P&H Mining Equipment

P&H Mining Equipment Inc.

Type	Subsidiary (Parent: Joy Global)
Industry	Mining
Founded	1884
Headquarters	Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Key people	Randy W. Baker, President & COO
Products	Electric Mining Shovel Draglines Blast Hole Drills
Number of employees	2,600 P&H Mining Equipment and P&H MinePro Services combined
Website	P&H Mining.com

P&H Mining Equipment designs, builds and supports a line of drilling and material handling machinery marketed under the "P&H" trademark and applied to minerals and energy surface mining operations worldwide. The firm is an operating subsidiary of Joy Global Inc.

Joy Global Inc. (JGI) is a mining machinery and service support company based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin USA. It consists of two operating units – P&H Mining Equipment and Joy Mining Machinery. P&H Mining Equipment specializes in the design, manufacture and support of equipment applied to surface mines. Joy Mining Machinery specializes in equipment and support applied to underground mine operations.

Industrial artisans Alonzo Pawling and Henry Harnischfeger started the manufacturing business that would evolve into P&H Mining Equipment in 1884 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin USA.

Pawling was a castings pattern maker. Harnischfeger was a locksmith machinist with some engineering training. Both individuals served within the Whitehill Sewing Machine Company factory in Milwaukee starting in 1881. Concerned that Whitehill business operations were drifting toward failure, Pawling exited the firm to start a small gear machining and pattern making shop in 1883. Needing more gear machining expertise and capital, Pawling persuaded Harnischfeger to join his firm as an equal partner. Their Pawling & Harnischfeger Machine and Pattern Shop officially began on December 1, 1884.

Pawling and Harnischfeger initially supplied industrial machinery components and assembly service support to large manufacturing operations in Milwaukee. Their customers included industrial knitting machine manufacturers, brick makers, grain drying equipment manufacturers and beer brewers. When an overloaded overhead bridge-type crane collapsed within the foundry operations of a nearby heavy equipment manufacturer known as the Edward P. Allis Manufacturing Company, Pawling and Harnischfeger rebuilt the crane with an improved and simplified design.

Pawling & Harnischfeger soon transformed their business into an industrial cranes manufacturing and service operation. A bank panic in 1893 caused demand for cranes to plummet however, prompting P&H to look for another product line that might help them reduce business risk amid economic downturns. They turned their attention to earth moving machinery, as America was in the midst of an infrastructure and construction boom that required large volumes of such equipment.