EBM Construction Inc. • 800-356-9782 • www.ebmconstruction.net EBM Manufacturing, Inc. • 877-370-4948 • http://www.GentleRoll.com
Many successful companies get their start by building upon an established foundation of knowledge and experience and turning it into a thriving and dynamic enterprise. That was certainly the case with EBM Manufacturing Co., a division of EBM Corporations, Inc. in Norfolk, NE, and a global leader in manufacturing custom screening technology and bulk handling equipment for the grain industry and others.
Best known for its Gentle RollTM screener and SidewinderTM belt drag conveyor, the company also provides custom steel fabrication for specific needs or unique situations. With approximately 15 employees on the division’s staff, EBM’s goal is to provide customers with high-quality, efficient equipment and products that are built to last without exception.
Since its inception 40 years ago, EBM has continued to grow its business across several segments that expand upon on the foundation laid by the Ellsworth family that continues to own and operate the company today.
“Before EBM, my grandfather worked for a supply business that supplied chains and components to different industrial equipment industries, anything from mining to steel milling,” recalls General Manager Andrew Ellsworth, who represents the third generation of Ellsworths managing EBM. “Because of his background in supply – and he’s worked with a lot of different organizations through the years with different products – he became pretty well versed in material handling storage for various industries, not just grain but also fertilizer and other bulk materials.”
Based on his knowledge and experience, Ellsworth’s grandfather, Clayton, opened shop under the name Easy Blend Manufacturing or EBM. Initially, he invented a fertilizer blender called the Easy Blend fertilizer mixer, which was designed for use with different hopper slopes, where material is pitched into the hopper and discharged into a leg to mix fertilizer.
By 1976, the company had secured financial partners that helped support the business, but with the farm crisis of the 1980s, EBM’s investors wanted out. So his grandfather took over the company entirely and moved its headquarters from Tilden to Norfolk, where it remains today.
Since then, EBM’s business has split into three main divisions: manufacturing, construction, and cranes.
On the manufacturing side of the business, Ellsworth says that his grandfather, Clayton, spent a great deal of time designing one of the company’s flagship products for the feed and grain industry called the Gentle Roll screener.
The Gentle Roll was designed to gently move the product through its non-vibrating system to separate by size. Ellsworth says the Gentle Roll is used for cleaning grain, feed pellets, wood pellets, pet food, salt, and soybeans. It also was built for other applications such as fertilizer, minerals, and ground rubber, just to name a few.
“The Gentle Roll is a drum cleaner that is modular, which makes it easy to increase capacity with an existing machine. We can do all kinds of different splits and separations based off what the customer wants in a product,” he explains.
Often installed in conjunction with the Gentle Roll screener is the Sidewinder belt drag conveyor. This conveyor utilizes a belt instead of a chain to reduce the amount of noise, vibration, required maintenance, and product damage. Features include top loading, full cleanout, ability to run horizontally in both directions at the same time, ability to convey more than one product at a time, multiple inlet and discharge options, and lift angles up to 40 degrees.
Today, EBM Manufacturing also fabricates custom products including platforms, embeds, receiving hoppers, spouts, U-trough conveyors, and a variety of other grain handling accessories.
As a family-owned and -operated business, Ellsworth’s father, Guy, came on as a full-time employee after graduating high school in 1981 and developed a passion for the construction side of the industry. Guy loved designing and building equipment, and although the company had taken on some construction work prior to 1981, he focused exclusively on this area of the business.
EBM Construction now offers everything from minor repairs to major remodels and new construction, including grain storage and handling facilities, feed mills, feedlot feeding and grain equipment, facility-related office/warehousing, seed cleaning and bagging, and feed and grain facilities development. The company’s construction projects span the central United States, from Texas to North Dakota and from Wyoming to Illinois.
“We really have built up the construction side of our business since the eighties,” explains Andrew. “Now, we do some projects with fertilizer, but mostly this is repair work. We troubleshoot material handling and do repair and maintenance on our customers’ equipment – but our bread and butter is building feed mills and grain elevators.”
Finally, Andrew notes that the company’s crane division has grown gradually along with EBM Construction, which increasingly has required the use of cranes for lifting in its construction projects. Ellsworth says that in the early 2000s, EBM purchased its first 70-ton crane and decided to spin off and give the new division its own name.
“Our crane division does mobile lifts for our construction company, and we also do them for other contractors and places in our surrounding areas of northeast Nebraska, as well as South Dakota and Iowa and as far out as western Nebraska,” he says.
One of the things that sets EBM Construction apart from others in the market, according to Ellsworth, is that the company doesn’t treat projects as one-off builds that bring in a paycheck. Rather, it seeks to build relationships with customers to determine what their plans for growth will be and help them realize that vision together.
“The best thing I can say about our construction company is that we partner with our customers to give them a value proposition, to create the best product while figuring out what their needs are.”
Then, he says, EBM asks the customer a key question: “Where do you see your business going in the future?
“Five years down the road, we want to help them figure out what they can do to get more capacity,” he explains. “What can we do to get more storage and so forth? It’s partnering with them on trying to design something that’s a good layout for what they need now but also has room for expansion for the future.”
Building relationships on longevity and a dedication to customer service is another way EBM has been able to differentiate itself from competitors in the market. “We don’t build for the short term: ‘See you later; have fun,’” he says. “We go back. There are customers that we’ve built a feed mill for 20 years ago, where we still do all their maintenance and repair work. Obviously, they must think that we’re doing something right, because they still call us back to help them out,” he notes.
When it comes to quality and warranties, Ellsworth says it all boils down to taking care of customers and doing what’s right – values that were instilled in him from his grandfather, Clayton, and father, Guy, over the years, and that he now imparts to his employees. “It’s doing the right thing, making it right, and going the extra miles for customers, because our customers are what keep us employed,” he says.
Of course the same care and concern extends to EBM’s employees as well. “The main thing is for my employees to be safe and work efficiently, but at the end of the day, also to come home, earn a profit, and make our customer happy. That’s our goal,” Ellsworth concludes.
Reprinted from GRAIN JOURNAL January/February 2017 Issue
