AGRA Industries

Source: Construction Digital

Date :2/18/2008 1:52:23 AM

AGRA has enjoyed a meteoric rise. From small city to national organization, Exec examines how the company has grown.

Written by Ian Armitage and produced by Tom Holsinger

Incorporated in 2001, AGRA Industries, Inc. is committed to meeting its customers’ needs with, “the goal of ensuring efficiency and profitability.”

With the tag-line “…durability by design”, the AGRA companies, whose origins can be traced back more than four decades, represents a teamed group of experienced specialists dedicated to providing the seed, feed, grain, milling, fertilizer, and ethanol industries with a single source for their facility and in-plant equipment needs.

As part of that, AGRA offers design, fabrication and construction of complete new facilities including ethanol facilities, seed conditioning facilities, feed mills, grain handling and storage facilities. It also manufactures a complete line of bolt-together bin systems, rack & pinion gates, seed corn dryers, husk choppers, bag splitters and seed quality GEN-EL “continuous cup” bucket elevators, belt conveyors, vibratory conveyors and catwalks.

AGRA today represents a complete line of equipment manufacturers and can offer customers, who include the likes of Monsanto, Navartis, Pioneer and DeKalb Genetics Corporation, high quality project options, cost effective solutions and complete satisfaction. “The company has maintained an excellent relationship with customers and continually receives repeat business,” says AGRA.

An industry leader

AGRA’s origins can be traced back “as far as 1960”, when Roger W. Hinner formed Merrill Iron & Steel, Inc. with the aim of “producing and installing steel steps, tanks and feed mill storage facilities,” says AGRA. Mr. Minner, eager to forge a name for himself as a leading businessman in the city, started that company in a small facility on Tannery Road in Merrill, Wisconsin and as business quickly grew, he constructed a manufacturing facility in the town in 1975.

In the years that followed, Merrill Iron & Steel just couldn’t stop growing and expanded to include two main lines of business: one line focused on structural steel fabrication; the other consisting of products manufactured for use in the agricultural industry.

Two of Roger’s sons – Pat and Robert Hinner – have managed and expanded the agricultural business since 1976, increasing the product line to include the construction of complete seed plants and seed plant componentry. In 1989, “Merrill Iron & Steel was forced to create a separate division to handle the expanding line of products and services being offered to agricultural customers,” says AGRA. Pat Hinner was appointed as manager of that division and in 1994 the family purchased a further manufacturing facility and the two divisions were physically split.

To increase the focus of the agricultural business, Pat and Robert acquired the agricultural division in 1998, enabling the brothers to continue to expand the business and grow sales. A new company, AGRA Construction, Inc, was formed to purchase the agricultural division from Merril Iron & Steel.

On January 1, 2001, AGRA Industries, Inc. – as the group is now known - was incorporated as the parent company of AGRA Sales & Engineering, Inc., Merrill Fabrication Inc. and AGRA Construction, Inc. Since then, the organization has only ever looked forward and continues to delight customers.

Superior technology

AGRA’s primary focus is on the design, manufacture and sale of equipment for the seed corn industry, as well as the design and construction of seed corn processing facilities. The company has expertise in the design and construction of feed mills and ethanol plants.

Seeds are the foundation of human and animal life on earth — the foods we eat, the fibers we wear, and most of the products we use in our daily lives are created from a seed. As the delivery mechanism for new plant technologies and varieties, seed is also the crux of agriculture.

Unprecedented growth in crop yields and agricultural total factor productivity over the past 70 years owes much to biological innovation embodied in seeds, beginning with the development of hybrid crops in the United States in the early part of the 20th century, continuing with the Green Revolution of the 1960s and early 1970s, and, more recently, modern biotechnology. Throughout this period, the seed industry has evolved. This publication explores data and information on crop seed markets, regulation, industry, and R&D relating to the U.S. seed industry.

The one distinct advantage that AGRA has over its competitors is its willingness to make a commitment to improving the technology used in the seed industry. The company has played an important role in the industry’s growth and has outstanding patents on a number of items including a revolutionary seed corn dryer and bucket elevator. The new seed corn dryer has enabled AGRA customers to reduce the time it takes to dry corn, speeding up the production process and resulting in considerable cost savings.

Listening to industry

Damage to seeds during production is a major concern to industry and AGRA’s many customers. Every seed that gets damaged reduces the customer’s bottom line; so, AGRA is continually focusing on ways to improve the equipment used during the production process to reduce the amount of damage caused.

Going forward, the industry innovator will continue to focus on areas to improve the equipment used in the seed industry and this will enable AGRA to be a leader in the area of new technology, while keeping customers happy.