Volume
125, Number 2 Wednesday,
February 13th, 2008
Summers Mfg. now owned by employees
BY RICHARD PETERSON
Good news! Summers Mfg. in Maddock and Devils Lake will be
turning out farm machinery at those locations for a long time to
come.
Well, it's not really new news, but the 130 employees at Summers
Mfg. are purchasing the company through an Employee Stock
Ownership Plan (ESOP). The ESOP went into effect a year ago in
January of 2007.
This is good news because it insures the businesses will stay in
Maddock and Devils Lake.
"We talked with several manufacturing companies about purchasing
Summers Mfg.," said Larry Summers. "They gave us some very good
offers but none would guarantee they would keep the businesses
operating in Maddock and Devils Lake, and that was something we
all wanted."
Deb (Summers) Anderson, who is now president of the company,
said "We just felt we had an obligation to our employees, who
are also the people we go to church with and attend ball games
with. It's personal to us," she said. "We just couldn't do that
(sell to an outside firm) to them."
The Summers family heard about an ESOP and learned that the
money the company pays in income taxes could fund the ESOP. "It
turned out to be the ideal solution," said Carter Summers.
Summers Mfg. was a C corporation and under the guidance of an
attorney who specializes in ESOPs, the company changed to an S
corporation, which does not pay taxes directly. About 25 percent
of the company's annual payroll can be put into the ESOP. That
money is used to purchase stock from the 20 family members who
owned stock.
The ESOP now holds 100% of the company's stock.
So it doesn't cost the employees anything to become stockholders
in the corporation. They just have to work there 12 consecutive
months, plus 1,000 hours.
The ESOP is governed by complicated rules imposed by the IRS. It
requires a third party to administer the ESOP for the employees
and this is done by State Bank and Trust Co. of Fargo.
"It's fairly complicated," said Larry Summers. "Sometimes we got
confused, too, while setting it up."
Carter Summers added that as far as the family is concerned, the
ESOP was a good deal. "Before, we had no liquidity because the
stock was totally tied up in the company. Now we have the
liquidity we wanted."
Deb Anderson, who is a sister of Carter and Larry, said the ESOP
hasn't changed the operation of the business on a day-to-day
basis.
Larry laughingly adds that it has to a certain extent. "Now that
the employees are owners of the company they turn out the lights
in the break room when their break is over."
Larry was president of the company and Carter was chief
executive officer. Both are now retired, but remain on the board
of directors.
Other members of the board are Deb Anderson, president; Angie
Summers, vice president of operations; Pete Almen, vice
president of engineering and Brian Perkuhn, vice president of
sales. Angie is Carter's daughter. Almen and Perkuhn are the
first members of the board of directors from outside the Summers
family.
Carter points out that Summers Mfg. is experiencing a banner
year.
"We're sold out for this year and we might be sold out for next
year as well."
Business began booming with so much farmland being put into corn
for ethanol production. Farmers needed the machinery Summers
makes. Recently they've been selling coil packers to John Deere,
which sells them in tandem with John Deere's air seeder. On top
of that, they've been shipping sprayers, discs, harrows, chisel
plows and coil packers to Kazakhstan and a large dealer in
Russia. A US machinery dealer has sold a number of Summers
products in the Urkaine.
"It's just exploded," Carter marvels.
Angie Summers says they are now running two shifts at the
Maddock plant for the first time in the history of the company.
"The Devils Lake plant is running two shifts and we'd put on a
third shift if we could find the employees," she said. In
addition, the second shift is currently running short-handed, so
if you need a job, you know where to go.
History of Summers Mfg.
Summers Manufacturing was founded in 1965 by Maddock blacksmith
Harley Summers, who purchased patent rights for Goebel truck and
pickup hoists from the Goebel Brothers of Lehr. These hoists,
produced in Summers' blacksmith shop the first year, were
distributed nationwide by a Cincinnati, Ohio dealer. With
increasing sales, the company soon outgrew the small shop.
Summers won the Herman harrow contract, beginning the company's
Herman Culti-harrow line. Summers built a 7,200 square-foot
factory in Maddock to meet the demand for truck and pickup
hoists, as well as Herman harrows.
