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Maddocks now under TMW Systems umbrella

Sept. 7, 2006
In a news conference yesterday, Ohio-based TMW Systems, Inc. and British Columbia-based Maddocks Systems, Inc. announced the acquisition of Maddocks by TMW

In a news conference yesterday, Ohio-based TMW Systems, Inc. and British Columbia-based Maddocks Systems, Inc. announced the acquisition of Maddocks by TMW.

The deal followed months of discussion and planning on the part of both companies, according to Bob Maddocks, president & CEO of Maddocks Systems, who first approached TMW about a possible sale earlier this year. Work on integration began in earnest this May, he noted.

The acquisition, TMW’s first since its own acquisition by Wachovia Capital Partners and Peppertree Capital Management in 2005, creates a combined enterprise of more than 1,000 customers managing some 175,000 trucks worldwide. “This…fits very well with our global strategy of expanding our business through continued organic growth as well as investing in superior businesses with complementary technology and robust business solutions,” observed David W. Wangler, president & CEO of TMW Systems and head of the newly combined enterprise.

No layoffs or reductions in either workforce are planned, he noted, although greater “homogenization” is expected to take place over time, particularly in the areas of product development and customer service. “There has been a significant amount of time and energy put into this acquisition by both TMW Systems and Maddocks Systems management teams,” Wangler said, “and this effort will continue through the integration process.”

Bob Maddocks himself will stay within the new organization, serving as its sr. vp of business development while Randall Burell, Maddocks Systems COO, has been appointed gm for the now “TMW Canada” unit. Employees at Maddocks heard the news yesterday and were “very accepting and excited” according to Bob Maddocks. All Maddocks management and staff have become employees of TMW Systems with the completion of the acquisition.

According to Wangler, there are several major objectives now before the international firm, including:

  • Expanding TMW Systems’ reach to be “both wider and taller” by offering solutions designed for fleets from the very largest Top 100 carriers to smaller companies, defined as fleets with 20 to 50 power units
  • Further expanding business in markets such as LTL, private fleets, logistics, brokerage and intermodal, which represent opportunities beyond the truckload arena where both companies began and currently have their greatest installed bases
  • Lining up and leveraging the west and east coast locations to take advantage of the sales, service and support opportunities presented by the now-wide geographic and time zone spread
  • Working with mobile communications and other partners to bring more value to customers to earn more of their total IT business

    The marketing strategy guiding both TMW and Maddocks in the past has been to work directly with customers, to “be intimate and get very involved with their businesses,” Wangler added and that will not change, although TMW may develop new strategies to meet the needs of smaller fleets, such as perhaps offering hosted software or bundled services. Many options are currently being considered, Wrangler noted. The newly expanded team is also looking ahead to 2009-2010 and the next generation of software, which will be built on the Microsoft.net platform.

    For the short-term, TMW pledged to maintain “business as usual,” by continuing to develop, evolve and support both companies’ product offerings, including Maddocks TruckMate for Windows along with TMW’s TL2000 for the IBM iSeries and the TMWSuite Windows-based solution.

    The Maddocks Systems User Group meeting scheduled for this fall in Savannah, GA will also take place as planned as will the TMW User Group meeting on the calendar for this October. “Our corporate cultures are a perfect fit,” said Bob Maddocks. “We will carry on with our meeting agendas as defined, but we are each looking forward to the opportunity to meet with one another’s customers.”

    Further driving the stability and support messages home, TMW formalized its Lifetime Support Policy and extended it to include the Maddocks TruckMate for Windows product. “Essentially, we are committed to supporting any customer of TMWSuite, TL 2000 or TruckMate provided they continuously subscribe to our support and maintenance offering,” said Wangler.

    More information is available at www.tmwsystems.com and at www.maddocks.ca.

    To comment on this article, write to Wendy Leavitt at [email protected].

About the Author

Wendy Leavitt

Wendy Leavitt joined Fleet Owner in 1998 after serving as editor-in-chief of Trucking Technology magazine for four years.

She began her career in the trucking industry at Kenworth Truck Company in Kirkland, WA where she spent 16 years—the first five years as safety and compliance manager in the engineering department and more than a decade as the company’s manager of advertising and public relations. She has also worked as a book editor, guided authors through the self-publishing process and operated her own marketing and public relations business.

Wendy has a Masters Degree in English and Art History from Western Washington University, where, as a graduate student, she also taught writing.  

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