The Genesis of Attachments

Building a company from scratch isn’t easy, but Genesis Equipment & Manufacturing Inc. has shown that putting the customer first can make for a quick ascent to the top.

By Kristina Rundquist

Kristina Rundquist is an associate editor of Scrap.

It was in the 13th century that Alfonso the Wise proclaimed that had he been present at creation, he would have provided some useful hints.

Some 700 years later, four men in Superior, Wis., have taken that concept to heart, at least when it comes to improving on the creation of hydraulic attachments for the scrap and demolition industries. They’ve made the concepts of making a new beginning and improving on existing products through customer input the cornerstones—and part of the name—of their young company: Genesis Equipment & Manufacturing Inc.

Up-and-running for about a year, the company already has twice the production volume its founders had hoped for at this point. Such rapid success—which Genesis’s principals attribute to their customer-driven corporate philosophy—did not come out of the blue. Nor did the company’s solid customer base, as well as its impressive reputation in the industry for producing quality products, just happen.

Instead, the founding partners—Kevin Bakke, CEO; Ken LaBounty, president; Curt Frahm, corporate vice president; and Bruce Bacon, secretary/treasurer—launched the company with a combined total of nearly 60 years in the hydraulic attachment business, plus a realization that success lies not just in knowing the business, but in recognizing and meeting—and, if at all possible, anticipating—customer needs.

In the Beginning...

When Genesis’s principals put their heads together to plan their new business, each brought to the table years of scrap industry experience and a commitment to form a company that would answer to the customer first, an approach that none saw being addressed in the market.

There was never any question that they would stick with what they knew best: the production of hydraulic attachments. Not only was that their forte, but it was also a market-driven decision. “In the scrap industry,” Bakke explains, “there’s a continued evolution toward hydraulic excavators, and as the cable cranes disappear, the hydraulic versions are being marketed as the tool carrier. So with that being the demand, it made sense to go where the machine goes.”

Given all of their collective experience in the attachment business, the partners knew what kind of company they wanted to create. “We saw an opportunity in the marketplace to live the American dream by doing things a little bit differently, something for the customer, something that’s second to none,” Bakke says. “We’re a company that’s truly getting back to the basics. We’re very customer-oriented, and whereas there’s a trend that the industry is increasingly being served by large companies, we’re small and intentionally so. We take a rifle rather than a shotgun approach to customer service.”

As evidence of the firm’s customer-specific, rifle approach, Bakke notes, “every attachment we build here is built for the customer—they drive our future. We’re working diligently, talking to customers to find out exactly what it is they need.”

And in talking with scrap processors, the Genesis team heard that they wanted more from their attachments—more power, faster cycle times, less maintenance, and less downtime (the bane of all scrap recyclers). And so, after working 60- and 80-hour weeks, the Genesis partners designed, built, and tested a prototype, the Magnum 700—a shear that generates 1,200 tons of cutting force yet only requires a 65,000-pound excavator, the firm says.

Such was the genesis of Genesis.

Starting From the Factory Floor

When Genesis began production on Labor Day 1997, it was still in its fledgling stage. It didn’t even have a permanent home. While construction was being completed on its new plant, the company’s manufacturing sites and offices were scattered across Duluth and Superior—a situation that could have been the death knell for many a startup firm.

On the contrary, says LaBounty: “Remember you’re talking about people with direct experience in taking care of customer needs. Through the whole experience we learned a lot about teamwork, so when we moved into our new plant in March everything was already in place.”

The place Genesis calls home is a 21,600-square-foot, state-of-the-art building on 8 acres of property on Lake Superior. The two-story facility is divided into three main areas, with management offices upstairs and machining and fabrication areas below.

Genesis is the first company to set up shop in the Connor’s Point Industrial Park, thanks in part to the commitment of the town of Superior. “Wisconsin is very pro-business, from the governor’s office on down to the local level,” Bakke says. “We had a fast-track project, and the town was extremely responsive and supportive.” Just how fast-track was the Genesis plant? As LaBounty explains: “A project of this magnitude would usually have taken three years to go through the system. We were in business after nine months.”

