With the help of a consultant, the family participated in exercises that helped them honor their family history while considering how to learn from the past and move forward.
The family worked together to update their mission and values statement and held a ceremony to celebrate its ratification. That same year, the family launched its quarterly newsletter and a shareholder handbook. An ownership council, with members from both branches, was established in , after two years of work by a family task force.
The ownership council addresses key family and shareholder issues, such as next-generation development, estate planning and family governance. A family office serves all family members. Mindi Vanden Bosch, daughter of Mary Andringa, is chair of the ownership council, and Allison Van Wyngarden, daughter of Bob Vermeer, is the ownership council education committee chair.
Both are third-generation family members. The Vermeer Corporation board of directors has a policy requiring at least one more independent director than shareholder directors. Other structures and policies include a family constitution and charter, a family employment policy and a family website.
During the economic downturn in , the board and shareholders agreed that if the company could break even, there would be no layoffs. Because Vermeer had adopted lean manufacturing, the company had not overproduced and was able to sell its inventory in the field. In the summer of , a tornado struck the Vermeer Corporation campus and destroyed two large manufacturing plants.
Using a family bank to encourage entrepreneurship. When one of Gary's neighbors talked about leaving the farming business due to the difficulty of providing feed for his cows, it started the former to thinking about alternate ways to put hay. Characteristically, Vermeer decided to design a hay baler by factoring in several key components: it had to be operable by one person; produce hay bales weighing about a ton; and wind the hay tight enough to shed water.
Along with one of his engineers, the two drew a model with chalk and had their first prototype up and running in six weeks. Once again VMC was the toast of the town, revitalizing the farming industry. Unfortunately, the hay baler's introduction was overshadowed by injuries and deaths when farmers operated the heavy machines improperly, tried to free up clogged intakes, or moved the one-ton-plus hay bales themselves.
Vermeer made several adjustments, yet lawsuits temporarily clouded the remarkable machine's recognition. Conversely, others credited the invention with reducing the overall number of deaths related to hay baling--and round hay balers became a common site on farms worldwide.
VMC sold more than 85, large round hay balers in the next 25 years and every round baler produced in subsequent decades was based on the company's design and technology. To help Gary Vermeer continue his evolution from small-town inventor to owner of a global conglomerate came the arrival of a second generation of Vermeers. In Gary's second son, Robert, was appointed to the board of directors, followed in by his older brother Stanley. Robert began his VMC career as a vice-president in finance, while Stanley worked in the "experimental" department.
For his efforts on behalf of the community, Gary was awarded the Pella Community Service Award in Not one to sit on his laurels, Vermeer and his company forged ahead with another discovery--the brush chipper--in The rugged brush chipper once again endeared VMC to the green industry as the compact machine was able to grind up a variety of materials from large trees up to a inch diameter to storm damage brush and the annual disposal of Christmas trees.
VMC's chippers turned unsightly waste into environmentally-friendly wood chips used in landscaping beds and around trees for installation and moisture retention. Vermeer's original green industry baby, the stump cutter, now came in several different sizes with patented forged-steel teeth, higher torque, and better maneuverability. Though antipollution measures began to take shape in the mids, the early s marked more comprehensive and stringent regulations on waste disposal by the Environmental Protection Agency EPA.
To comply with stricter environmental codes, VMC adopted an in-plant coolant management system rather than ship its waste to a facility in Alabama. The system not only recycled coolant and reduced waste, but provided the company with many long-term benefits including increased water purity, improved tool efficiency, less maintenance, and a better bottom-line.
On the family front, Stanley, who began work in the Industrial Engineering department in was promoted to president of the company in , the same year Mary came to VMC full-time in market research and human relations. Robert was named executive vice-president and secretary-treasurer in , the same year Gary was honored as Iowa Inventor of the Year. In , Vermeer manufactured different product models and employed about employees.
It had a worldwide independent industrial dealer network consisting of North American and 70 international dealer locations. Gary Vermeer, the founder of Vermeer Manufacturing retired in , and turned the management of the business over to his son, Bob Vermeer, and his daughter, Mary Vermeer Andringa.
