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Kentucky Trailer acquires Advanced Mobility to expand medical footprint

by Gus Iversen, Editor in Chief | October 30, 2014
Mobile Imaging
Bob Bachman, president
of Advanced Mobility
Kentucky Trailer has formally announced its acquisition of Advanced Mobility. Kentucky Trailer is a leading manufacturer of custom trailers and truck bodies while Advanced Mobility specializes in custom trailers specifically for mobile medical services. The acquisition took place last week.

DOTmed News spoke to Bob Bachman, the president of Advanced Mobility, about what this will mean for his business. Bachman explained that this is not new territory for him or his business partner, Larry Sodomire. Their previous mobile company, AK Specialty Vehicles, was purchased by Oshkosh in 2006.

Bachman sees partnering with Kentucky Trailer as a logical next step for Advanced Mobility. "It provides us with a strong balance sheet, a strong partner, and a very good position in a well-run company," said Bachman.
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On behalf of Kentucky Trailer, DOTmed News spoke to Tom Biwan, their senior director of sales for medical solutions custom specialty vehicles, who thinks of the acquisition as more of a joining-of-forces than anything else.

"Kentucky Trailer has been on a diversification mission for many years," said Biwan, who cites the relationships Advanced Mobility has established with shared service providers and major OEMs as key benefits in linking the two businesses.

Kentucky Trailer has been observing positive trends in the mobile medical industry and thinks the market, which had struggled in recent years, is poised for a rebound.

Bachman is also optimistic about industry signals. "GE is mobilizing the Discovery IQ right now," he said, "that's the first new product that GE has mobilized in ten years."

Advanced Mobility will continue to base its operations out of a 30,000 square foot facility in Monee, Illinois, but will add to their workforce and facility should the demands of the market increase.

If OEMs show renewed interest in validating and developing equipment to go in mobile units, the workload for Kentucky Trailer and Advanced Mobility should only increase. The international market is growing too, which is a challenge they are eager to meet.

"One option we're looking towards going forward is building and then loading equipment when it gets to the UK, because it's more affordable," said Bachman. "A Siemens PET/CT scanner that comes from Knoxville, Tennessee would be loaded here and shipped over, but a Siemens MR or Philips MR that's built in the Netherlands can be loaded over there."

"The international logistics will be easier now with Kentucky Trailer," said Bachman, who mentioned challenges with shipping MR units overseas that have liquid helium in the magnets, as well as various requirements unique to the countries receiving the shipments.

"In our international efforts, Kentucky Trailer can bring a level of financial stability and a balance sheet to the table that none of our competitors in the U.S. or Europe can match," said Biwan.

Kentucky Trailer has also recently acquired a mobile medical field service operation which will provide the company with five additional field technicians who can travel internationally and provide operational assistance to their expanding pool of customers.

Biwan said the first meeting between Kentucky Trailer and Advanced Mobility took place last year at RSNA, and the rest is history.

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