Grappling With International Success

  With no formal engineering know-how, Roy LaBounty created attachment equipment that has helped revolutionize how scrap recyclers and contractors salvage materials. However, his international company--LaBounty Manufacturing Inc.--is one business that has not forgotten its hometown roots.

   Roy LaBounty, founder and president of LaBounty Manufacturing Inc. (Two Harbors, Minn.), did not set out to be an inventor or manufacturer of industrial equipment. In fact, he worked as a construction contractor for more than 20 years.

Yet in the early 1970s, with no engineering background, he developed a grapple attachment for his hydraulic excavator to help him clear land, demolish buildings, and move heavy materials. Other contractors became interested and asked if LaBounty would build them one. The increasing requests, coupled with a softening building market, prompted LaBounty to leave construction in 1972 and launch his second career as a manufacturer of the "contractor's grapple."

"Just to give it to the public was fun,” LaBounty says. "Every customer we sold it to came back and told us how good it was for them. We had good rapport with a lot of people, and that was the enjoyment of it."

For 18 years now, LaBounty and his innovations have helped revolutionize material handling and processing. His company is world-known for its grapples, mobile shears, and concrete pulverizers, which are designed to solve the problems of scrap processors, demolition contractors, road and bridge construction companies, and solid and hazardous waste handlers.

International Scope, Local Focus

LaBounty Manufacturing Inc. is a humble giant, an international enterprise firmly rooted in the hometown soil of its founder and employees. The company is the largest employer in both its home base of Two Harbors (population 4,092) and the surrounding Lake County (13,000 residents). LaBounty boasts 280 workers in its U.S. operations and another 250 in its overseas branches. Its staff size grew 100 percent between 1988 and 1989.

Such astounding employee growth was necessary because of the company's 70-percent annual growth between 1973 and 1989. In 1972, two employees working full time could produce one grapple per week. Now, the plant, which occupies 30 acres and runs 24 hours a day, five days a week, turns out more than 50 grapples, mobile shears, and related products per month. Company Vice President Ken LaBounty, Roy's son, says, "This growth has been so tremendous and so fast that it's hard to get systems in place and get people trained to keep up." The company predicts a continued annual growth rate of 40 percent in the coming years.

Internationally, LaBounty has a manufacturing branch in Australia, with licensees and sales representatives in Holland, the United Kingdom, South America, Africa, and the Far East. The company is also working with a distribution group called Interscrap, Moscow, which is marketing the company's products in the Soviet Union.

"Our boss is the whole recycling industry," Roy LaBounty says, noting that although his first product was designed for the construction/demolition industry, scrap processors account for 60 percent of LaBounty's business.

Products That Deliver

LaBounty's success is not accidental. The company has striven to offer "a good product with good service supported by good people," as Roy LaBounty says. Its attachments, made of high-tensile, high-alloy, abrasion-resistant steel, are known for their durability, versatility, longevity, and reliability, he says.

The company offers more than 40 grapple models to assist in scrap processing, demolition, rock and tire handling, land clearing, and solid waste handling. Its grapples offer a patented attachment-and-removal mechanism that reportedly enables changeovers in as little as 15 minutes.

LaBounty also pioneered a line of mobile shears to process everything from steel beams, pipe, white goods, railcars, and storage tanks to rebar, tires, and stumps. Its newly refined shears are said to offer 360-degree continuous rotation and high-performance cylinders. LaBounty manufactures 90 percent of its shear elements at its own plant, ensuring greater product quality and reliable inventory. Much of the company's machinery is computer-controlled, and most welds are semiautomated or automated.

The company claims that its products can save users up to 50 percent in labor and material handling time. "The mobile shear that we recommend for the average scrap plant replaces 10 to 15 torch cutters," Roy LaBounty says. "In smaller plants that also use the shear for material handling, one man can do most of the work in the whole yard."

Most of LaBounty's noncustomized products can be delivered within three weeks, and the company maintains 16,000 square feet worth of spare parts for its equipment.

Opportunities, Not Problems

Every industry changes and evolves, and the needs of no two customers are the same. Custom products are one of LaBounty's specialties. Several years ago, for example, the company custom-made what it says is the world's largest mobile shear for a customer to use in steel plant demolition.

The company pays constant attention to customers' problems and needs, seeing them not as problems but as opportunities to improve its products, Ken LaBounty says. "Our products are constantly and continually under our own scrutiny, and also under our customers' scrutiny. We listen to the customer and ask, 'Is there something we can do to enhance the value of the product?' "

Such innovation not only pleases customers but, in some cases, creates a whole new market for a product. New tools come out of solving customer problems. "There's no such thing as 'one tool fits all,'" Ken LaBounty says. "We aim to make something that is very innovative and that changes the way things used to be done, while also providing some real returns on a customer's investment."

To further help its customers, LaBounty added computer-aided design equipment to its engineering department several years ago. The company now has 15 computers, which have been a creative boon and a timesaver for the staff. Without computer assistance, "our staff would have to be three times what it is today to do what we’re doing," attests Ken LaBounty.

