Great Bend Industries Punches 40 Years as Leader of Welded Cylinders

An engineer and a production specialist from a manufacturing plant in a small community southwest of Great Bend ventured out on their own to make heavy-duty custom welded cylinders instead of the traditional tie-bolt cylinders used for agriculture. Welded cylinders are more intricately engineered than tie-bolt cylinders and used in high-safety operations.

Out of that entrepreneurial spirit was born Great Bend Industries, a leader in the custom hydraulic cylinder industry and a major employer of the city it proudly represents by name.

The engineer, Wayne Schultz, and the production specialist, William Johnson, along with a group of financial backers, started their small operation with less than a dozen employees in a small structure at the Industrial Park, two miles west of Patton Road. The duo utilized contacts they had within the cylinder industry to build their limited operation from the ground floor.

"Bill and Wayne came here and located equipment, they found a handful of people to run the plant and they started making their cylinders," said GBI plant manager Mike Petz, who's served in that role for five years, having started with the company on the production floor 36 years ago. "Those two individuals knew hydraulic cylinders and they knew there was a niche within the industry for custom-designed welded cylinders. They had connections in the Kansas City area and got something going right away. It was a good start for us."

Snorkel Fire Equipment Company, then out of St. Joseph, Mo., was GBI's first customer. Now known as Snorkel International and no longer in the fire equipment business nor in Missouri, the company is still a customer of GBI.

Manufacturer Milestone - The handsome facade of Great Bend Industries, with its lush green lawn and high-flying American Flag whipping in the summer breeze, appears tranquil from its frontage view. Inside, however, major manufacturing happens at least 17 hours every weekday and on many Saturdays when overtime is available to work. Great Bend Industries, which began as a two-man start up company with about a dozen employees, achieved a milestone by notching 40 years in business last month. The founders sold the business in the late 1970s and it changed hands again before being purchased by Ligon Industries, LLC, five years ago. Ligon, located in Birmingham, Alab., owns five other hydraulic companies in New York, Wisconsin, California and Iowa. The six companies comprise the subsidiary Hampton Hydraulics, LLC, home-based in Hampton, Iowa.    Ligon reduced employment of GBI immediately following its purchase, but has grown the company at a steady pace since that time. The parent company invested in GBI the first year of its purchase by adding 18,000 square feet onto the facility to house 25-foot storage racks so that tubes could be shipped and housed directly in one facility.    "Ligon has allowed us to purchase equipment that helps us become more state of the art and automated," said Schnoebelen. "At the same time, the company allows us autonomy. Mike runs our business and we're responsible for the bottom line."

A few years later, Great Bend Industries moved two buildings east of its original location to its current facility, at 8701 6th Street, that now has 155,000 square-feet of building and warehouse space. Today, GBI employs about 100 workers, operates two shifts and its product line now covers everything from a two-inch bore to a 12-inch bore with single-stroke tube lengths up to 50 feet long.

GBI's hydraulic cylinders are used on truck cranes, hydraulic cranes, utility trucks, material handlers, mining and forestry equipment, aerial work platforms and aircraft ground support equipment, defense and government projects, fire service, man-lift booms, tunnel boring, marine propulsion, oil and water drilling, solar panels, car lifts for race car trailers, earth movers, pipe pressure testers, and sliding deck flatbed semi trailers. Basically, GBI can customize any contraption that uses a hydraulic cylinder to operate.

"We have a diversified nationwide customer base," said Petz. "We also send products to India, Australia, South America, Mexico, Canada, and lots of other countries. All of our products are custom made for the OEMs (original equipment manufacturers)."

GBI has produced cylinders for a company that builds barges that deliver to oil derricks in the Gulf Coast. The company also built cylinders to dig a 12-foot diameter tunnel 11 miles long, from a mountain reservoir down to the city of San Diego. On special request jobs, GBI engineers work closely with respective businesses to build those hydraulic parts to order, while carefully building into the products valves and seals so that it meets industry safety guidelines. Petz said only about 5 percent of GBI's customers are one-time buyers for special projects. The lion's share of manufacturing jobs come from a customer base that GBI builds product for on a regular basis.

"Our products may reach every state because of our varied customers and the industries they represent," said GBI human resource director Mary Lou Schnoebelen. "There has been a concerted effort to diversify our products even more since 9-11."

