Vermeer worldwide dealership network, and today has more than 120 dealer outlets. In 2008, Vac-Tron Equipment positioned itself for additional growth by entering into a strategic partnership with Republic Private Equity (RPE), a Denver-based private-equity investment firm. The company was renamed Vac-Tron Equipment, LLC.
In addition to the PMD and LP Series, the Vac-Tron line has grown to include dozens of models and sizes including: FlowMaster 350, Mini Combo and CS Series.
Models of Vac-Tron Equipment have been chosen for projects as diverse as the laying of HVAC cable at the Statue of Liberty, the digging of fence posts for the American Embassy in Moscow, and cleanup of the BP oil spill which occurred recently in the Gulf of Mexico.