More than mowing

Celebrating Walker Mowers’ 150,000^th mower, the Walker Family Reunion brought together employees, dealers, distributors and suppliers at the company’s factory in Fort Collins, Colorado.

“To us, it’s the perfect name to reflect our family-style culture,” said Bob Walker, president. “It’s really a culture thing. Not many companies would be able to come together like this. We want to look people in the eye and say thank you for the opportunity we have to be in the manufacturing business.”

Focusing on the advantages of a small, family-owned operation, Bob said Walker Mowers wants to keep production all in one place in the U.S. “It’s human nature to want to be a part of something that’s more than just a profit system,” he said.

And the company doesn’t plan to sell or go public any time soon. Bob said Walker will continue to celebrate the fact that the Walker brand, with the Walker family behind it, is still here.

The company does its own product development and has no outside investors or bankers involved. It manufactures as much as possible within the U.S. and sells through independent distributors.

Walker mowers are front-mounted, which are more costly but has its benefits, Bob said. “We build machines to do jobs rather than to fill a market.”   

More than 2,300 had registered for the event by the time the gates opened on Friday, including 100 international guests from 9 countries. Twenty-five to 30 percent of sales are made internationally.

“People really do get excited about their mowers. It’s their livelihood,” Bob said. “They find their calling and the mower is a big part of that.”

Walker, which currently has 2 percent of the national annual mower sales, is hoping to increase that to 3 percent in the future. This year, the company topped out at 32 machines a day at its factory and it’s hoping to reach 10,000 machines in a year.

“We’re still on the move,” said Dean Walker, vice president of engineering, product development and manufacturing.

Walker is now transitioning to its third generation of leadership: Ted and Ryan Walker. Ted, director of engineering, and Ryan, director of business operations, say their roles have a breakdown of responsibilities similar to Bob and Dean’s.

“We work more closely together but that’s the nature of the business now,” Ryan said. “We’re lucky to have had their mentorship and to have them as role models.”

Data driven:

49 – independent distributors worldwide

16 – distributors in the U.S.

10 – years making mowers before Walker turned a profit on them

200 – total employees

30 – average number of machines made every day

6,500 – machines made this year

60 – acres of land at the facility, allowing for onsite testing

200,000 – square feet of factory space

1,200 – dealers worldwide

The Walker Mowers history

1954 – Max Walker decides to make the jump from farming to manufacturing golf cars.

1969 – The company goes bankrupt

1972 – Walker Manufacturing starts making cab coolers

1974 – The company moves to Colorado

1975 – Bob and Dean Walker join the company

1977 – Walker produces its first lawnmower

1982 – The company gets its first distributor

1984 – Walker sends its first export machine to Australia

1988 – Distributors are set up to cover the entire U.S.

1990 – Walker Mowers moves to its current location

1994 – The facility grows to its current size

2009 – The Recession hits and the company uses its savings to get through