The Ligchine Story
Ligchine™ was founded in 2007 by Peter Ligman and his uncle, Gary Ligman. As a concrete contractor in the early 2000’s Peter, like many concrete contractors, rented laser-guided screeds as a way to grow his company and take on larger projects with more stringent specification requirements. Peter found the commercially available rental screed machines to be too large, difficult to move from job to job and too expensive to own for a contractor trying to grow their business.
Ligchine was born out of Peter’s motivation to design an innovative concrete screeding machine that was accurate, durable, versatile, and affordable.
Peter, having grown up on a farm in a small midwestern town, had a lot of experience building his own labor-saving tools and machines. When Peter told his father about his idea to potentially purchase a screed, his father suggested that he go to the shop on the farm and build his own laser-guided boom screed. Peter went to work using parts, pieces and components found on the farm and easily sourced locally. A prototype was built and taken to a local job site where Peter proceeded to screed concrete with it. The SCREEDSAVER laser-guided boom screed was born that day.
Peter’s uncle Gary was a successful businessman and saw the prototype at a family gathering. Gary agreed to join Peter and start the company that is now Ligchine International, Inc. Together they transformed Peter’s groundbreaking new product into a commercially available option for other contractors looking to own a laser-guided boom screed.
With Gary moving into retirement and Peter’s continued desire to develop new products, Ligchine brought in outside investors to leverage the foundation they built and help grow the company. With new investors and ideas around the table, the company has added talented, experienced individuals to the leadership team to help drive the company for many years to come.
A History Of Innovation
Ligchine’s customers have been at the core of our development efforts. Listening to our customers throughout the history of the company has allowed us to continually introduce products that impact both the customers productivity and profitability.
Some of the innovations that Ligchine has developed and brought to the laser-guided screed market are:
- Wireless remote-controlled screed operation
- “Zero turn drive” capability on a boom screed
- All-terrain track drive system on a boom screed
- A boom screed transported by a ¾ ton pickup truck
- One-touch control that sets vibration, down riggers, and auto level system
- 360-degree rotating undercarriage
- The side shifting screed head
- Swing Boom frame design
Ligchine’s roots are based on listening to our customers and designing products that make sense. Not only will Ligchine continue to develop new products for the construction industry for many years to come but the company will also look to adjacent markets as well.
In addition to developing innovative, labor-saving products, we have an intense focus on customer service as a key part of our culture. The industries we serve work long hours and perform hard work. We hire employees that understand what it’s like to work under pressure and have an intense commitment to serving the customer. That is part of our culture and it’s what we value.
