Thomas Equipment, an Osiris Corp. company, last week announced that it entered into an agreement in principle for the production of Thomas skid-steer loaders with Singapore Technologies Engineering's Guizhou Jonyang Kinetics subsidiary.

“Thomas is proud to align with a world-class manufacturer of excavators and other heavy equipment for construction, agricultural and other industries and sees this as a major step in assuring that Thomas Skid-steer loaders will continue to represent the best in engineering and performance,” said Petter Etholm, president and CEO of Thomas Equipment. “Thomas also signed a letter of intent for GJK to distribute Thomas skid-steer loaders in its markets, most notably China.”

Thomas Equipment, celebrating its 65th year in business, will supervise all phases of production and quality control. Thomas skid-steer loaders produced by GJK are expected to begin shipping early next year, with shipments increasing throughout the year, augmenting production in Canada, which will phase out late next year.

Etholm said Thomas Equipment's marketing, sales, quality control and related staff in Centerville, New Brunswick, Canada, will spearhead all Thomas activities and oversee production.

ST Engineering, based in Singapore, is a global company and parent to GJK, which is located in China. GJK is also partially owned by the Peoples Republic of China, and is strongly positioned in that market.