Vermeer Manufacturing was begun and has kept its headquarters in Pella, Iowa, a community originally founded by Dutch immigrants in the mid nineteenth century.
So, that was a really exciting time. And you kind of asked about how we financed that. So that money all came in when the orders were placed, and those were the funds that helped finance, you know, basically all the production material that was needed for the baler. Jason Andringa: The business had been in existence for 23 years before the invention of the baler.
And my grandfather, their father, Mindi's grandfather, had experience from the depression and that always stuck with him. So the business was always financially conservatively operated. The business had a strong financial foundation to begin with.
And then, as Bob said, by expecting a deposit for every order, really it was well-financed for the growth that the baler brought. Mary Andringa: One of the biggest common themes in the whole growth and new products at Vermeer has always been looking for an opportunity to take waste out of a present system.
Mary Andringa: With a solution. Particularly, Dad said — and Bob and I heard this lots and lots of times and I think Jason and Mindi did too— you know, you don't go and just redo what somebody else has done.
His premise, his thought Now, today, we have to continually enhance products, but his premise was to design something new that's not out in the market now. Mike Lessiter: That large round bale story is amazing to me. There can't be all that many single revolutions like that one. Prior to your neighbor who he had had that conversation with, he probably needed four or five people to put up his hay, prior to that.
Bob Vermeer: I remember that personally because when I was growing up, we were expected to help in the summer. So he had one person driving the tractor… Well, first of all, you raked the hay. Then the actual putting up the square bales, you had someone drive the tractor that made the square bales. Then you had someone on the wagon who was stacking the bales.
Then, when that wagon was full, you took that wagon to where the barn was and you took the bales off, put 'em in an elevator, and they went up in the elevator into the barn. So and then you got someone in the barn Bob Vermeer: Because, see, that was when people were still using the barns with the second level where the hay was stored, 'cause quite often they had cattle or livestock down below that.
Over the years that has changed, but, certainly, at that time, you know, I still remember the days when, you know, they put up hay with the fork. I mean, it was loose hay. You put a fork in and then you put it up and put it in the barn. That was a very difficult to feed, because it was all…. Mike Lessiter: That's a great story.
What are your earliest memories of dad and the company, the earliest memories you remember from back then? Bob Vermeer: Well, I remember sitting in this house and I remember dad going out and milking cows in the morning. We had two Holstein cows and he would go out and milk them. And, in fact, I had one myself later on. I do not know. But anyway, so I remember that and meals around the table. And when the company started, Mary and I would both go with him to work sometimes, because he wore many hats.
I remember when the company started, some fun trips. The fact that dad loved to fly, so he had the Bonanza and we would go visit customers and the family would go along. So a lot of our vacation time was spent visiting customers. So I think the family in that plane was another great experience. Mary Andringa: I don't remember Dad milking a cow. When I was growing up, Bob was the one milking the cow, but I definitely remember walking the plants with him.
It was the plant that we had on the west side of Pella and it was usually I remember going in the evenings and so it would be after a meeting or something. Maybe it was after church.
I don't remember. And we would go and I would walk with him through the plants and, you know, they were usually not that well-lit at that point. And then I also had a fascination in the office with all the carbon paper. I was sort of a teacher from way back and so I would gather carbon paper then put it in the waste basket. It wasn't gonna be reused Mary Andringa: But it was, you know, what they made multiple copies of at the time without a printer.
And we would take some of those home and have a good time, you know, using those for whatever my projects were at home. I also remember, as Bob did, those first 10 years of the business.
So, when we went on family trips, dad was working through shortline manufacturing reps. And so, he would kinda go directly to customers. One of my best memories was we when we flew to Alaska, in and I remember sitting through a dinner with my mom and dad.
And I'm not sure where Bob and Stan were. They were maybe off doing something more fun. And I was sitting with a customer talking about a trencher.
Not that dad brought work home a lot, but we certainly remember the stories. Just think about that. If you can have a tree in your yard that's already 10 inches in diameter, wouldn't that be great. And then I remember him also, when I was home from college, talking about the round hay baler and throwing the fence post in, so…. Mary Andringa: Yeah. Well, and I think it was his excitement over it too. Something new.
