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Diversity in the business world is often used in a positive context – companies with diverse revenue streams can better mitigate losses if demand for a certain service or product takes a hit. However, just because diversity can be a positive thing on paper, it doesn’t always mean it is in reality. Alan Hagie, president and third-generation leader of Hagie Manufacturing, says that when he stepped in to lead this family-owned company his first mission was to bring it back to its roots.

His grandfather began the agriculture equipment manufacturing company in 1947 and, over the years, Hagie began producing everything from snow removal equipment to small garbage trucks. The company gained experience with different industries, but Hagie felt long-term success required a focus on its strength. 

“When I got more involved in the company, I pushed to sell off those other companies,” Hagie explains. “I felt there was so much potential in the agriculture market worldwide. And when you add so many businesses over the years, you tend to water down your efforts surrounding resources. If we saw new potential in the agriculture market, it would be hard to quickly move when we had resources in other assets.”

Over the last 10 years, Hagie Manufacturing has strategically divested interest in other categories and reinvested the profits into agriculture. The company builds corn detassling and self-propelled spray and applicator machines used in the corn and other crop industries around the world. Hagie explains that focusing its efforts was beneficial to its operations and workforce. “It gave us the ability to rally the team around one purpose,” he says. “We are an ag company, and in our own way we are helping to feed the world.” 

Hagie Manufacturing now is focused on fine-tuning its in-house skills specific to its chosen industry. The company employs a full engineering department with structural, mechanical, electrical and hydraulic engineers. Its manufacturing department has managers for each process, and each member of the quality control team watches for overall quality, but also boasts individual engineering expertise such as electrical and structural. 

Hagie Manufacturing also does its own tooling. “We struggle as a company allowing anybody to do anything for us,” Hagie says. “If we need to solve a problem for a customer, we need to do it ourselves.” 

That do-it-yourself philosophy extends beyond the shop floor. Unlike many manufacturing firms, Hagie Manufacturing deals directly with nearly all of its Midwest customers, forgoing the traditional manufacturer-dealer relationship. Located in Clarion, Iowa, in the middle of America’s cornbelt, Hagie deals directly with farmers and farming contracting companies from Ohio to Colorado and from North Dakota to Oklahoma. 

Kansas is the only Midwest state where it works with a distribution dealer. For the other states, Hagie Manufacturing has a full-time sales force and technical support team to accommodate its customers. “We sell directly to the end-user, which is unique for our market,” Hagie says. “It has been one of our keys to success because it means we stay close to the customer. If there are problems with the machines, they know they can call us.” 

Hagie explains that having a direct relationship with its customers gives this small company a leading-edge in innovating new products. Hagie himself maintains his family’s tradition of farming, giving him a first-hand perspective on the challenges of corn farming. Combine that with the input of many customers who know they have the manufacturer’s ear, and it produces an environment that is constantly teeming with new ideas. 

The Trickle-Down Effect

Hagie Manufacturing has found its way back to solid footing while maintaining a geographically diverse customer base. Zeroing in on its original passion and developing a skilled workforce has helped this company remain a viable contender in its industry. However, its president explains that the single most important factor for Hagie Manufacturing’s current success was investing in employee happiness. It all began with a decade-old initiative called Hagie UpFront. 

“It’s an initiative that surrounds how we deal with the customers, employees and vendors,” Hagie explains. “It means we’ll be upfront, honest and have honest communication. As that evolved we developed Excellence UpFront, which was a similar initiative but enhanced to address our employees and how important they are to us, and we started that around four years ago.” 

Hagie says employee happiness was always near the top of the list of company priorities – maybe No. 2. But it needed to be No. 1. After reading “Delivering Happiness,” by Zappos’ CEO Tony Hsieh, Hagie realized that the company needed happy employees if it was to truly deliver on every customer promise. 

Several initiatives took form. Company culture rules such as acknowledging each other in the hallways seem small, but go a long way toward employee engagement. More formalized programs such as sit-down meetings between employees and managers means that every voice in the company has a chance to be heard. Hagie has 30 managers who each meet with three different employees each month. The company also hired an employee growth coach who advises employees on personal career goals and helps to maintain the company’s culture. 

“When we really started to focus on employee happiness, that did more to change this company than any other thing we’ve done in the past,” Hagie says. “From my perspective, it is the most important thing we could create to deliver on all those promises of customer satisfaction, support, quality and a great overall product. All that is delivered because we have happy employees.”