Reliability Under Pressure

The PRO-DIG Story

The PRO-DIG story began on the sandy beaches of Devon, England, in the early 1970s. While other children played in the sea or kicked a football, founder Mike Charlton was busy digging deep holes with a toy spade and bucket. Most collapsed or were washed away by the cold English waters, but each attempt pushed him to improve his design and methods.

That early fascination with digging became a lifelong pursuit. More than forty years later, Mike leads a multinational drilling-equipment and tooling manufacturer recognized for solving the everyday challenges faced by drilling and piling contractors.

1998

PRO-DIG Europe Ltd. is founded in Corby, England, as a manufacturer of planetary gearboxes for industrial applications, including marine and construction.

2000

PRO-DIG Europe acquires a minority share in an Asian gearbox manufacturing facility employing 280 people.

2001–2006

PRO-DIG grows rapidly into an international manufacturer of rotary drive heads, establishing markets throughout Europe, North America, and Australia.

2007

PRO-DIG, LLC opens for business in North America from a 5,000-square-foot facility in Lawrence, Kansas.

2009

Despite uncertain economic conditions, PRO-DIG expands into a 10,000-square-foot Lawrence facility and builds a state-of-the-art test bench capable of dynamic load testing up to 190,000 ft-lb of torque.

After several years of research and development, the Intelli-Tork torque monitoring system launches in North America and quickly becomes a market leader in helical-pile torque measurement and logging.

2013

PRO-DIG acquires Universal Augers Ltd., formerly Pengo Europe Ltd., adding a full range of foundation tooling, including augers and buckets.

PRO-DIG Europe relocates to a new 22,000-square-foot facility in Cambridge, England, with significant investment in CNC machining, plasma technology, and advanced manufacturing equipment.

PRO-DIG, LLC also acquires a 10-acre site in Elwood, Kansas, for a new drilling and foundation-tooling manufacturing facility.

2014

PRO-DIG moves into its new Elwood facility and gains the capacity to manufacture a full line of planetary gearboxes, perform gear shaping and CNC machining in-house, and produce foundation tooling including augers and buckets.

2015

Strong demand drives continued revenue and production growth while PRO-DIG invests in additional research and development projects.

In February, PRO-DIG produces its first MMSIII piling mast, the MMS-VM975, equipped with a 400 mm vibroflotation system.

2017

PRO-DIG unveils its MMSI product line at CONEXPO in Las Vegas. Following extensive development and field testing, the company also introduces its patent-pending RAK-Attack technology.

2018

Continued domestic and international growth leads to an 18,000-square-foot expansion of the Elwood facility.

PRO-DIG also launches the Ezi-Pile Coupling, an innovative time-saving solution for helical-pile installation.

2021

PRO-DIG exhibits a range of MMS drilling masts, hydraulic drive heads, and foundation tooling at IFCEE.

PRO-DIG manufacturing facility and headquarters in Elwood, Kansas