Associated Tool Technologies was established as the exclusive distributor for Doosan-Daewoo (originally Daewoo Machine Tools) in Texas in 1991. The company has achieved rapid growth over the years, selling 181 units, worth some US$26 million, in 2005. AmTTech President Jack Butts attributes his success to his talented workforce (which currently numbers 16) and considers himself to be a "people conductor" who guides his employees and provides them with the means to work in harmony as a group. He says, "Truly accomplish this and you will find the resulting performance is breathtaking."
President Butts has worked in the Texas machine tool market for more than 25 years. Most of his customers are related to the gas and oil business, and their needs are extremely cyclical. For example, AmTTech booked 25 orders in January 2006 as opposed to a mere 28 units sold in all of 1999. Indications today point to a reasonably strong demand for the next couple of years.
President Butts intends to take complete advantage of the currently strong market conditions by expanding his facilities and hiring more technicians. He sees an increasing replacement business, now that nearly 1,500 Doosan-Daewoo machines are in operation in Texas. He says his company has begun to switch over to the new Doosan Infracore brand:
"Almost everyone involved in metalworking in Texas is familiar with the Daewoo or Puma brand name. We have already begun extensive efforts to shift the focus to Doosan Infracore and have hopes of being well underway with this task by the time IMTS rolls around in September."
He is confident that distributors in the Americas still have ample growing room. He thanks the Head Office in Korean and DIA for their support as asked for the same help in the days to come.