Round hay bales peppering the summer landscape are a common sight across farm country, but big hay bales didn’t start to roll until Gary Vermeer got involved.

For Gary the writing wasn't on the wall, it was on the floor. In 1970, after taking a walk with a friend who said he was considering leaving the cattle business due to the hassle of putting up hay, Gary went back to his factory and sketched out his idea for a solution on the factory floor. His resulting invention was the big round baler we know today and the signature product of the multifaceted manufacturing company he started.

Gary founded Vermeer Corporation in Pella, Iowa, where its headquarters covers 110 acres. The company makes a full line of forage equipment: balers, pull-type mower/conditioners, rakes, tedders, bale processors, silage wrappers, bale movers and hay-handling equipment. Vermeer also manufactures equipment for the underground and environmental industries.

The company has a total of 1.2 million square feet of manufacturing space on the "Vermeer mile"-the stretch of highway where the corporate headquarters and the factories are located.

Although it's the most well-known Vermeer agricultural product, the big round baler wasn’t how Gary started his manufacturing company nor was it his first farm equipment invention. In 1943, he created a mechanical wagon hoist to unload grain, and five years later he had his first factory. His innovations were fueled by his appreciation of mechanization.

Gary says he was inspired to develop the round baler to keep farmers, like the friend who questioned his sustainability, in business.

"I wanted to build a bale that would shed water, and you would be able to pick it up with a tractor," he says.

It took two months to develop the first prototype machine that built a round bale. Two years after the introduction of the round baler, Vermeer Corporation had quadrupled in size.

As the company grew and its products were sold throughout the U.S., Gary was known to travel almost any distance to make a service call. As a pilot, he often flew himself to visit customers across the country.

"When we would go on family trips it would normally involve stopping at a dealership," says Gary's son Bob. "One time, we stopped at a farmer–dealer in Ohio; Dad was seeing him about a product. We went in our plane and landed right on the farm."

Gary intertwined his career as a manufacturer and his roots as a farmer. He especially enjoys planting season and harvesting, and he has had every one of his grandchildren join him for a ride in the combine.

In 1974, Bob joined the company. Another member of the second generation, Gary's daughter Mary, started working at Vermeer 1982. She says her father's commitment to the products with the Vermeer name made a lasting impression on her.

"When I was younger, I can remember going to the original plant, and it was at night," she says. "Dad was probably checking on an engineering project."

In 1989, Gary retired at the age of 72, but he has stayed involved in the business and currently serves as chairman emeritus of the board. Upon his retirement, Gary appointed two of his three children to the executive board. Bob is the chairman and co-CEO, and Mary serves as president and co-CEO. The board also includes nonfamily members and outside business people.

Vermeer celebrates its 60th anniversary in 2008, and the family-owned company looks to the future for its manufacturing business. Bob and Mary are steering the company through two initiatives: integrating lean manufacturing, which focuses on producing machines as efficiently as possible, and succession planning.

Lean manufacturing is an ongoing process. "We've been on the lean journey for nine years," Bob says. "We started with the hay baler line and rubber tire trenchers to drive waste out of the production lines."

Through a series of events to recognize and eliminate inefficiencies in production, Vermeer has been able to manufacture its products more efficiently in all of its seven plants and introduce new products.

"In a way, our dad predicted this kind of manufacturing. He said a plant should hold around 200 people to keep the people close to the product," Mary says. "All our plants have raw steel going in and finished product going out, which works well with lean manufacturing. All engineering functions for those products are in those plants, and we encourage them to get out on the floor. It's the principle that if it's hard to assemble, it's hard to service."

"To change a culture, you've got to get people involved, "Mary explains. She says consistent interaction with employees is crucial to implementing lean manufacturing.

In 1989, the family started another ongoing process—succession planning.

"We saw we had a third generation entering college, so we started working to plan for succession," Bob explains. "We developed a family council, a family creed and a family employment policy. This basically says family members who want to enter the business have to have a college degree, post-graduate education and two years of outside experience."

Two members of the third generation of the Vermeer family are a part of the company team today—Jason Andringa (Mary’s son) and Allison Van Wyngarden (Bob's daughter).

"Our dad is a part of the succession plan, and he's pleased to see the third generation here," Mary says. "There was no plan for us in the second generation, which is typical, and everyone we talk to says the third generation is critical in succession."

Bob says the succession plan sets a clear path for the company's future. Vermeer’s succession plan is dual-tracked and includes family, as well as general employees. The employee development program, called VLead, is designed to prepare Vermeer's next generation of leadership.

Vermeer has more than 2,100 employees. More than 70% of the workers live in surrounding communities outside of Pella and come from 82 towns and 22 counties in Iowa.

"People are our most important asset," Bob says. "We offer courses here and help pay for people to further their education. We have our own health clinic, a full-time wellness coordinator and just started with a full-time chaplain. We're interested in the total person and his or her family."

In the future, Vermeer looks to tackle several other opportunities. The company has expanded globally with two international locations—one in the Netherlands and the other in Beijing, China.

"Our company is so much more global than it's ever been," Bob explains. "Twenty-five percent of our sales are outside the U.S."

Bob's vision for Vermeer's future is to keep developing new products, strengthen their dealer networks and further develop their sales organization. Mary echoes those goals in her vision for the company, and she also adds a smooth transition to the third generation and nonfamily leadership.

From the innovation of the big round baler to currently manufacturing and marketing 120 product models worldwide, this family-owned company continues to turn the page in the story of its manufacturing legacy.

Vermeer Corporation Statistics

• Covers more than 1.4 million square feet with seven manufacturing plants, the Parts and Distribution Center and the Global Pavilion
• Owns a total of 336 acres; the plants are located on 110 acres
• Has more than 500 truckloads of manufactured equipment leave every month for distribution
• Builds more than 120 different product models
• Processes more than 200 tons of steel each day
• Uses 54,000 miles of welding wire per year, which stretched out would equal about 218 miles per day
• Employs more than 2,100 people
• Has an ag dealer network of almost 430 dealerships

Fast Facts

• After Hurricane Katrina, three groups of Vermeer employees went down to the affected area. They used Vermeer equipment to help in the clean up effort, and other employees donated their paid time off so the groups could stay in the area and help.
• Vermeer currently has factories in Pella, Iowa, and in Beijing, China. The factory in China makes underground equipment for overseas markets.
• Vermeer has sales and service offices in Goes, Netherlands for non-ag products.
• The company is evaluating how Vermeer's lineup of equipment can fit into the biomass market as the country looks for more feedstock sources for ethanol.