Indiana Machinery and Equipment Appraisals

Indiana Equipment AppraisersCollateral Evaluation Associates, Inc. (CEA) has provided machinery and equipment appraisals in Indiana since 1990. Our expertise as machinery and equipment appraisers includes medical equipment, construction equipment, manufacturing equipment, industrial equipment, and transportation equipment.

CEA provides machinery and equipment appraisals for the following purposes: asset based loans or refinancing; ad valorem tax purposes; allocation of purchase price; condemnation or eminent domain; FAS141/FAS142 reporting; insurance purposes; leasing; corporate conversions, dissolutions, mergers, purchases, sales, etc.

CEA has completed appraisals in the following Indiana cities and towns: Angola; Bedford; Columbus; Fort Wayne; Greensburg; Michigan City; Mishawaka; Muncie; South Bend; Westfield.

Although Indiana is primarily a manufacturing state, about three quarters of the land is utilized for agriculture. With a growing season of about 170 days and an average rainfall of 40 inches per year, Indiana farms have rich yields. Grain crops, mainly corn and wheat, are important and also support livestock and dairying industries. Soybeans and hay are also principal crops, and popcorn and widely varied vegetables and fruits are also produced.

Hogs, eggs, and cattle are also important. Meatpacking is chief among the many industries related to agriculture. Although the urban population exceeds the rural, many towns are primarily service centers for agricultural communities.

There are, however, cities with varied heavy industries; prominent, besides Indianapolis, are Evansville, Fort Wayne, Gary, Kokomo, South Bend and Terre Haute. These cities were among the highest in the nation in unemployment during the recession of the early 1980’s. Indiana’s leading manufactures are iron and steel, electrical equipment, transportation equipment, nonelectrical machinery, chemicals, food products, and fabricated metals. Rich mineral deposits of coal and stone (the south central Indiana area is the nation’s leading producer of building limestone) have encouraged construction and industry.

Throughout the state the products of farms and factories are transported by truck and by train. Indiana calls itself the crossroads of America, and its extreme northwest corner, where transportation lines head east after converging on nearby Chicago from all directions, is one of the most heavily traveled areas in the world in terms of rail, road, and air traffic. Waterborne traffic is also important; improvements on the Ohio River and the opening of the St. Lawrence Seaway have benefited the state. With the opening in 1970 of the Burns Waterway Harbor on Lake Michigan, Indiana gained its first public port and enhanced its shipping facilities.