LaBounty's engineers also work closely with excavator companies to ensure the compatibility of LaBounty attachments with today's equipment. They spend approximately eight hours per project communicating with excavator representatives, exchanging information. "We have to work very hard and consistently to keep that communication line open with the original equipment manufacturer," Ken LaBounty says. Though the company's attachments are designed to fit all standard excavators, it also customizes pivots to fit special machinery.

Employee Satisfaction Means Quality Products

In a very real sense, a company can only be as good as its employees, or as Ken LaBounty says, "Good employees make a real difference." LaBounty prides itself on keeping in close touch with its workers. "We have an open-door policy that any employee can come here and talk to Ken or me," Roy LaBounty says.

The LaBountys also meet regularly with employee representatives. "We have a meeting once a month where everybody brings their ideas and concerns and needs, " Ken LaBounty says. "We try to ensure that we have a good communication process. " To motivate employees and instill pride in their work and the company, signs are posted throughout the plant that say:

"Quality People, Quality Products";

"Proven Attachments Made by Proven People";

“The Best People. The Best Products"; and

"You Make a Difference."

Several years ago the company decided against moving its operations to South Dakota, even though the move promised to increase its gross profit margin by 50 percent. LaBounty didn't want to uproot its employees or abandon its roots in Minnesota.

Satisfied employees are essential to maintaining what the company calls its "total quality commitment." A sign in the plant reminds workers, "Quality Begins With You." But quality also depends on committed management. "Everybody is responsible for a quality product," says Ken LaBounty. "It starts from the top down and the bottom up. We set standards, and the people who build the products maintain those standards." Roy LaBounty himself makes at least two quality checks a day on the company's products and workers.

A Committed Future

Beyond the company's commitment to quality, its employees, and its customers, it strives to help recyclers protect the environment. "Our customer is also the environment we're serving and protecting," says Ken LaBounty. "We're supporting recycling and providing products to meet its needs.”

"Our goal," Roy LaBounty concludes, "is to help the customer ensure a clean environment for tomorrow."

When Roy LaBounty looks into his company's future, he sees continued growth and expansion, more product innovation, and new product opportunities in the burgeoning recycling industry. The company has also been stepping up the servicing and rebuilding of its old equipment.

The senior LaBounty ensures the success of his company's future by remembering its roots. He says, "The success of the company is based on the innovative patents we own, our follow-up with our customers, and our desire to serve the customer as we like to be served as a user."  •

  With no formal engineering know-how, Roy LaBounty created attachment equipment that has helped revolutionize how scrap recyclers and contractors salvage materials. However, his international company--LaBounty Manufacturing Inc.--is one business that has not forgotten its hometown roots.

   Roy LaBounty, founder and president of LaBounty Manufacturing Inc. (Two Harbors, Minn.), did not set out to be an inventor or manufacturer of industrial equipment. In fact, he worked as a construction contractor for more than 20 years.

Yet in the early 1970s, with no engineering background, he developed a grapple attachment for his hydraulic excavator to help him clear land, demolish buildings, and move heavy materials. Other contractors became interested and asked if LaBounty would build them one. The increasing requests, coupled with a softening building market, prompted LaBounty to leave construction in 1972 and launch his second career as a manufacturer of the "contractor's grapple."

"Just to give it to the public was fun,” LaBounty says. "Every customer we sold it to came back and told us how good it was for them. We had good rapport with a lot of people, and that was the enjoyment of it."

For 18 years now, LaBounty and his innovations have helped revolutionize material handling and processing. His company is world-known for its grapples, mobile shears, and concrete pulverizers, which are designed to solve the problems of scrap processors, demolition contractors, road and bridge construction companies, and solid and hazardous waste handlers.

International Scope, Local Focus

LaBounty Manufacturing Inc. is a humble giant, an international enterprise firmly rooted in the hometown soil of its founder and employees. The company is the largest employer in both its home base of Two Harbors (population 4,092) and the surrounding Lake County (13,000 residents). LaBounty boasts 280 workers in its U.S. operations and another 250 in its overseas branches. Its staff size grew 100 percent between 1988 and 1989.

Such astounding employee growth was necessary because of the company's 70-percent annual growth between 1973 and 1989. In 1972, two employees working full time could produce one grapple per week. Now, the plant, which occupies 30 acres and runs 24 hours a day, five days a week, turns out more than 50 grapples, mobile shears, and related products per month. Company Vice President Ken LaBounty, Roy's son, says, "This growth has been so tremendous and so fast that it's hard to get systems in place and get people trained to keep up." The company predicts a continued annual growth rate of 40 percent in the coming years.

Internationally, LaBounty has a manufacturing branch in Australia, with licensees and sales representatives in Holland, the United Kingdom, South America, Africa, and the Far East. The company is also working with a distribution group called Interscrap, Moscow, which is marketing the company's products in the Soviet Union.

