b'In the Trenches with SunstateSCOA Group Company Continues Expansion into New Trench Safety Markets with Acquisition of CascadeThe most basic and obvious advantage of trench shoring and plate rental business versus a general rental business is the nature of the equipment that is rented, explained Watts. Almost everything we rent on the general rental side has an engine or motor of some sort or another, and it all requires diligent, continuous maintenance which means time and money.Steel and aluminum shoring, as well as steel road plates, experience high degrees of durability and require little if any maintenance, except for the oc-casional damage repair. The hold time on assets isA Guide to Shoring and Trenchinggenerally much longer than on the everyday rentalSside, so the ongoing replacement cost of equip- horing and trenching help keep excavation and repair project ment aging out occurs on a much smaller scale. workers safe with a variety of shields, plates and other on-site The best part of the story is the annualized ROIoptions. Cascade offers steel and aluminumof a mature trench rental business is commonly trench shields, octagon and square manholes, and steel road plates to in the 100% range, where it is closer to 40% in aassist excavators and workers in keeping their worksite safe.strongly-performing general rental market, saidAnother option is hydraulic shoring, where hydraulic pistons are pumped Watts about his outlook. There is also a tre- outward until they press up against the trench walls. Also offered are slide mendous customer synergy opportunity, whichrail systems, a dig-and-push system allows low vibration installation and will give us greater wallet share of our existingprovides soil support for excavations, adjacent structures and existing customers, while simultaneously attracting newutilities. These systems are installed from the top down, removed from customers on the trench side with general rental equipment needs.the bottom up and very cost effective. During the removal process, each panel is lifted up independently of the rest of the system as backfilling and compaction proceed, so the system is ideal for tanks, pump stations, bore pits and difficult structures in poor soils.Cascade also offers confined space equipment such as OSHA compliant 4-gas monitors for detecting oxygen, carbon monoxide, hydrogen sulfide and combustible gases. Additionally, pipe plugs are available for projects as needed.Sumitomo Corporation of Americas 17'