It has been an eventful week in the rental industry. Private equity firm Platinum Equity Capital has reached an agreement to acquire Maxim Crane Rental, the second-largest crane rental company to be acquired by a private equity firm in the past month.

Also of note is the announced retirement of Larry Silber, president of Doosan Infracore Portable Power and a veteran of 30 years in management positions with Ingersoll Rand. See the announcement below about Silber, and make sure you log in to RER Reports next week for further details and an interview with Silber.

The retirement of Silber follows the recent announcement by Multiquip president Roger Euliss of his plan to step down at the end of this year. The industry will be poorer without these outstanding executives and committed leaders.

On the subject of dedicated executives of manufacturing companies, make sure you scroll down to read RER’s exclusive interview with John Patterson, CEO of JCB Inc. JCB has been referred to as the best-kept secret in the equipment business. With more than $10 billion in sales, JCB isn’t a secret to everyone, but even though the company manufactures a huge percentage of its machines in Georgia, it still tends to be viewed as a foreign company in the U.S. We sat down with Patterson at ConExpo recently and you won’t want to miss the ideas of this original thinker.