MARION, IA (CBS2/FOX28) - You know you have made it in business when
customers refer to your products by your company's name. And the quality
products featured in this story also help brand the
city where they are Created in the Corridor.
When
people describe a Marion Mixers mixer, or a mixer in the industry,"
says CEO Lee Eilers, "typically and many times theyre referred to as a
Marion. Yeah, we have a Marion, or Its a Marion. We like that.
Those
"Marions" can be found in the plastics, minerals, biomass, chemical and
food industries all over the world. Boasts Eilers, Were on six
continents, were in 70 different countries. And for good reason. We
have some really, really talented fabricators here, says Marion Mixers
Foreman, Brett Gordon. There's no assembly line in Gordon's shop. Each
Marion Mixer is built by hand, from the casings to the agitators. One
mixer, one fabricator.
That's the way it's been done for nearly
eighty years after Vance Coleman founded what was then Rapids Machinery
Company in Cedar Rapids. He moved the company to Marion when he bought
the assets of Handy Sack Baler Company. Eventually, Marion Mixers became
widely used for animal feeds and today, they're the only mixers in the
food industry that matter. The regulations are really becoming tight
around sanitation so with us being 3A Certified and being the only one,
were going to hammer that home in 2015 and beyond, exclaims Eilers.
Vice
President of Sales, Ryan Murphy, has a number of high profile clients.
We do business with General Mills, McCormick Spice, some of the top
coffee companies in the United States. Names like Keurig and Starbucks.
Basically, Murphy says, you can't go through a grocery store aisle and
not see at least one product that been through a Marion Mixer. The
company even manufactures the machines that mix chemicals for those
popular plastic detergent pods. Our team of engineers custom design
every mixer that goes out this door. Including the giant mixers that
produce 80% of the colored wood chips in America. Chances are, you've
seen landscaping mulch, it's gone through a Marion Mixer.
The
company has had several years of record growth and profit and Eilers
sees even more growth ahead. Weve been told were the best kept secret
in Marion. We dont want that to be the case from this point forward.
Marion
Mixers also cares about its workers and it shows in the company's
culture. The forty-four employees have a Blue Zones Certified workplace,
a wellness plan and two paid days off each year to volunteer for their
favorite charities.
You can learn more about Marion Mixers by clicking here
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