Patten Industries Inc. kicked off a year long celebration of its 75th anniversary with a two-day special customer event in Peoria, Ill., March 27.

More than 25 companies representing a variety of industries including excavating, trucking, general construction, landscaping, plumbing, asphalt and more participated in the event.

At the two-day event, customers and prospects toured Caterpillar’s track type tractor assembly plant in East Peoria, the Mossville engine plant, and the Mapleton foundry and forge shop.

Patten chartered two buses to visit Caterpillar’s Edwards Demonstration Center for a 75th anniversary presentation. The buses then departed for Patten headquarters in Elmhurst and the Joliet branch. The event included an introduction to Patten’s on-line parts store and a live product line demonstration followed by machine walk-arounds.

Attendees met Caterpillar executives, representatives and demonstrators in addition to spending time with Patten sales and product support solutions teams.

“My management team really enjoyed the tours of the Cat engine plant, wide track tractor plant and the foundry,” said Don Kerwin of Snow Go describing his experience. “They truly have a better understanding of Cat quality, performance and reliability…”

John Schrader, Patten sales manager, responded: “This type of event gives us extremely valuable face time with customers and prospects so that in addition to introducing them to the depth and breadth of our offering, we can also learn more about how we can help them grow their businesses and better meet their specific needs. It is also an opportunity for attendees to network with others and develop business solutions. No matter what your industry, we all face similar challenges.”

Patten has been a Caterpillar dealer providing construction and power solutions since 1933. Patten serves 17 counties in northern Illinois and two counties in northwest Indiana.

The company has seven convenient branch locations in Elmhurst, Elburn, Joliet, Grayslake, Oglesby, Rockford and Hammond, Ind.

For more information, call 877/688-2228 or www.pattencat.com.

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