The Holland Group, which includes Holland Hitch, Holland Neway and Holland Binkley, has announced that it will restructure the three U.S.-based operations under one umbrella, called Holland USA.

Holland's Canadian and international organizations will continue to operate separately.
In a letter to customers today, Holland President/CEO Richard Muzzy and Executive Vice President Sam Martin said the plan will be implemented over the next several months. It will integrate existing management structures, information systems, functions and cultures at the three U.S.-based companies. The result, they said, will enable Holland to:

• Improve communications and service to customers.

• Create performance and operating efficiencies.

• Achieve cost reductions.

• Help retain and recruit quality employees.

"Over the past year we've made changes that were focused on reducing costs, inventory and non-value-added activity," they said. "This current restructuring plan is different. It will help us rethink how we do business and how we can bring greater value to our customer relationships."
The Holland Group has expanded over the past several years through acquisitions of companies related to its core businesses. "It was our strategy to continue to run the businesses as they had been, minimizing the changes to operations and disruptions in customer service," the letter said.
The three resulting companies "have different business processes that create inefficiencies for (customers) and duplication of costs for us," they wrote, adding that those conditions, coupled with the decline in the North American heavy transportation market, brought about the restructuring decision.