Hay Day: Western Ag Covers Container Liner Manufacturing Along with Tarp Sales and Service

A day at Western Ag Enterprise Inc., Great Bend, resembles orchestrated chaos time after time. Yards of heavy-duty fabric line tables or they are spread on the spacious warehouse floor, located at 120 South Patton Road. More than 20 workers strategically scurry around co-workers, small groups performing different tasks mere yards away from each other. Through the seemingly disjointed process, gigantic polyethylene fabric is pulled, cut, sealed, sewn and constructed into shipping container liners sent around the country and across the oceans. That orchestrated chaos is repeated over and over during the workday to the tune of 200 liners being crafted and shipped each day.

Liner Prep - Moraima and Juana prepping the bottom of the container liners for production. Order of Operation - In container liner manufacturing, there is a specific order of operation: First, cut the material to make the bottom and the sides. Second, prep the fabric. Third, sew the loops. Fourth, tie ropes to the loops. Fifth, sew the sides and bottoms together. Sixth, fold the liner. And finally, package the liner for shipping.

Around the production floor, employees work with special equipment to cut and seal fabric. Some workers stand in sunken bays equipped with sewing machines and assuredly stitch endless yards of fabric into container liners. Others walk the material around, making it manageable for the seamstress to expertly sew the large patterns. Still others assemble pieces and ties to the liners and prepare to ship them. In other sections they do similar work to new hay tarps, or they make repairs to leased tarps that are delivered to hay fields for installation.

It’s probably surprising to many in this agriculture belt that the thrust of Western Ag’s Great Bend manufacturing operation isn’t in hay tarps, but in shipping container liners, most of them used for shipping product overseas. Shipping container liners enable products to be transported without possibility of contents becoming contaminated. The liners also prevent products from contaminating the shipping container. Western Ag specializes in fabrication of liners specifically designed for the shipment of cattle hides.

Heratio Alger Approach – Lonna and Kevin Henderson stand in front of their sign marking Western Ag Enterprises Inc. on south Patton Road, Great Bend. The Hendersons epitomize the successful growing of business in rural America. The shipping container liner manufacturing developed after Kevin built his client base for selling hay tarps out of the back door of his house for Western Ag, headquartered in Arizona. Today, Western Ag Enterprises, Great Bend, employees 40 workers during its busiest time during the summer and that number will climb in coming years as the Great Bend facility moves toward manufacturing hay tarps in addition to the container liners, which it already produces for the company.

The Great Bend office is one part of Western Ag Enterprises, which is headquartered near Phoenix, Ariz. The home office also manufactures covers and tarps for nearly any operation, from athletic field covers to pond and canal linings. The company incorporated in 1985 and branched into Kansas 14 years ago. That’s when Great Bend’s Kevin Henderson got involved. Today, Western Ag has grown to include five other sales and distribution offices in Idaho, California and Washington, but its Great Bend office is the only one that manufactures product besides the main office.

Henderson, along with his wife, Lonna, have grown the Great Bend operation from a one-man sales and service business for hay tarps to employing 40 workers this summer during the height of hay cutting. They expect to keep 30 employees this year, more than ever before, even after the hay-tarp season winds down.

“I looked down the table at our Christmas party last year and it hit me, the number of employees we had,” said Kevin Henderson. “You think about how far we’ve come and you say, ‘Wow, how did we ever get to this point?’ Just by the Grace of God is all I can say.”

Lesly ties ropes to the sides of the container liners to attach to the inside of the cargo containers.

Great Bend’s growth with Western Ag is due to the fact that 14 years ago, a salesman for the main office came to the area in search of a tarp salesman for Kansas. Having worked in the hay business, Henderson accepted the start-up challenge. The first three years, he ran the business from his home, selling and installing tarps with a part-time helper when needed. He grew his sales region over time, moving into Colorado and Nebraska.

The business grew as the Hendersons added a few employees at a time to service customers with the trucked-in tarps and Lonna joined the company full time 10 years ago.

They moved their operation to its present location seven years ago and began manufacturing container liners, which liner production has grown substantially over time. Henderson has been able to secure contracts with beef processors, including Cargill Beef, the second largest beef processor in North America.

In the hay-tarp business, Henderson’s sales region cuts a wide swath from North Dakota to Texas, from Kansas to just east of the Rocky Mountains. The Great Bend office also maintains crews for installing tarps and removing them for customers, mostly in central and western Kansas. Nowadays, farmers are leasing tarps instead of purchasing them, so Western Ag additionally refurbishes the leased tarps when they are returned. Tarps generally last 3-to-5 years, and maintenance is key to a tarp’s longevity, said Henderson.

Maria sews loops to the sides of the container liners.  Following the sewing process, the ties are tied to the loops.

“We analyze them every time they come in and make repairs to them,” explained Henderson. “If they don’t pass inspection, we cut them up and build a new one for the next year.”

To help with tarp service, Western Ag maintains a three-man crew in Garden City through the summer. Great Bend crews resume work in western Kansas in the fall when there is less service required, as hay cutting is completed.

“Our crew goes out to tarp hay and we can tarp anywhere from 150 bales to 3,000 bales a day,” said Henderson. “There’s some days I have three or four crews out trying to keep up.”

This year, Henderson estimates his tarp sales business has lost about 10,000 acres across his region because of diminished hay planting by farmers. But Henderson is entering a new market for his operation, covering silage pits, which is helping to diversify business, said Henderson.

The new 100X200-foot building is built with a 195-foot pit for heat sealer machine used in hay tarp production.

When the hay market rebounds, Western Ag will be ready. A 100-by-200-foot building was recently constructed next to the company’s current Great Bend location that will eventually handle manufacturing of all hay tarps sold in the Great Bend region. The plan is for the Great Bend tarp manufacturing operation to start slow next May. Most of the tarps will still be manufactured in Arizona and shipped to Great Bend for distribution. Over time, though, the Great Bend plant will increase production until it manufactures 100 percent of hay-tarp sales within its region, cutting down on shipping costs.

Workers repair lease hay tarps.

How fast the transition occurs depends on tarp demand and workforce. In a business that services fluctuating industries like agriculture and beef production, it’s difficult to precisely plan for the right amount of workforce. Much of Henderson’s steady workforce for liner manufacturing is female and Hispanic.

“I tell people to not even apply for those jobs if they watch and then don’t think they can keep up with our girls,” said Lonna. “They work extremely hard.”

But the Hendersons have also found recent employment success for its tarp installation and removal in the form of professionals who supplement their incomes with part-time work for Western Ag. In fact, two Great Bend Fire Fighters are on crew and were instrumental in constructing Western Ag’s new tarp manufacturing building.

“We go hard with the liners and then March or April, we drop off because of everything happening in the markets and then we’ll come back,” said Henderson. “There’s times I use the liner people to do hay tarps. Last year, it got down to me working some people three days a week. They stayed with me and now we are running so hard we can’t get it all done in a day. It’s agriculture, you just don’t know where it will go from time to time, but you have to be ready when it’s time to go.”

Western Ag Enterprises is located at 120 S. Patton Road in Great Bend. For more information, you may contact them at 620-793-8355 or by emailing Kevin Henderson at tarpks@cpcis.net.