He was always excited about the something new and different and something that would make work easier. Mike Lessiter: When the two of you were growing up, how big was this company and the size of the plants?
Contrast it to today. Bob Vermeer: Well, I remember, I think that was kind of another fun memory. I remember having Christmas parties with the employees and that was about people. I don't know if I was 10 or 11, whatever I was.
But I remember going to those Christmas parties and it was kind of like family. And the talent at those Christmas parties was basically employee's kids. I'll never forget, once they had a magician there, and there was a secretary who was basically a relative of my dad.
And they put her in something and cut her in half. And I just remember as a kid I was just floored. Mary Andringa: We were actually often part of the entertainment as well. Between Bob and Stan and I — we sang and played instruments and, you know, did Christmas carols or something. But there were other young people who did tap dancing and a variety of talent, homegrown talent.
Mike Lessiter: So, throughout the '60s, the employment and number of plants by the end of the '60s, what might it have been? Mary Andringa: Well, at the end of the '60s was when — in the mid-'60s — we started building out here, on the east side.
And the story goes, and I heard this not too long ago, that dad wanted to expand on the west side and so he tried to buy land from a farmer and that farmer jacked up the price pretty high. And he was offended by that, that someone would try to take advantage of him just, you know, jack the price.
I do remember, and this was in the early '70s… probably 'bout the time you started, Bob, I mean the company was 15 million in volume. Mary Andringa: 'Cause we did have a buyer who wanted to buy us and we had a family meeting in this room, when it was the living room. Bob and Stan were both married and I was not yet. Maybe it was more like '60s.
We talked about, this company came to us and would like to buy us. What do you think? And we, couple of us, said, no, we think we might wanna be involved in the business someday. So we decided not to sell. Bob Vermeer: I think probably in the early '70s, I think when I transitioned to Vermeer, that was ' I would just say in '73 we were about 15 million in sales but then we jumped to, like, 30 million in sales in I wanna say we had about employees at that time.
Mindi Vandenbosch: And Plant Two was there by then, right, 'cause in the pictures of the baler I thought that Plant Two was already built. Mike Lessiter: And fast forward to today where it's about a billion dollar company?
What is the total number of employees and square footage? Jason Andringa: Yeah, worldwide, we have about 2, that are based in Pella. And, before the tornado, we had about 1. The tornado took , of that. Mike Lessiter: Tremendous growth story here. Jason Andringa: Invented in '71 and then immense growth through the 70s.
We've had periods of really strong growth. The '70s being one of them, with the round baler. And then the '90s being the other real prominent one, which was horizontal directional drilling. We're a market share leader today in horizontal directional drilling, and one of the first to jump onboard with that technology. And that really fueled our growth in the '90s. So those were two very significant growth periods and then, post downturns of , and then also the downturn we had significant periods of growth after both of those downturns.
Mary Andringa: Yeah, we've just about doubled since ' And that was the beginning of our LEAN journey. Mike Lessiter: Question for Mindi and Jason. So we heard about their earliest memories.
What were your earliest memories and how they were different from Mary and Bob here? Jason Andringa: Sure, I was born in What do they make? That would've been what I would've said. And I do remember growing up with four older cousins, two of whom were Bob's kids and two of whom were my Uncle Stan's kids.
Then my sister and then two younger cousins. My earliest memories with regards to Vermeer were our family pride with regards to the round baler. And we have classic pictures from those times when all eight of us were on a round bale of hay.
That is when Vermeer was growing dramatically. At that point, Vermeer was already located here, right across the street from the founder's house. And my earliest memories, we had four production plants and we had covered storage, which is now our parts center and our clinic and pharmacy. There was still a field in between Plant Four and my grandparents' house.
And, as time went on, we built more plants and eventually, when I was in college, we built the global pavilion, which is across the street from my grandparents' house. So, growing up, there was already, in my mind, this significant company that made round balers. And then it just kept growing and it kind of gradually dawned on me that we make a lot more than round balers and we make trenchers and we make stump cutters.
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