Company Profile
Bratney Companies

Reprinted from Grain Journal September/October 2016 Issue

With more than 50 years of experience providing state-of-the-art equipment, processes, and solutions, if there’s one thing Bratney Companies knows, it’s grain handling. Whether it’s wheat, rice, corn, or any other grain, the company strives to ensure that the quality and integrity of each kernel is preserved by integrating innovative and long-lasting solutions that stand up to the rigorous demands of cleaning, sorting, conveying, storage, and loadout.

What sets the Des Moines, IA-based company apart is that it not only supplies grain handling equipment but also designs and services it, as well, a one-stop shop of sorts.

“We sit today with about 130 to 140 employees whose roles revolve around our equipment and process technology sales, our design, and our installation services,’ says Dave Ewald, director of marketing and customer service. “That’s the basis of the whole company and has been from its beginning, to bring that total solution.

“I think those disciplines really do differentiate our company, because there are several people who will sell equipment. There are several companies that do design only, and then there are several companies that can install equipment, but not very many do all those things and have the understanding of flow and function to do them properly,” he observes.

In addition to its expertise and quality products, Ewald notes that Bratney also employs a complete service staff. That means after a plant has been built and is up and running, where most companies have moved on to the next project, Bratney maintains a group of employees who are at the beck and call of its customers to maintain, service, and provide upgrades for the equipment.

“I think all in all, that’s really what we can attribute our success,” says Ewald, who has been with the company since 1988. “It’s our capabilities, but I think really the overall attitude of how we look at customers and the value that we put on them is something that’s been driven into all of us. That was founder Ken Bratney’s philosophy 50-plus years ago. It’s third-generation Bratney right now, and that has followed through and through,” he adds.

Finding Solutions

Ken Bratney founded the company in 1964, when he and his wife took a chance by relocating from the Pacific Northwest to the fertile grounds of Iowa. With a background in engineering, Bratney represented a couple of key equipment lines and got his start traveling up and down the roads of Iowa, Missouri, and Minnesota, according to Ewald. “He found out real quick that there’s a lot of business to have in just selling the equipment, but also learned that there was more to it than just that. The next thing you need to know, is how to figure out how to get this thing designed into a facility and installed,” he says.

The more time Bratney spent at the drawing board, the less time he was out in front of people selling, so he hired a person to handle that role. But that opened up yet another dilemma. Once the equipment is designed in, it has to be installed. So Bratney soon hired a construction foreman and was able bring the total package to the customer, according to Ewald.

“So, that brought value to the customers in that they just needed to look to one source, and that’s what Ken did,” Ewald says. “That blossomed over time. Minnesota became a territory, Missouri, Illinois – one thing led to another, and we built a reputation and are covering a good part of the grain-growing regions of the country today.”

Value Through Technology

Delivering value to the customer is the basis for Bratney Companies’ reputation and is carried on today through the use of technology. The company’s cleaning and sorting equipment allows grain processors to clean to specifications that meet international standards in parts of the world that demand very high quality, Ewald says.

“We start with that end of it: what can we bring to this customer that is used in other industries, but traditionally is not being used in the grain industry? So we look at our ability to clean. We’ve got lines of equipment that clean and sort to very high standards. Then we combine that and build a house around this technology, if you will,” he notes.

Bratney has been able to introduce innovations to its c products that allow for high-capacity cleaning at 10,000 bph for the bigger, faster, higher-capacity grain facilities that are common today. With the advent of electronic color sorting, the company also is addressing problems with grain using visual systems. Those systems look at the external characteristics of a kernel. Bratney recently introduced its Bomill grain quality separator that actually looks inside the kernels of grain to find premium or high-protein kernels.

“It can analyze kernels of grain and categorize them by protein content,” Ewald says. “It’s got the ability to take out mycotoxins like DON (vomitoxin). Those are things that the grain industry struggles with sometimes, either how to make those separations, or how to take advantage of the premiums that are available by being able to do that. That again is one of the things we focus on. How can we bring more value beyond being able to do the everyday things so that our solution makes a difference to grain companies and allow them to compete in a much better way?”

Valuing Customers and Community

At the core of Bratney’s business model is a longstanding philosophy to take care of the customer, first and foremost. In fact, Ewald says, this is reviewed at the start of every meeting, because the company’s customers have a right to rely on it.

“They have the right to rely on our knowledge and our expertise. If we design it and sell it, it should work as it’s intended,” Ewald suggests. “They have the right to rely on us to stand behind our equipment. They have the right to rely on our quality and our capabilities and experience. So everything that we do should reflect that. If there are any issues, it’s our job to get those resolved with the customer without hassle.”

Ewald adds that the company strives to be safe and to treat people with respect, so that Bratney can earn their trust, which pays for itself in repeat business. “We really look at our customers not as transactions, but as people and companies who we hope will spread the good word and will be back to us time and again.”

Bratney Companies also believes in paying it forward by strengthening the communities it serves, which is driven by a strong culture of service and integrity. The company’s commitment to volunteering goes beyond just the checkbook and involves supporting non-profits with volunteer work, board service, and informal skills-based training. It also sponsors events and causes with financial resources to help people and communities thrive while also sharing its innovative thinking by sharing new research, content, and insights with the community.

Behind it all is a third-generation, family-oriented company that encourages people to better themselves. “It’s a family business. We encourage people to grow, to learn, to be better tomorrow than they are today,” Ewald says.

He says the company will remain a family operation into the foreseeable future, a fact that “speaks to the viability of an organization, when it’s properly managed, and its people are allowed to do what they do best. To survive 50 years in a market that can sometimes be up and down and all over, I think speaks volumes about who we are.”