1977 - Perkins Engines Inc. sends their representative John Spencer to Miami, FL. to meet with Tom Tracy. The main purpose of this meeting was to offer Tom Tracy the Perkins Distributorship for South Florida. Tom Tracy accepts this offer and fulfills a lifelong dream of owning his own business. Prior to accepting this offer, Tom Tracy had worked at Cummins Engines Company for the previous 18 years. The time to try something new and to go out on his own was now; he did this and he never looked back.
April 1, 1978 - Tom Tracy, along with John Brewer and Al Rossman, open the doors for business by establishing South Florida Diesel Corp which is based out of Miami, FL. Within three years of doing business, South Florida Diesel Corp becomes the largest Perkins Distributor in North America and within six years the largest Perkins Distributor in the world. Tom Tracy had a feel for the diesel engine market both domestically and internationally and he had the right people on board who knew the diesel engine business exceptionally well. This was a winning combination that built the company into a powerhouse within the diesel engine industry in just a few short years.
1981 - The name South Florida Diesel Corp was changed to Southeast Diesel Corp. This change reflected the growth that the company was experiencing by gaining new territory in the Northern and Western parts of Florida. Along with this new territory came the opening of a new office in Jacksonville, FL.
1985 - The name was changed yet again to Perkins Power Corp (PPC) to properly label the company as the largest Perkins Engine Distributor worldwide. By this time, PPC had positioned itself correctly into the markets of Central and South America along with the Islands of the Caribbean which resulted in large profit margins and a much larger market share.
1990 - Perkins Engines Inc. appointed Detroit Diesel as their Master Distributor for North America, and with the exception of PPC, all of the existing Perkins Distributors in North America were cancelled. Even though PPC was not cancelled it lost its exclusive territory and was forced to compete with the local Detroit Diesel Distributor for sales. This competition resulted in a fierce price war which in turn gave PPC smaller profit margins and a smaller market share. The time had come for Tom Tracy to try something different and something new and he did.
1992 - Tom Tracy creates Tradewinds Power Corp (TPC). The formation of this OEM based company would help offset the loss of sales that PPC was experiencing due to the appointment of Detroit Diesel. Tradewinds’ growth in the international market allows for PPC to regain lost market share and to refocus their efforts domestically and move forward with a renewed aggressive approach to the market. Things were starting to look better and pick up once again for PPC.
1996 - Tragedy hits both PPC & TPC with the passing of their founder, Tom Tracy. As with his death, it seemed that his great company would die as well. But it didn’t. Instead, it dug deep within itself and started to pick up the pieces from this tragic and devastating loss and to look positively toward the future. And it did.
1996 - Great news arrives for PPC in the form of being appointed by Perkins Engines Inc. as one of ten Master Distributors responsible for Perkins parts and engine sales for North America. This great news couldn’t have come at a better time for this grieving company. PPC took hold of this new responsibility and never looked back.
1997 - PPC, with its new status, moves into a 40,000 sq. ft. facility a few miles away from their original location in Jacksonville, FL. and instantly triples their warehouse capacity for inventory, training and product. PPC’s new area of responsibility now oversees an eight state territory in the Southeastern part of the United States. These states include: Florida, Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, Eastern Kentucky and Eastern Tennessee. PPC was once again back on top and representing not only themselves but the Perkins branded product as well.
1998 - Tom Tracy Jr. becomes President and Owner of Southeast Diesel Corp. and ensures that both companies, PPC & TPC, remain a family owned and operated business. As Tom Jr. keeps the company spirit and philosophy intact, with regards to quality product, experienced management and personnel and total commitment to the customer, he aggressively moves the company into the new century making PPC stronger than ever.
2001-2010 - The PPC operation was reorganized and Joe Campbell was appointed to the General Manager position. Joe and his team were tasked with growing the operation, and leading it through what was then a slowing economy. The company also was entering into the ever challenging times being created by the EPA emission changes, not only was that creating many engineering challenges but a huge learning curve for both the customers and the PPC team. The PPC organization had no doubt they would not only grow through the EPA challenge, but lead the way for their customers, for without a doubt PPC is made up of some of the most knowledgeable and committed Perkins people in the business. The PPC team is made up of people that have twenty and thirty years experience in the industry in sales, parts, engineering, production, and product support. The last ten years have been extremely challenging with the collapse of the housing and construction markets but the purchase of Perkins by Caterpillar has opened the door to many great opportunities. PPC having joined the Cat /Perkins Industrial Strategy Council is an important part of developing the strategic plan that will ensure the continued growth in the coming years. The Alliance Engine House (AEH) program was developed and has contributed to the growth of PPC by enabling us access to the Cat engine line up to 7 liter in six of the states within our Perkins area. This has been a large factor in our continued growth into markets that we didn’t have much opportunity in the past. The addition of the higher hp 2000 series Perkins engines has also been a welcome addition to our engine lineup and now allows us to fill the demand for larger kw gen sets, which will further increase our growth opportunities.
PPC is proud to be on the Cat/Perkins team and look forward to many more years of strong growth.