Published: April 24, 2008 11:50 am            

As agriculture changes, so has Loftness Manufacturing

Originally published in the April 18, 2008, print edition.

It was the idea of putting tractor power to work blowing snow that jump-started Hector-area farmer Dick Loftness into the manufacturing world back in 1956.

Handy with a welder and cutting torch, he decided to build a steel-framed, PTO-driven snow blower with a fan and discharge chute.

It worked so well that neighboring farmers asked if he would build one for them. More help was soon needed, as well as more convenient space, so the business moved into a shop in Hector and that was the start of Loftness Manufacturing, today known as Loftness US/ Attachments.

Business was good in those heavy-snow-season years. Soon Marv Nelson, another area farmer, was hired as distributor selling Loftness snow blowers across the Upper Midwest.

In 1979, Marv and Gloria Nelson bought the business. Two sons, Steve and Dave, later joined the company. Steve, vice president of marketing, Dave, vice president of sales, and Gloria, chief financial officer, own the company today.

As the company grew, it became apparent that new products were needed to provide year-round employment and generate revenue. It was the advent of the Loftness Crop Shredder that rapidly moved this firm into the ranks of major players in the short-line farm equipment world.

“Our shredders have done exceptionally well,” said Jerry Sechler, vice president of sales. “In the marketplace we are now recognized as a market leader with top-quality performance and durability. We have a perceived high value not only in the Corn Belt, but have also gained brand name recognition throughout the Cotton Belt in California, southeastern states and Texas.

Corn residue now has value

Changes in the sourcing of agricultural feedstocks are a primary reason for the big gain in crop shredder sales the past two to three years. Once baled corn stalks, even baled soybean straw, caught on as being a valuable supplemental feed and bedding source, shredders that also “windrowed” the residue for baling became a big item for Loftness US/Attachments.

“The custom baler market has gotten big in the Midwest and this business has been attracted to our product,” said Dave Nelson. “We’re in a position to respond very quickly to customer demand. And as this shredder market has expanded, so has our dealer base.”

More changes, more new products

Steve Nelson said the Loftness dealer base has also changed significantly the past six years. Why? Because of the introduction of a new product line of tree and brush mulching equipment.

When Loftness entered into the forestry markets, they again focused on a niche market. They targeted customer-operators involved with land development (lot clearing), right-of-way (pipeline-highline) trails, park maintenance, invasive species (removal of tamarisk), pasture renovation (clearing volunteer cedar trees), even clearing for seismic exploration in the oil fields of western Canada and cutting firebreaks in the Rocky Mountains.

“We have truly broadened our markets,” said Gloria Nelson.

Now bagged storage equipment

Common across the countryside, especially in dairy country, are the white plastic “tube bags” for silage, haylage and other bulk forage products. Cheaper, more convenient and more flexible, these tube bags have almost eliminated construction of new vertical silos.

The next big market for tube bags just might be cash grain, be that corn in the Corn Belt, wheat in the Wheat Belt, even soybeans and grain sorghum. When the big increase in corn acres in southern states last year quickly filled existing storage facilities, some southern farmers gave plastic tube bags a trial run.

Dennis Gardisser, an Extension agricultural engineer with the University of Arkansas, reported in the Southeast Farm Press that bag storage has turned out very well. “I believe these bags will be a viable alternative for short-term storage,” Gardisser said. However, the challenge has been that there hasn’t been a machine for conveniently and quickly loading grain in and out of these bags.

Loftness engineers may have the answer. “We see potential, and at this stage we are the first U.S. company to manufacture a grain bag unloader. Also we are about to begin manufacture of a grain bag loader as well, which we’re rolling into the market with a supply of special heavy-duty plastic bags also,” Sechler said.

Their first machine is GBU10, which simply means Grain Bag Unloader for 10-foot diameter tube bags. Priced at $30,000, it’s a substantial machine weighing 4,720 pounds and having an unloading capacity of 1,000 bushels of corn in seven minutes.

Unique with the GBU is a 10-foot bag roller, which clips onto the freshly opened end of the plastic bag. Once the tractor PTO is engaged, this bag roller slowly rotates, essentially pulling the GBU unit into the stored grain.

“With this entry into the bagged grain storage product line, we’re excited about 2008,” Sechler said. “We see this beginning another Loftness chapter of how to stay focused on the ag and industrial markets we now serve, while responding to a specific niche market within the grain industry.”

More people expansion, too

Prior to the start of the recent manufacturing expansion, Loftness US/Attachments totaled 48 employees; they currently have 59. Due to the expanding market and subsequent manufacturing and customers demands, Loftness plans on adding 26 new employees over the next two years.

These skilled workers will be in welding, manufacturing, sales and administration. Some new equipment is also being added, like a completely automated $1 million laser metal cutting machine, a new two-part painting system and state-of-the-art milling equipment.

“We’re adding new equipment to increase both our efficiency and capacity. And because of more product demand, we also need additional welders and other workers,” said Mark Schwiderski, vice president of operations. “Even though good welders are not a surplus commodity in rural Minnesota, we’re doing OK in sourcing new labor.

“A key recruiting method for us has been word-of-mouth. In our rural community, everybody knows everybody and they’ve heard of our expansion and that Loftness is a great place to work. Internally our own people spread the word. We also do some advertising through the Minnesota Job Bank web but mostly it’s been local conversations producing a lot of good candidates.”

Loftness sales averaged 20 percent growth per year since 2001 — when sales were about $5 million — to over $11 million in 2007; they have a goal of $20 million by 2011. The firm has 51 independent sales representatives and more than 1,000 dealers servicing all of North America, plus increasing international sales as well.

        

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