One simple sentence encapsulates the Ditch Witch business motto: “We’re in this together.”
“It means that we recognise that our success is dependent on the success of the end user,” said a company spokesperson. “That the job is not done when we sell a quality machine. It extends to ongoing support, flexibility, advice, and constant innovation.”
Many times as a young man, current Ditch Witch Chairman Ed Malzahn heard this instruction from his father Charlie: “Ed, do the job right the first time because customers are depending on us. Always remember they depend on us.”
Charlie’s shop grew and became Charles Machine Works, owners of the Ditch Witch brand, and since 1948 when Ed designed and built the first service line trencher, his sense of responsibility to the customer has guided the mission of Ditch Witch.
Though initially customers were supported directly from the factory, it soon became apparent that to deliver a level of service that matched the quality of their machines, a dealer network would have to be developed. In 1958, one of the first of these dealerships was in Sydney, Australia, with distribution through Mole Engineering.
“In one form or another, the Australian Ditch Witch dealer has been one of our most important distributors in the dealer network. There’s just no way that from the other side of the world we could provide the quality experience that our customers demand of the Ditch Witch brand,” said Ditch Witch Director of Sales Scott Smith.
The Ditch Witch product line grew and continued to bring new innovations to market.
In 1988, Ditch Witch released its first horizontal directional drill.
In 1989, to provide expert support for this new product segment and ensure that Ditch Witch customers had the same positive experience with drills that they’d come to expect from their trenchers, Mole Engineering hired Stewart Brown to lead its drilling division.
Commenting on the early years for directional drills, Mr Brown said “The first HDD machines were nothing like the refined packages you see today. We were all learning as we went. There was a constant back and forth between us and the customers. We listened to the customers and saw what was happening at the coal face then took that information back to the engineers at Ditch Witch. It was very fluid and things changed and progressed very quickly.”
With ground conditions, climate, and local requirements varying greatly from one place to the next, the dealer organisation was critical to Ditch Witch in producing machines and supporting components that could perform in all conditions.
Jamie Wines is the Director of Parts Sales & Marketing at Ditch Witch and before that served as Product Manager for HDD Tooling.
She’s worked with Ditch Witch Australia for many years helping to shape the ground engaging products that are ultimately released to the market.
“The Australasian market is great at finding challenges that we never knew existed! We regularly send them prototype equipment to test. The Aussie customers in particular seem comfortable with fault finding not-quite-finished products and helping us to turn them into reliable high performers.”
Over the years, Mole Engineering grew to be a large construction equipment distributor representing dozens of brands.
In February 1997, Ditch Witch Australia was spun off from Mole Engineering to focus exclusively on the underground utility construction market, ensuring that Ditch Witch customers would receive focused expert support.
In 2010 Ditch Witch Australia grew to take on the New Zealand distribution and Ditch Witch New Zealand was born.
The same philosophy was brought to bear: focus on underground utility construction, supply innovative, productive products, and support the customer.
Ditch Witch products are now delivered from Albany to Auckland and Dunedin to Darwin with a level of service and after sales support that matches the innovation and quality of the Ditch Witch brand.
At No-Dig Down Under 2015, Ditch Witch is continuing in its tradition of bringing innovative utility sized products to market with the introduction of the Ditch Witch MR90 mud recycler.
Just as the Ditch Witch DWP trencher allowed small size mechanical trenching, and Ditch Witch All Terrain allowed medium size drills to drill and steer in rock, so the Ditch Witch MR90 will bring the benefits of mud recyclers to the utility size drill segment, improving the efficiency, speed, and profitability of HDD applications for medium utility sized drills.
For over 65 years, Ditch Witch has been committed to quality, innovation and customer success. It’s a winning formula that Ditch Witch doesn’t intend to change. Customers can be assured that for the next 65, Ditch Witch will still be working by the motto: “We’re in this together.”
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