Sunday, March 23, 1997

Equipment manufacturer awash in orders

By J.T. SMITH

Farm Editor

SASKATOON, Saskatchewan - Flexi-Coil Ltd. has a big problem a lot of companies would just love.

Staying up with orders.

If you drive any direction from the Abilene city limits, it doesn't take long to see some big Flexi-Coil rig in a wheat field.

Flexi-Coil equipment, especially the Flexi-Coil Air Seeder, has caught on in West Texas like a prairie fire.

The enormous Canadian plant here would have no trouble making equipment for farmers in even a state as big as Texas.

But Flexi-Coil also makes equipment for farmers throughout the United States and the world. As the former Soviet Union attempts to rapidly modernize it antiquated farm machinery in Russia and other independent states there, just staying up with orders is a huge challenge.

An eye-opening visit

In early March, it was a bit "too wet to plow" in most areas after several weeks of rain in the Abilene region, so some area farmers decided to make a journey to Canada to see the plant where their equipment is actually made.

The entire whirlwind 22-1/2-hour round trip here included a day-long tour of the plant where farmers got to see everything from the cutting and welding, to the electronics and paint job on their equipment.

B.C. Spraberry, a veteran Anson grower, was among six farmers on the jet trip to Canadian. Spraberry owns a Flexi-Coil 1720 air cart.

Spraberry, who is ever-curious when it comes to farm equipment, was thrilled to see where some of his equipment was made from scratch to finish.

"It's fascinating to come up here to Canada and see how they actually make some of the equipment I use," Spraberry said.

Company privately owned

Flexi-Coil is a privately owned company that was established here in 1952.

It began by making coil for packing purposes (hence, the name).

Manley G. Summach, 71, is still with he family business started by his two brothers.

He relishes going through the 570,000 square-foot plant (about 14 acres under one roof) and praising the 1,450 non-union employees who work there.

The employees work one of two 8-hour shifts on a 40-hour week with an average salary of $15 per hour.

"We give all our employees here a bonus every six months," Summach says with pride.

George Summach, a nephew who got the collegiate part of his formal education in California, agrees with his uncle on their employees and the products the plant turns out.

"We have good people here who produce great products," George says.

The company has developed a wide range of farming equipment to meet the changing needs of farmers around the globe. It specializes in tillage, seeding, and equipment for chemical application in a comprehensive system for large scale, dryland farming.

Flexi-coil has made its mission statement goal to be the global leader in such farm equipment.

Beyond aiming for superior technology and innovation, Flexi-Coil also has set its sights to build equipment that provides "customer-specific solutions."

In this sense, the Flex-Coil machinery whizzes are just as fascinated by hearing from real Texas farmers as they explain their needs, as the farmers are in listening to them. The feedback is productive and can result in even better refinements to products.

For example, Sammy "Mr. Sesame" Nauert of Stamford, who also made the Canadian trip, hopes to see fine tuning that will be applicable to his sesame seed production on his farm. Nauert produces wheat and cotton as well.

ndeed, Terry Summach, president of Flexi-Coil, says exchanges between the company and farmers lead to great ideas that become reality.

"The farmer-manufacturer partnership has inspired us to develop new products and make improvements to equipment already setting the standard," Summach notes.

Flexi-Coil targets quality, durability, simplicity, safety, and efficiency in its farm machinery, Carman Dodman notes.

Company has U.S. facility

When Flexi-Coil equipment sales began to grow in the United States, the company leaders decided they needed a U.S. facility for a more efficient distribution system for getting its machinery products across the border through U.S. Customs.

A U.S. facility would also add timeliness of parts deliveries to farmers here.

In addition, an American plant was needed to broaden the understanding of American culture with regards to farming practices here as well as government regulations.

To meet these needs, the Flexi-Coil sales and distribution branch office in Minot, N.D., was established in 1987.

When the branch office in North Dakota began 10 years ago, it needed just five employees there. That has since grown to 65.

"We have added more territory managers and service technicians," Dorman explains. "We also have added various U.S. departments including parts, communications, bookkeeping, and a wholegoods order desk."

Besides a bigger staff, the Minot building doubled from 10,000 square feet in 1992 to 20,000 square feet today.

Today, 50 percent of all farm machinery units sold in the United States are set up in North Dakota, while 20 to 25 percent are put together at Havre in Montana as an independent set-up facility.

The remaining 25 to 30 percent of set-ups takes place at local dealerships in the United States.

Randell Vinson, president of Abilene Ag New Holland, is the local dealer for Flexi-Coil air carts, drills, and various tillage equipment in Abilene.

Vinson has made so many trips to the Canadian headquarters of Flexi-Coil that he's almost getting used to the Canadian cold and snow. (It was 12 below zero Fahrenheit when the Abilene group arrived on its March trip).

"These are mighty good people to work with," the Abilene businessman says of the Canadians. "And they produce an exceptionally good product."

At present, Flexi-Coil has 135 farm machinery dealers extending from North Dakota to South Texas, and from Washington state to eastern Iowa. The company also is experiencing growth in Kansas, Colorado and Idaho.

In addition to wheatland operations, Flexi-Coil is seeing growth for some of its products in the row-crop marketplace.

The company has made huge gains in the machinery market for providing dryland farming equipment.

In addition to the almost insatiable demand for its equipment in the spacious Ukraine farming region of the former Soviet Union, Flexi-Coil also has acquired a large share of the Australian market.

Darrell "Chub" Richards, an Ericksdahl farmer, said it's hard to even imagine where farm machinery will be 10 years from now.

Johnny Edmondson, a seasoned Roby farmer, also on the trip, said the machinery that already is on the market has changed farming. It means educating a tractor driver.

"You can't turn just anyone loose with your tractor anymore - not with such sophisticated equipment," Edmondson notes.

Mike Hughes drove to Abilene from Lamesa just to make the quick trip to Canada and see the equipment.

Hughes, like all the other farmers on the trip, is well educated both formally and in the real world of experience. But the Texas A&M graduate notes with such ultra-modern equipment on the market, farmers never quit going to school.

Seminars and short courses are almost a must nowadays to keep farmers on the cutting edge of advances in agricultural technology that fits their particular operation.

Flexi-Coil's on-line computer network can keep the communication process running smoothly whether it involves linking Saskatoon to Minot or Saskatoon to Abilene.

While much of today's farm equipment may be titanic, the world is becoming a smaller place. Just ask the farmers who went from Abilene to Saskatoon and back home to Texas soil in less than 24 hours.