AW Dynamometer known around the world

A local company continues to make waves around the world in the power equipment industry.

AW Dynamometer, Inc. is based in Pontiac and tests the horsepower of tractors, diesel engines and electric motors.

“If it turns, we measure it,” explains AW Dynamometer, Inc. President and CEO Del Robinson. “We can tell you within one percent exactly what that motor or tractor is doing.”

If a farmer buys a 300-horsepower tractor, that farmer wants to know if the tractor indeed has 300 horsepower.

“You can put it on a dyno, you can test it and it will show exactly what the tractor has,” notes Robinson.

AW works with companies such as John Deere, Case IH, AGCO and Kubota and is number one in the world for ag PTO dynos. In fact, they have over 14,000 dynamometers out all over the world.

New products include a brand-new patented dyno. This totally new concept has a hydraulic pressure equalizer plate. It is the biggest and best on the world market, not just the United States.

“We are very proud of it,” said Robinson.

Located right along Route 66 across from Interlake, AW Dynamometer operates from the former Flying Color Graphics building in Pontiac. The steel structure has concrete floors with around 35,000 square feet under the roof. They have a machine shop, complete fabrication area, testing room, paint shop and welding shop.

“You just don’t see a business that has raw steel come in the door – they cut it, grind it, paint it, we machine it and we make a product from scratch,” adds Robinson.

The Robinson family came along in 2001 and bought AW from Art Warsaw. Robinson’s two sons, Chris and John, are very active in the business. John oversees the industrial and diesel engine side while Chris does the ag market working with dealers, marketing and sales.

It all started back in 1948 when M&W Gear Co. was formed by Elmo Meiners and Arthur Warsaw. M&W was a farm product company that produced kits to increase speed on Farmall tractors. They then started building custom pistons which created more horsepower and an independent live PTO.

Warsaw formed his own company in the 1950s making dynos.

“Art did a fantastic job,” recalled Robinson. “He built that company up for over 40 years.”

M&W sold out toward the end of the century and stopped producing PTO dynos which meant AW had the entire market.