Grainswest - Tech 2024

Tech 2024 Grains West 30 C oaldale’s Gen Manufacturing specializes in wearpoints and openers on ground engaging tools. Established by Henry Bergen and maintained by son David, the company has sold more than one million pieces since the early ’80s. The key to Gen’s success was the innovation of chromium carbide steel wearpoints at a time when all major players marketed air seeders without carbide tips on their chrome openers. The Bergens saw an opportunity. Henry, an engineer who would later receive the Order of Canada and Alberta Order of Excellence for his work, designed the entire Gen lineup. “A lot of people thought carbide wouldn’t be able to be bonded to chrome,” said David. “Henry found a way of doing that. The business took off from there.” Factory chrome openers often had a shelf life of about 5,000 acres. Gen-made openers lasted about five times as long. Business boomed. Once they saw the performance and longevity of Gen products, big players realized they couldn’t offer openers without carbide. As OEMs produced carbide tipped openers, they often struggled with plugging issues, especially in wet conditions. Gen was still two steps ahead. “We designed openers that didn’t plug and placed the fertilizer and seed better,” said David. Beyond that, farmers didn’t want to swap openers of various sizes to seed different crops. They wanted an all-in-one solution and Gen delivered. “We designed openers that could do all those jobs at one time, whereas some of these other openers that the OEMs offered would plug and cause all kinds of grief.” The two most popular products are the single- and double-shoot openers. It’s a natural progression that OEM machinery is changed and fine-tuned over time, and this process has helped Gen do the same. “We would see deficiencies over time in the new tools that came out and then our business would also develop that way,” said David. As orders poured in, the family made a decision others found to be a head scratcher. Instead of hiring a sales team and pursue expansion, they opted largely to fill phone orders and attend tradeshows. For years, Gen was wildly successful; the biggest fish in a poorly stocked pond. “We could have gotten a lot bigger by putting more salesmen on the road, but we didn’t want to make our business so large that we wouldn’t be able to concentrate on our families,” said David. An OEM smart enough to know it couldn’t compete against the Alberta short line tried to make Gen its sole supplier for openers and wearpoints, but negotiations didn’t last long. A dealbreaker was that the buyer intended to triple the price per unit on all products, a philosophical roadblock for the Bergens, who value affordability. To this day, Gen sells direct-to-farmer. Low overhead lets the family continue to retail products two to three times cheaper than any big player, solidifying a near-permanent competitive advantage. In the last decade, the game has changed substantially, though. Precision drills hit the market and C-shanks were mostly replaced with narrow shanks specifically designed for their openers. This means new openers and wearpoints for every major player’s machinery, a time consuming and costly venture to maintain interoperability. “It’s considerably more difficult and you have to have inventory for every individual drill instead of just one for all of them,” said David. While there are companies that create such inventory, Gen likely won’t. The company does market products for the latest machinery, but most of its components work on drills that are 10- and 20-plus years old. Plenty of these remain in operation across Canada. Bergen accepts the industry has shifted and is now more challenging. “As long as the farmer gets the main benefit in the end, it’s a good thing; that’s what I’m in favour of, and that’s our end goal.” He also makes it clear, though, that Gen is still here, and going strong. “We’re not done yet,” he said. Gen Manufacturing, Coaldale, AB Family first, business second and be successful? Believe it. Tristin (left) and David Bergen mind the Gen Manufacturing display at a recent trade show. The company markets parts for drills new and old. FEATURE