Brian Olson decided in 1988 to dedicate his life to developing safer systems for implement hook-up. The American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers recently recognized the importance of his work.
This August, the farmer turned entrepreneur was honoured in Detroit, Michigan, for his outstanding contributions with the ASABE Evelyn Rosentreter Award for Exceptional Contributions to Safety in Agriculture.
Olson said that when he farmed in the 1980s, the onus for safety when hooking up to an implement was totally on the farmer. He knew there had to be a safer way as machinery became increasingly difficult to hook up. That’s why he became involved in ASABE and its various committees focused on safety.
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Allen Rider, past-president of New Holland, offered his opinion. “Power Pin was founded on the principle that there could be improvements in the methodology of connecting an implement to the tractor drawbar without the operator needing to leave the tractor seat,” he said.
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“Olson was often challenged on this suggestion by the larger companies, but through his passion and dedication he was able to consistently encourage other committee members to seek continuous improvement in the standards.”
Olson, holding 37 patents, is a small player relative to the main-line manufacturers. Although passionate about safety, he is known for always bringing a humble but well-informed farmer perspective to safety standards issues.
ASABE said Olson’s Drop Pin hammer-strap revolutionized the hitching of agricultural equipment and is now standard factory equipment on most large tractors. Well known for his leadership on safer hitching in agriculture, Olson continues to be an innovator, having introduced Hit N Hitch, a patented hitching system for on road applications.
SEMA in Las Vegas is the biggest show of its kind in the world with more than 140,000 industry-only attendees at the 2015 show. Power Pin’s new Hit N Hitch was among an elite group of products to receive a Global Media Award, chosen by an international panel of judges. The voting panel reviewed 2,000 new products that were featured at the show. Each journalist selected 10 products that would be of most interest to their publications’ readers and most likely to succeed commercially in their respective countries.
In 2014, Olson’s Hit N Hitch won the Best New Invention at what was then Western Canada Farm Progress Show, 26 years after he won the same award for Power Pin at the 1988 show. In October 2014, Princess Auto picked up the Hit n Hitch product line to be distributed through its 37 stores across Canada.
Power Pin is the world’s largest supplier of tractor implement drawbar hitching components, supplying 250,000 drawbar hitching components annually to the ag industry. Its head office in Fort Qu’Appelle, Sask.
