Press Release
Oxford Site Good for Macton
Voices Newspaper
February 5, 2003
Voices regional newspaper recently interviewed Macton CEO David Perkins, discussing Macton’s tenure at their present facility, some project highlights and some of their plans for the future in the heavy-duty moving structures industry.
Five years ago, the owners of Macton Corporation decided to move their operations from Danbury to Oxford.
The company…had outgrown its 18,000 square-foot facility at the Danbury Airport. It was a good move, according to Macton President and CEO David Perkins.
“It’s exceeded our expectations. The industrial community has been very supportive…” Macton’s most challenging project to date was creating a set of turntables for a divisible auditorium at the Edinburgh International Conference center in Scotland in 1992-93. The project was complicated by the fact that it comprised two large turntables with balconies that had to be integrated into the fourth floor of the facility…
Customarily, Macton manufactures its products, tests them, disassembles them and transports them to their destination. Basically, the machines are quite simple in terms of mechanics, Mr. Perkins said. They require very little maintenance and have very low failure rates. “Our philosophy is to build conservatively and to have it survive the life of the facility.”…
Judging from the volume of business that Macton generates, it is apparent that clients appreciate that approach. The company currently has contracts for large lift system projects for the Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority and the Regional Transit District in Denver and four turntables for a glass company in Pittsburgh. It has also been engaged to create a set of turntables for a divisible auditorium in Washington.
As for the future, “I think it’s very bright,” Mr. Perkins said. He said he anticipated that demands for lift systems from mass transit companies eventually will exceed those for turntables.
Mr. Perkins said he believes that companies that repair buses and large trucks will also be seeking the kind of mechanical lift systems that Macton produces to replace hydraulic systems that leak and are therefore environmentally unsound. With that expectation, Macton has developed a mechanical bus lift that has promising future applications…