CMI Roadbuilding, Inc. of Oklahoma City began in 1961, when engineers headed by Bill Swisher started looking for new methods in the road building industry.
Little had changed since the early 1900s in the methods of building roads, however, labor costs were skyrocketing and inflation meant taxpayers dollars were buying less and less.
The CMI group believed that many road failures were due to poor riding surface which was mainly caused by inaccuracies in the subgrade.
A machine was developed that could economically implement an Automated Profile Road Building Method and would be known as the Autograde.
The Autograde could be adapted to perform many tasks including: Using the auger with cutting teeth, it could fine grade the road bed.