GOMACO Corporation, a leading manufacturer of equipment for the construction industry, is headquartered in Ida Grove, Iowa, USA, with international offices in the United Kingdom and Singapore.

Birth in the Mid-Sixties

GOMACO Corporation was established in 1965, and since that time the firm has successfully marketed products in the United States with expansion to Canada in 1969 and further expansion into foreign markets in the following years.

Since the start of GOMACO Corporation, the company's designs and concepts have pioneered many aspects of slipforming concrete construction. GOMACO was instrumental in the development and marketing of the concrete slipforming concept which has had significant impact on the economics of concrete construction. The slipform concept has provided higher productivity per man-hour, greater efficiencies in materials usage, less traffic congestion per job and a more appealing finished product per dollar invested by the public.

Roots Firmly Planted in Construction

Harold Godbersen started his own construction firm in Ida Grove, Iowa, in 1938. In 1946, he founded Godbersen-Smith Construction Company in Ida Grove. With a solid foundation in the construction field, Harold Godbersen took his ideas from years of work and in an effort to share those ideas he founded GOMACO Corporation. GOMACO Corporation was founded in 1965 by Harold and Gary Godbersen as a division of Godbersen-Smith Construction Company.

Harold Godbersen had developed a double oscillating screed finisher and in the early 1960's, those machines were built by his construction firm and rented to Iowa contractors for concrete bridge deck finishing. When state specifications in Iowa incorporated the use of the finisher, regional contractors began buying the machines, thus creating a market.

GOMACO began with three employees for the manufacture and sale of the finisher to meet needs in the bridge market. Soon after, contractors in the midwest began buying the finishers and more state specifications incorporated the use of the machines. It was also at this time that GOMACO established a nationwide distributor network for sales in the United States.

Today, GOMACO Corporation markets equipment through a global network of over 100 distributors with more than 200 office locations throughout the world.

In 1967, GOMACO developed a cone drum or cylinder finisher to meet needs for skewability and finishing wider bridge decks for freeways. That machine was introduced as the predecessor of today's C-450 cylinder finisher which was introduced in 1969. Of all the machines manufactured by GOMACO today, the C-450 cylinder finisher made GOMACO a recognized name in the construction industry in the late 1960's.

In 1969, the company also expanded their product line to meet the needs of the city street and secondary paving markets with the development of an enlarged C-450 on tracks for slipform paving with the 550 slipform paver.

On to the Seventies

A fine grade trimmer was introduced shortly after that, and with a workforce of 30 employees, GOMACO began work on a curb and gutter machine. In 1970, the GT-6000 curb and gutter trimmer/slipformer was introduced.

In those early years, product sales were closely related to an educational process. For contractors to use the C-450 concrete finisher, states first had to grant approval. The introduction of the GT-6000 also required education. At this time, contractors were forming curb and gutter by hand with daily production at 200 ft. (61 m). With the development of the GT-6000, contractors could increase production, achieving the same 200 ft. (61 m) of production in only half an hour.

The trim/pour concept designed into the GT-6000, with the ability to trim and pour simultaneously, was a significant milestone for GOMACO Corporation.

As contractors began to approach GOMACO with needs for equipment for specific applications, other machines were developed. The capabilities of the GT-6000 were expanded to include barrier and monolithic sidewalk curb and gutter.

In 1974, the three-track GT-6300 (Commander III) was introduced with expanded capabilities.

In 1973, GOMACO International Inc. was founded to further develop product distribution and expand exports. The firm currently markets products in more than 90 countries.

In GOMACO's first ten years, there were other products developed to meet the needs of contractors in the bridge market, including a concrete conveyor and Spanit_^® work bridge. As the company expanded, they also developed additional equipment for secondary and street paving, including the introduction of the HW-165 slipform paver in 1975.

In 1978, GOMACO Corporation received an Iowa Governor's Export Award at the Seventh Annual Governor's Conference on Export Expansion. The award recognized GOMACO Corporation's contribution to the state of Iowa in export excellence.

In 1979, Harold W. Godbersen was named Iowa Small Business Person by the US Small Business Administration. This honor recognized his achievements in promoting the free enterprise honor system through GOMACO Corporation.

Acclaim in the Eighties

In February 1980, GOMACO Corporation was a national recipient of the President's "E" Award, an honor for international export excellence administered by the US Department of Commerce.

