Cover Story
Hoffman equipment: celebrating a century of success By: zoe baldwin
A
lot can happen in a century, just ask Hoffman Equipment, whose history of success now spans a full century across several specialties. From the Great Depression to the Great Recession and every up and down in between, Hoffman has truly proven their mettle as a firm that’s built to last. Walking into the Piscataway Headquarters for Hoffman Equipment, there is an almost tangible hum and bustle to their operations, even during the bleak days of December when we sat with President & CEO, Tim Watters to hear about their past hundred years of cranes, construction, and growth. In his office is a stunning large-scale ink drawing depicting a vivid port scene from the early 20th century; on the adjacent wall is an antique sepia photograph of two of Tim’s ancestors standing in front of a horse-drawn milk wagon. Both images pay homage to Hoffman’s earlier days and offer a nice vignette into the firm’s rich history. “So, my grandfather Harry and his brother William – everyone called him Winks – started out in the roofing business, but actually ended up automating it,” Tim starts. “You see, they came back home after being introduced to trucks in World War 1, and now, you’ve got to go back in time,” he pauses and points to the photograph of the horse drawn milk cart. “All the other roofers are running around with horses and buggies, so they buy a truck. Then the other roofers start calling up to see if they would deliver materials, so overnight their roofing business turned into
In the early days of containerization, Hoffman’s crane fleet loaded most of the freight in and out of the New York ports.
40 Utility & Transportation Contractor | february | 2020
Another Volvo wheel loader heading out the door! Two of Hoffman’s service techs servicing a new machine.
a trucking business. Two years later they bought a second truck, and they were off and running in a whole new direction.” For the next few years, the brothers continued their Belleville-based trucking business until Harry, Tim’s grandfather, went to Iran with the military where he was exposed to heavy equipment. When Harry came home, he took this newfound knowledge and focused the firm on heavy rigging, specialized rigging, and heavy trucking, as opposed to day-to-day freight. This was the second successful pivot for the Hoffman brothers, whose ability to respond to the changing needs of the market set the stage for the firm’s impressive legacy. In 1957, Winks passed away, leaving his portion of the company to Harry, who in turn brought in his son (Tim’s uncle), Harry Jr., also known as Jim. Harry passed away three short years later, leaving Jim as full owner of Hoffman Rigging and Crane. “He led the company through our heyday in the trucking and rigging business – through the sixties and into the mid-seventies.” Tim explains and gestures toward the mural of the port hanging on the wall. “As containerization of freight came into vogue in the mid 60’s, he moved the operation to Port Newark and bought a bunch of 200, then 300-ton cranes to handle these containers in Port Newark and Port Elizabeth. While we were still very active in the heavy rigging business, we were stevedoring containers at the port as well. That business was short lived though, once the ports came to appreciate the economics and productivity of stationary cranes as compared to mobile cranes.” So while the container business waned during the early 1970’s, Hoffman’s rigging business was just kicking into high gear….and the driver for this success was the nuclear power industry! “In that industry’s heyday, we were the dominant rigging contractor in the Northeast region performing heavy rigging service in the