With a view of Lake Superior, the Genesis team knew from the start that they’d have to go a step further in meeting environmental standards. “We’re 100 feet away from the world’s largest freshwater lake,” says CFO Bob Clarin, who joined the firm in March. “We’re very conscious of that and because of this we know we’ll be under extra scrutiny from state and federal authorities.” To make sure the firm would be up-to-snuff, Genesis invested heavily in the latest air-exchange system and made sure that no drains or plumbing were on the factory floor.

Literally starting anew from the factory floor up has allowed Genesis’s partners to design the facility of their dreams. But the partners envisioned more than a scenic view and brand-new plant. Their philosophy from the start has been to be open to suggestions, be it from their customers, each other, or any of their nearly 40 employees, who were hired only after a rigorous, lengthy interview process.

“We decided we’d hire the best people available and pay wages commensurate with their skills,” says Bacon. “We’ll pay a lot to get the best, and that has helped avoid a lot of difficulties down the line.” Not surprising, then, he notes that some of the best ideas for product improvement have come from customers and vendors as well as the men and women on the shop floor.

Still, ultimately it’s the customer that provides the impetus for Genesis. “Our customers came up with the challenges, and then it was—and will continue to be—a team effort to provide them with the product,” says Bacon.

Making the High-Grade

Whether making a grapple, shear, or other attachment, each part manufactured by Genesis is done on a made-to-order basis. Long before an order has been placed, the firm’s research and development and engineering departments conduct a study examining product feasibility and a cost analysis. If a model receives the go-ahead, the engineers begin to design and fine-tune plans.

Currently, Genesis offers eight shear models providing from 808 to 1,411 tons of cutting force, and five grapple models with capacities ranging from 2 to 9 cubic yards.
   When it comes time to produce these attachments, plans for the selected model are downloaded from the engineers’ computers to the firm’s CNC burn table, where the various parts are cut out. Depending on the part, Genesis uses 1/4-inch to 6-inch custom alloy plate steel.

“Much of what we use is imported from Europe,” explains Clarin, “because what we need just isn’t produced in the United States yet.” Once the parts have been cut, they are “kitted”—that is, packaged together so that when an order is placed, the attachment is ready to move to welding—and then stored in inventory.

Each shear that passes through Genesis’s doors goes through seven major assemblies, from welding to stress relief, back to welding, then more stress relief and finally to machining. “The lower part goes through first,” Clarin explains, “then we take the mainframe of 5-inch steel, weld on a supporting structure, and send it through stress relief so the steel will hold its shape when it’s put under pressure. From there, it heads to the Viper CNC for machining of the pivot and blade pockets.”

Machining is done by a Collet boring machine that is used for horizontal boring, milling, and drilling. At this stage, the entire mainframe needs to be in the machine because the holes must be in perfect alignment—within 0.001 inch. Final assembly is done in the machine shop. It’s there that the upper and main bearing assembly groups are attached and the hydraulic system assembled.

To accomplish all of these tasks and keep up with production, Genesis runs its operations 19 hours a day, six days a week, and produces up to six shears and multiple grapples a month. “Depending on the market,” adds Clarin, “we have the capacity to produce more.”

Inspections are carried out at every stage of the process. Before leaving, each grapple or shear must pass a 60-step inspection. “Our product is continuously scrutinized from start to finish,” LaBounty notes. “Everyone has bought into the same program, so we’re all double-checking our work.”

While Genesis produces the majority of parts for its attachments, it does purchase some—such as shear blades and hydraulic components—from outside vendors. Such vendors have been carefully selected for the type and quality of products they offer, Bacon points out. “One does work for NASA and another for John Deere,” he says. 
Agreeing, Frahm adds that Genesis has taken great care in its choice of vendors “because our name is on the line and our reputation rides along with that company.”