Skilled Labor - GBI employee Jeremy Snyder MIG welds end mounts. The company currently employees seven MIG welders and four sub-arc welders. The company hires skilled welders and then teaches them to weld on their specific products. To bolster its workforce, GBI does train machinists, painters and assemblers. It is also working with Larned Department of Corrections in hiring skilled inmates and now has two full-time employees who started with GBI through the DOC inmate program.    "If not for the prison, we would have struggled here last year with workforce," said Petz. "We had 11 employees here at one time from Larned DOC. They did a tremendous job for us."    "Without the inmates, their productivity and the knowledge that they brought, we would have had a totally different year last year," said Schnoebelen. "They are skilled welders, machinists, and they are motivated to work."    Being unionized, all full-time GBI employees earn a competitive wage with a built-in wage scale in their contracts.

At the height of production in the past decade, Great Bend Industries employed more than 270 employees. The industry's economy slowed just before the millennium and more drastically after the terrorist attacks. GBI's operation was downsized as a result. The company is now on the rebound. It is increasing employment once again and is utilizing automated, high-speed machining to achieve near-peak production amounts of pre 9-11.

"What's interesting is that we were doing nearly as much with 80-some employees as we were doing with 274 employees years ago," observed Schnoebelen. "When you think about efficiencies with automation and improvements to process and flow, it's been phenomenal. If we had not been able to do that, it would have been difficult to stay in Great Bend because employee availability is just not here. We've been able to remain competitive and viable through improvements to machinery and workforce efficiencies, and through the contributions of our experienced employees."

Comparing Cylinders - Shown are examples of the range of welded hydraulic cylinders that Great Bend Industries produces. The short one is a cab leveling cylinder for construction crane. It has a three-quarter-inch diameter rod, a two-inch bore and it's 20 inches long. The larger one is a truck mounted crane cylinder that allows a boom to extend. It is built with a five-inch rod with a six-inch bore cylinder and it's 25-feet long.

The recovery has happened nearly simultaneous to GBI's purchase by Ligon Industries, LLC, a privately held manufacturing company in Birmingham, Alab. Ligon maintains a subsidiary group of companies under the name Hampton Hydraulics, LLC, home based in Hampton, Iowa, whose core industry involves welded cylinders. Great Bend Industries is included among that group.

Since Ligon purchased GBI, the first year the Great Bend company managed $9 million in gross sales; the second year the company did about $100,000 above the previous mark. In the third year GBI jumped to $11.25 million; followed by $14 million in 2005, $20 million last year and gross sales are on a slightly increased pace this year. GBI employed about 80 people when it did $9 million in sales; it bumped up to 97 employees last year when it recorded $20 million.

Ligon practices a decentralized approach with its companies, allowing each business to work in an autonomous operating environment.

Robotic Welder - A two-station robotic welder secures mounting flanges onto a cylinder at GBI. The company operates two robotic welders, in addition to performing MIG welding and Sub-arc welding. By having multiple nests for insertion of parts and being able to rotate the machine from the prep side to the welding side, a two-station welder minimizes down time for operators.

At the same time, GBI's position within the industry is bolstered because of its relationship with the other businesses in Hampton Hydraulics. GBI works closely with its sister companies to provide hydraulic cylinders of all sizes at a competitive price.

"We try to sell our whole group when we quote a product," said Petz. "A job may have small cylinders and then four to 10 inch bores. A package may have $2 million dollars and $1.5 million is in mid-range - our range - but $500,000 is in small cylinders. We'll send the small ones to one of our sister companies, which can bid those a lot more competitively than we can. That way, when we give our quote to the customer, it represents the best pricing on both sizes of product."

To keep orders coming in the door, GBI maintains its own sales staff. It also has independent representatives across the United States representing its products. The company also attracts some business at OEM trade shows.

Best-Lathe Plans - Shown is a computerized CNC (Computer Numerical Control) turning lathe used for making thread glands and machining other small parts. Blueprints for machining a part hang to the left of the machine. "We're automating more and more CNC equipment," said Petz. "Our employees aren't just button pushers. They have to be able to measure parts, as well as program and adjust the machines. When you are trained, you have to run your own machine. Here's the packet, here's the parts, here's what you need to get the job done."

"Great Bend Industries has had a very good name in the industry," said Petz. "We have a lot of skilled people here who turn out exceptional products for companies all over the nation and worldwide. We employ a lot of people from Great Bend and the surrounding communities. Even though our product isn't sold locally, it's important for people here to know who we are and what we do because the company and its employees put a lot of money back into our local economy."