CRYSTAL CITY, Man. – Harvey Bergen had no idea four years ago what the future had in store for PhiBer Manufacturing Inc.
He and area farmer Phil Friesen formed the company in 1996 to manufacture farm equipment.
They saw an opportunity to fill niche markets that larger manufacturers were passing over.
What Bergen could not foresee at the time was how great the opportunity was. Nor could he predict how fast the company would grow.
He was in for a surprise.
PhiBer Manufacturing posted sales last year of more than $500,000. To keep pace with the growing enterprise, the owners are planning to build an additional 22,000 sq. feet of manufacturing and warehouse space.
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“I had never set goals this high,” said Bergen, who grew up on a farm in the area.
“You just take it one day at a time.”
PhiBer Manufacturing got its start in a former service station in Crystal City, population 450.
The company’s first project was to design and manufacture straw shredders for ginseng growers in Wisconsin.
Friesen, who grows and exports hay to Wisconsin, learned that ginseng producers there needed a straw shredder with a low profile capable of spreading straw evenly over ginseng plants.
It became a springboard for the company’s expansion. PhiBer Manufacturing soon relocated from the service station to a former implement dealership on the outskirts of town.
The company now sells its equipment across Canada and the United States. It employs eight people and plans to hire more staff once the expansion is complete.
Innovation has become the company’s mantra, especially when it comes to hay harvesting equipment.
Friesen’s background in commercial hay production has offered much of the inspiration for the company’s product line.
By looking for ways to make his own hay harvest more efficient and economical, Friesen conjures up ideas for equipment that other producers can also use.
Bergen’s challenge is to take Friesen’s ideas and create designs for new implements. It can be a painstaking process of designing, testing and modifying. It can take three years from the time an idea is conceived to when the implement is ready for sale.
“What’s exciting is not always making something different,” said Bergen, “but making something that someone needs.”
Among the company’s products is a swath turner, an implement that won PhiBer Manufacturing an award of achievement at the 1998 Western Canada Farm Progress Show.
The implement fluffs the swath and lays it on dry stubble, allowing the hay to dry faster.
Swath turners are available in single or double models. Both can be used to combine two swaths into one.
Another PhiBer implement, the bale grab, mounts on a front end loader. Powered by hydraulics, it can pick up as many as three large or four medium square bales.
The company developed what it calls the bale accumulator to complement the bale grab. The accumulator is designed for medium square bales. Hitched behind the baler, it collects three bales and then automatically deposits them together in the field.
“We’re trying to manufacture equipment that allows producers to get their hay up quicker and in better condition,” said Rick Lussier, the company’s technical sales representative.
PhiBer’s business savvy recently earned it two thumbs up from investors.
The province approved a Grow Bond issue that went public in late August. Secured by the Manitoba government, Grow Bond is designed to attract investment in rural enterprises that will create employment.
The Grow Bond issue for PhiBer Manufacturing sold out in less than a month. It raised $400,000, which will help build the new manufacturing and warehouse space. Site preparation is under way.
Many of the Grow Bonds investors are from the Crystal City area.
“It’s a tremendous feeling it sold out so fast,” Lussier said.
“It gives us a real sense the community is behind us.”