In 1970 Summers purchased rights to manufacture and market the
Herman Harrow.
In 1973 a new 20,000 square-foot plant and offices were built in
Maddock, adding a 20,000 square-foot assembly plant in the fall
of 1975, bringing total square footage of Maddock factories to
47,000.
In 1977 Summers introduced the Agri-sprayer, used in conjunction
with the Herman culti-harrow to incorporate herbicides and
liquid fertilizer.
In 1980 the company purchased the manufacturing and distributing
rights to Crown rockpickers from Crown Manufacturers of Regina,
Saskatchewan. This forced another expansion project -- a 26,000
square foot factory on a 24 acre site in the Devils Lake
Industrial Park.
In 1982 the Devils Lake plant began operations, manufacturing
supersprayers and rockpickers. The Maddock factory begins
producing the Superweeder, a combination cultivator and harrow.
In 1983 Summers purchased the manufacturing and distributing
rights to the Fargo Field Sprayer line from Mid America Steel
(formerly Fargo Foundry) in Fargo. This field sprayer line is
manufactured at the Devils Lake plant. Harley Summers is
selected North Dakota's small businessman of the year by the
Small Business Administration.
In 1984 the Herman Diamond Disk, a disk harrow made in a diamond
shape to reduce blade breakage from rocks, comes off the
assembly line.
In 1985 Summers signed a contract with the Melroe Company of
Bismarck to obtain exclusive manufacturing rights to the Melroe
harrow line.
In 1989 Summers purchased the TorMaster Company of Hordean,
Manitoba, giving the company a line of rolling packer equipment,
comprised of harrow packers and hydraulic folding packer
drawbars.
In 1992 a new engineering office and parts department is added
to the Devils Lake factory.
In 1993 the company added two new products: a pickup-mounted
sprayer with booms of 80 and 90 feet, and the Summers
Superharrow, an extra-heavy-duty residue-management tool
designed for the minimum and no-till farmer.
In 1994 a 50x125 foot addition to the Maddock factory is
completed. Construction begins on a 24,576 square-foot addition
to the Devils Lake factory, which will enable the company to
increase production of truck-mounted and pull-type supersprayers
and rockpickers.
In 1996 a 1,500 square foot office area is added to the Maddock
plant.
In 1997 a 16,800 square foot warehouse in Maddock was purchased
from a local business.
In 1999 the company introduced the Ultimate suspended boom
trailer sprayer with hydraulic folding booms. Additional sizes
were added to the chisel plow line, now ranging from 28' to 54'.
In 2000 the company introduced the Supercoulter, the innovative
solution for excessive field residue management on no-till,
minimum-till, and conventional-till farming operations.
Company founder Harley Summers died in an auto accident in
Devils Lake Dec. 22, 2000 at the age of 81. His wife, who was a
passenger in the car, died March 3, 2001 as a result of injuries
sustained in the accident.
In 2001 a cold storage building was completed at Devils Lake.
The company extended boom lengths up to 110 feet on the Ultimate
Supersprayer.
In 2002 a warehouse and service man were added in Aberdeen, SD.
In 2003 the company introduced the Ultimate NT Supersprayer.
In 2004 a 124 ft. x 310 ft. addition is added onto the current
Devils Lake plant.
In 2005 the Summers Super-roller is added to the "Field Tested
Tough" product line. Additional sizes of 56', 58' and 60' are
added to the Superchisel line.
In 2006 the Summers Coulter-Chisel, Rolling Choppers and 30'
Superroller are included in product line.
Summers distributes on a wholesale level to dealers and
distributors throughout markets in North Dakota, South Dakota,
Minnesota, Montana, Iowa, Washington, Idaho, Oregon, Utah,
Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Texas, Manitoba,
Saskatchewan, Alberta, British Columbia, Kazakhstan, Russia and
Australia, making it an international company.
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Members of the
Summers family who now are on the board of directors of
the company, but no longer own it, are pictured. Left to
right are Deb Anderson, president; Larry Summers, Carter
Summers and Angie Summers, vice president of operations. |
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