In the company's second decade, the equipment which GOMACO manufactured and developed reached into the interstate and mainline paving markets. To answer needs of contractors, a full-width slipform paver was introduced in 1980 with the GP-2500. In addition, products were developed for canal paving and irrigation work as well as rehabilitation and reconstruction projects including cold planing.

In 1984, the GP-5000 slipform paver was introduced to slipform mainline and airport pavements in widths up to 50 ft. (15.2 m), making the paver the world's largest ever built for concrete paving.

Also in 1984, the GOMACO International Ltd. office was opened in Slough, England. From the office of the United Kingdom, GOMACO International Ltd. today provides service for the sales and marketing of GOMACO construction equipment as well as product service, parts and distributor support throughout Europe, Africa and the Middle East.

In May 1984, GOMACO was honored as a national recipient of the "E Star" Award for continued expansion of exports. The highest export award to be conferred on a US firm was presented to GOMACO Corporation in a special presentation by President Reagan at the White House in Washington, D.C.

In February 1985, GOMACO began construction of a new manufacturing facility in Ida Grove as an expansion of the present facility. The new plant includes 120,000 sq. ft. (11,148 sq. m) of space for the manufacture of larger equipment models in the product line. In the fall of 1987, the new facility was expanded with a 54,000 sq. ft. (5,016 sq. m) addition, bringing the total manufacturing area of GOMACO facilities to 297,320 sq. ft. (27,621.03 sq. m). There is also 100,000 sq. ft. (9.290 sq. m) of inventory area at the new plant.

The 1980's brought the advancement of computer technology which has allowed GOMACO Corporation to incorporate computer processors into equipment design. This technology has been put to use on slipform pavers since 1985 to include counting the number of feet/meters traveled in a certain period, diagnosing system failures and controlling the machine through elevation transitions. This ten-year period also brought about such innovations as fast track concrete paving, which led to the design of a minimum clearance paver. A minimum clearance paver allows for working close to obstacles or traffic on one side, or in some cases, traffic or obstacles on both sides. A slipform paver with minimum clearance on both sides makes it possible to work between lanes of traffic or temporary safety barrier that separates the work area from the traffic.

"Global Partnering"

Contractors and GOMACO have a strong relationship in "Global Partnering," with GOMACO working as equipment consultants for unique projects in concrete applications. Unique projects requiring specialized equipment were used for underwater paving on the Coachella Canal in California; equipment to line the Narmada Canal in India, the world's largest canal; and a special tunnel machine to place a flat road surface in the bottom portion of a 15 ft. (4.57 m) diameter English channel rail tunnel link.

In 1988, GOMACO Corporation designed and built very specialized equipment for underwater concrete paving of the Coachella Canal in Southern California. The equipment was designed to span the canal's top width of 103 ft. (31.4 m) with a bottom width of 48 ft. (14.6 m) and sloping walls of 2 1/2 to 1. The GOMACO trimmer was used to trim the canal to a given profile while directing water flow away from the trimming operation. The specialized GOMACO paving machine was then used to place plastic material and slipform a concrete lining in the bottom and sides of the canal.

Into the 21st Century

Today, GOMACO's "smart machines" are equipped with on-board computers. These computers can be programmed to control grade transitions, the elevation and steering of the machine while constantly monitoring the hydraulic and electronic systems for malfunctions. If any malfunctions should occur, the computer will shut down the affected system or systems, preventing the possibility of a defect in the finished product. A display on the control panel will then alert the operator to the type and location of the fault so it can be easily corrected in a minimal amount of time.

GOMACO pavers also can be equipped with dowel bar inserters (DBI) and the In-The-Pan dowel bar inserter (IDBI) for the automatic, computerized insertion of load transfer dowel bars in the concrete pavement during the slipforming operation.

GOMACO's designs and concepts have pioneered many aspects of slipforming concrete construction. GOMACO equipment will slipform concrete for streets and highway paving, sidewalks, recreation and golf cart paths, curb and gutter, median barrier, parapet, monolithic sidewalk curb and gutter, irrigation canals and waterways.

Additional equipment includes automated grade trimmers for accurate subbase preparation, concrete placer/spreaders, slipform paver/trimmers, pavers for slopes, texture/curing machines and cylinder/finishers. GOMACO Corporation has played an important role in the design and engineering of technological advancements in concrete construction equipment with more than 35 US and international patents. GOMACO is committed to continue seeking design solutions as future technology evolves to meet the challenges of the 21st century.