14.02.2018

Ron Dogotch retires

Ron Dogotch, senior vice president of Tadano America is retiring after 25 years with the company and a lifetime in the crane and construction equipment market.

Dogotch joined Tadano in 1993 when it was established as a small operation in Houston, Texas. The company already had a presence in the US market at that time, having established a joint venture business – Tadano America - with Mitsubishi in 1986, but while some of its early Rough Terrain cranes had been sold, the manufacturer was not treated as a serious contender by the big American crane manufacturers. They recognised that products were beautifully designed but determined that they were not what the American buyer wanted, being overly complex.

One of those big competitors was P&H - part of the Harnischfeger Corporation – which had shaken the US Rough Terrain crane market up and turned it on its head in the late 1970s with the launch of the P&H Omega series. Dogotch was part of the P&H crane team at Cedar Rapids, having moved there from Koehring. He was hired by Tadano in 1993 to help put it on the map in the USA. Having learnt a great deal about the market in the preceding seven years it had begun to introduce new models that were more suited to the US construction scene.

Dogotch and the small team in Houston began to change things slowly, getting the latest generation of Tadano cranes out into the market. Word gradually spread that these strange cranes, with their fancy cabs, were also very reliable and good lifters - and most importantly they just did not break down.

Over the following 10 to 15 years or so Tadano America moved from being a bit player, to taking market leadership away from Grove, and market share from the others - P&H, by then part of Terex and Link-Belt. In more recent years it has had some success with the German-built All Terrain line and is still one of the leading players in the North American RT market if not market leader.

Dogotch has been a key part of that development and a ‘constant’ with the company as others have come and gone. His sales practices might not always have been quite as ‘corporate’ as some would like, but he certainly got the job done and played a key role in making Tadano one of the leading players in the important US market.
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Ron Dogotch

"I take particular pride in being instrumental in the introduction of the Tadano brand cranes to the North American Market," said Dogotch. "It has been a great experience and I attribute our success to our exceptional business partners, who pioneered the product line, dedicated team at Tadano America and our high quality product line. Our product quality and dependability have been key to our success. It has never let me down."

Tadano added: We wish the very best for Mr. Dogotch as he moves on to experience retirement, which will include family time with his grandkids, global travel, hunting and fishing.”

The move is part of a succession plan, having hired Ken Butz as general manager sales in 2016, and has been adding regional sales staff since then.
The team at the Vertikal Press wish Ron Dogotch a very happy and healthy retirement.