Going the Extra Mile...Literally

As with any piece of heavy-duty equipment, no matter how much care goes into its production, problems can still arise down the line. So, every Genesis attachment is covered by a substantial warranty, the first of its kind, according to the partners. For grapples, it’s a two-year or 3,000-hour warranty, while shears offer 18 months for the structure and 12 months for the hydraulic components.

“I’m not afraid to say our products may have an occasional problem, but we feel the key is in how that problem is resolved,” Bacon says. “We try to offer a quicker response than anyone in the business. We know downtime and not just service is our scrap customers’ biggest concern.”

That’s one of the reasons Genesis has made sure that parts are compatible from one of its attachments to the next. Explains Bakke: “If a shear is broken, a customer can call Genesis and parts will be shipped immediately.”

But Genesis goes further than that in reducing customer downtime. It has and will go the extra mile—literally—to assist a customer.

Early on, the company received a complaint from a customer about one of its orbit motors. As Clarin tells the story, “our engineers figured out the problem and contacted our vendor to have them correct it and provide a replacement part. We then chartered a plane, picked up the vendor rep and technician, and flew to the customer to make the repair. When all was said and done, we had one very happy customer.”

This willingness to go the extra mile—or miles—has led Genesis into an unexpected niche business: refurbishing shear attachments. Initially, the company had decided to accept trade-ins. As it turned out, the supply of used shears was far greater than the firm imagined. So great, in fact, that Genesis has already set up shop at a temporary location to operate this new division while space is added at its headquarters facility.

“It’s because we’re so customer-driven that we’ll even help them with shears that aren’t ours,” says Bakke. “We offer a two-week turnaround for a complete refurbishing. We want to be the ones they can count on.”

Nothing But Blue Skies

The future for Genesis looks promising indeed. Already exceeding its production projections, the company fully expects to double that again in 1999 and to have added 40 employees to its payroll by 2000.

Genesis will no doubt need the extra help because even now plans are in the works for line expansions and several new releases that are guaranteed to “further illustrate to the scrap industry that we’re serious about what we’re doing,” says LaBounty.

The company recently released the DemoPro, a shear that can process concrete as well as steel with just a switch of the blade. In response to requests for quicker cycle times, this latest model is as much as 50 percent faster than competing concrete processors, Genesis claims, and offers a 14-foot reach. “It’s a veritable Swiss Army knife of shears and processors and can work in a variety of settings and applications,” Bakke boasts.

As with all of its shears, Genesis promises that its will have greater cutting force and require less maintenance because of the use of a proprietary abrasion-resistant steel. Though buyers may pay a little more up front for Genesis quality, its principals note, the reward is less downtime and greater cutting force.

“It’s never been our goal to be price leader,” Bacon says. “We build a quality product, one that’s value-added, and we charge appropriately. The customer won’t remember what they paid for a piece of equipment, but they will remember how good it is and the service they receive.”

The main issue for scrap processors is how much it costs to process material, Bacon asserts. “With our shears and grapples, they can do it for less because our shears make up to 30 percent more cuts a day than other mobile shears,” he says. “With less movement of material, less torching, and a smaller investment in excavators—because of the power-to-weight ratio of our attachments—you save money.”

Genesis fully intends to continue its young tradition of new-and-improved products with the upcoming release of several as-yet-to-be-announced attachments. Bacon actively encourages scrap processors to sit down with the Genesis principals and “see what we’re all about. We always value customer suggestions and comments as to what processing improvements they want to see. We’re at the point with these products that we truly desire customer input.”

So far, much of the input the Genesis partners have received has been in the form of compliments.

“Customers have greeted us with open arms because of the enhancements we’ve made,” Frahm says. Such praise is welcome news for this young, ambitious company that has far-reaching goals in its niche. As Bakke concludes, “we’re not here for home runs, we’re here for the long-haul.” •