"Our boss is the whole recycling industry," Roy LaBounty says, noting that although his first product was designed for the construction/demolition industry, scrap processors account for 60 percent of LaBounty's business.

Products That Deliver

LaBounty's success is not accidental. The company has striven to offer "a good product with good service supported by good people," as Roy LaBounty says. Its attachments, made of high-tensile, high-alloy, abrasion-resistant steel, are known for their durability, versatility, longevity, and reliability, he says.

The company offers more than 40 grapple models to assist in scrap processing, demolition, rock and tire handling, land clearing, and solid waste handling. Its grapples offer a patented attachment-and-removal mechanism that reportedly enables changeovers in as little as 15 minutes.

LaBounty also pioneered a line of mobile shears to process everything from steel beams, pipe, white goods, railcars, and storage tanks to rebar, tires, and stumps. Its newly refined shears are said to offer 360-degree continuous rotation and high-performance cylinders. LaBounty manufactures 90 percent of its shear elements at its own plant, ensuring greater product quality and reliable inventory. Much of the company's machinery is computer-controlled, and most welds are semiautomated or automated.

The company claims that its products can save users up to 50 percent in labor and material handling time. "The mobile shear that we recommend for the average scrap plant replaces 10 to 15 torch cutters," Roy LaBounty says. "In smaller plants that also use the shear for material handling, one man can do most of the work in the whole yard."

Most of LaBounty's noncustomized products can be delivered within three weeks, and the company maintains 16,000 square feet worth of spare parts for its equipment.

Opportunities, Not Problems

Every industry changes and evolves, and the needs of no two customers are the same. Custom products are one of LaBounty's specialties. Several years ago, for example, the company custom-made what it says is the world's largest mobile shear for a customer to use in steel plant demolition.

The company pays constant attention to customers' problems and needs, seeing them not as problems but as opportunities to improve its products, Ken LaBounty says. "Our products are constantly and continually under our own scrutiny, and also under our customers' scrutiny. We listen to the customer and ask, 'Is there something we can do to enhance the value of the product?' "

Such innovation not only pleases customers but, in some cases, creates a whole new market for a product. New tools come out of solving customer problems. "There's no such thing as 'one tool fits all,'" Ken LaBounty says. "We aim to make something that is very innovative and that changes the way things used to be done, while also providing some real returns on a customer's investment."

To further help its customers, LaBounty added computer-aided design equipment to its engineering department several years ago. The company now has 15 computers, which have been a creative boon and a timesaver for the staff. Without computer assistance, "our staff would have to be three times what it is today to do what we’re doing," attests Ken LaBounty.

LaBounty's engineers also work closely with excavator companies to ensure the compatibility of LaBounty attachments with today's equipment. They spend approximately eight hours per project communicating with excavator representatives, exchanging information. "We have to work very hard and consistently to keep that communication line open with the original equipment manufacturer," Ken LaBounty says. Though the company's attachments are designed to fit all standard excavators, it also customizes pivots to fit special machinery.

Employee Satisfaction Means Quality Products

In a very real sense, a company can only be as good as its employees, or as Ken LaBounty says, "Good employees make a real difference." LaBounty prides itself on keeping in close touch with its workers. "We have an open-door policy that any employee can come here and talk to Ken or me," Roy LaBounty says.

The LaBountys also meet regularly with employee representatives. "We have a meeting once a month where everybody brings their ideas and concerns and needs, " Ken LaBounty says. "We try to ensure that we have a good communication process. " To motivate employees and instill pride in their work and the company, signs are posted throughout the plant that say:

"Quality People, Quality Products";

"Proven Attachments Made by Proven People";

“The Best People. The Best Products"; and

"You Make a Difference."

Several years ago the company decided against moving its operations to South Dakota, even though the move promised to increase its gross profit margin by 50 percent. LaBounty didn't want to uproot its employees or abandon its roots in Minnesota.

Satisfied employees are essential to maintaining what the company calls its "total quality commitment." A sign in the plant reminds workers, "Quality Begins With You." But quality also depends on committed management. "Everybody is responsible for a quality product," says Ken LaBounty. "It starts from the top down and the bottom up. We set standards, and the people who build the products maintain those standards." Roy LaBounty himself makes at least two quality checks a day on the company's products and workers.

A Committed Future

Beyond the company's commitment to quality, its employees, and its customers, it strives to help recyclers protect the environment. "Our customer is also the environment we're serving and protecting," says Ken LaBounty. "We're supporting recycling and providing products to meet its needs.”

"Our goal," Roy LaBounty concludes, "is to help the customer ensure a clean environment for tomorrow."

When Roy LaBounty looks into his company's future, he sees continued growth and expansion, more product innovation, and new product opportunities in the burgeoning recycling industry. The company has also been stepping up the servicing and rebuilding of its old equipment.

The senior LaBounty ensures the success of his company's future by remembering its roots. He says, "The success of the company is based on the innovative patents we own, our follow-up with our customers, and our desire to serve the customer as we like to be served as a user."  •