On The Road: Exmark’s The Spot

Beatrice is also where a surprising number of commercial lawn mowers are made. F.D. Kees was founded here, and it went on to acquire Yazoo before being sold to Husqvarna in 1999 (see Husqvarna Acquires Yazoo/Kees Turf Business). In 1982, some Kees employees took their entrepreneurial ideas and penchant for building innovative machines and founded Exmark Manufacturing down the street. A few years later, Encore Manufacturing opened its doors even further down the street. Meanwhile, Goossen Industries, a manufacturer of vacuuming and turf maintenance equipment that was acquired by Toro in December 2000 (see Toro Purchases Goossen), also calls the same industrial park home.

Exmark employees work in three shifts, and the company tracks each part so it can relay user comments about a particular machine to the specific people who put it together.

While growth is obviously a goal for many companies, Rick Curlett, director of new market development for Exmark, noted that the company has endured a number of challenges associated with its expansion, particularly as it tries to satisfy production demands.

"We had instances last year where we just couldn’t keep up with orders," Curlett noted, pointing in particular to the spike in sales spurred by last fall’s rain in the Northeast. "Some times we just didn’t have machines to ship."

As a result, the company has expanded its facility a number of times over the last few years, taking the building up to 160,000 square feet and running three shifts a day. Production requirements have made the Beatrice facility a focused plant that produces primarily mid-mount products. In 2000, production of walk-behind mowers was moved to a plant in Evansville, Ind.

Exmark employs more than 70 welders, who provide some of the most critical work.

In fact, Exmark employs more than 75 welders, and Curlett points to this part of Exmark’s manufacturing process as a key reason for quality mowers. "Welding is a very labor-intensive process," he explained. "All mowers cut grass, so the deck is the key. Stamping decks would be much less expensive, but landscape contractors run into trees, curbs and buildings, so the deck needs to be strong enough to take that abuse. With a welded deck, we can reinforce it."

Some of the more than 300 welds that go into each Lazer deck can be seen on these decks as they await quality inspection.

"We have six different people who inspect the decks as they move through the rest of the manufacturing process, and if they find a weld in the wrong place then that deck is pulled out of the line," Allen described.

A series of mower components head off along the automated paint system.

The assembly line at Exmark is actually a series of 125-foot-long lines with approximately a dozen workstations where various parts are added to a mower as it progresses along. Every machine that reaches the end of the line is run to test the engine and transmission in addition to examining the cutting deck measured to be sure it is level. If the machines test out okay, the tires and wheels are removed in order to minimize the size of the freight that is shipped to a dealer or distributor.

But before any product is fabricated, welded, painted or assembled, it must be designed and engineered, which takes place in a surprisingly democratic process that Exmark employees are obviously proud of. "Any time we have a new idea, whether it be for a new product or a way to improve some process around here, we put together a planning group that includes at least one representative from all areas of the business," explained Curlett. "All of the decisions are made by consensus where each person has one vote."

An engineer is always included in these groups, and that person typically becomes the lead engineer for the project, as Mark Atterbury did for the grass collection system Exmark introduced last year.

One challenge these engineers face is the pressure to turn concepts into machines that are ready to ship to dealers within 12 months. "We have a corporate goal of going from the creation of an idea to the fulfillment of a product within one year," Curlett explained. "We have to do that because the market is moving so fast that we have to get the products developed and shipped or else the market will be going in an entirely different direction. The difficult part of doing this is getting enough test hours on the machines so that our products are right from the start."

Technology lends a hand to the engineering process, as Atterbury demonstrated by showing how software takes a two-dimensional CAD image of a mower with the collection system on the back and turns that image into a three-dimensional model image that can be rotated and examined. "The software lets us build the first prototype on the screen" he explained. "We can do mass analysis, examine any potential interference and make sure we have appropriate clearance before we ever build anything. And these model images are a lot easier to change on screen than if we’re dealing with steel."

From that point, construction begins on prototypes, and all of this work is done by hand while the planning group continues weekly meetings to gain input on marketing plans, design improvements, scheduled release dates and so on.

The first models of Exmark's new XP mower with a diesel-powered engine and a 72-inch deck came off the assembly line at the end of February.

Curlett noted that engineers remain involved with the product through its introduction, and feedback from users is shared with them as well as any other pertinent individuals, all the way down to the specific individual who applied the decals.

"A lot of other companies think they know what the market wants and that they can push product downstream," he related. "We think pulling the product through the market by listening to the market is more successful, and that’s why we have the track record we have for product performance."