Company Profile
Kahler Automation

Reprinted from Grain Journal January/February 2016 Issue

When the word “automation” comes to mind, many in the grain industry might think it’s a topic that’s most applicable to terminal elevators – large facilities with massive handling and storage capacities, with complex operations that may involve drying, cleaning, or blending grain.

However, in recent years, both smaller country elevators and terminal elevators have moved away from traditional operational designs and increasingly are adopting computers and automation equipment. The reasons for this are many, including improved safety and grain quality, increased productivity and reliability, and even increased profit margins.

Regardless of the size of the elevator, Fairmont, MN-based Kahler Automation can provide a solution for just about any automation need. Whether it’s a standalone controller or a plant-wide control system, Kahler can assist in planning, design, fabrication, and implementation of control systems large or small. With the right data collected and delivered to the appropriate locations in real time, accurate and timely business decisions can be made with greater ease.

As a supplier of supervisory control and data collection systems for industrial, institutional, and commercial applications, Kahler employs a team of engineers, panel fabricators, and support technicians that is able to design, implement, and support solutions to problems faced by the grain industry, such as production problems, capacity restrictions, quality problems, and more.

These qualities are what have enabled the more-than-65-year-old business to thrive and earn repeat customers year after year. The company primarily serves customers in the Midwest, with a spattering of international clients, of which large grain handling elevators represent roughly 5% of its business.

“Dedication to making something work right and the service following the sale is what we’re known for,” explains Garett Jagodzinske, in charge of grain and scale automation sales at Kahler. “We have 24/7 phone service, and we service all Kahler equipment. Repeat business remains a priority for us.”

Company History

Some of the products that Kahler services today date back to 1989, when brothers Wayne and Doug Kahler launched the company as a spinoff to their parents’ business, Kahler Electric, founded by Roy and Elvera Kahler in 1949.

“Wayne’s dad started an electrical business after World War II, and he and his brother, Doug, started working for him in the late ‘60s and ‘70s. In the late ‘70s, Wayne got more interested in automation and computers and started looking at a few jobs for people,” recalls Jagodzinske. “Since it’s a rural area, they took on some farm projects, but they also did some industrial automation. They developed a dryer control for the top dry bin dryers, which was one of the first things they did.”

What began as a small, three-man operation quickly expanded into liquid fertilizer blending, for example, which was all computer-controlled, according to Jagodzinske. The company continued growing throughout the ‘90s, as it developed automated controls for top dry bin dryers and basic grain handling controls.

The company built a new 21,000-square-foot manufacturing facility in 2006 to meet the demand for its product.

“By 2008, the agronomy side of the business had really taken off, as the price of grain was up,” says Jagodzinske. “So that took off, and the grain projects still are going to this day. We still automate a number of elevators every year.”

In 2013, Kahler added 15,000 square feet to its facilities to accommodate even more business expansion, and today, it employs more than 80 employees in one location and has been featured on the INC 5000 list three years in a row as one of the 5,000 fastest-growing companies in the country.

From this state-of-the-art facility, Kahler today provides a wide range of automation solutions in three main areas:

• Agricultural business automation systems.

• Grain dryer controls.

• Industrial automation services.

Agricultural Business Automation

Kahler’s current systems feature five levels of automation, from basic “mimic panel” control to on- or off-site monitoring, as well as automated control of entire sites, including grain, liquid and dry fertilizer, seed, etc.

Of particular interest to grain elevator managers, Kahler’s Streamline systems help manage loadout orders, receiving, accounts, drivers, inventory, and more from any computer or smart phone using a web browser. Facility managers are able to share information with accounting and agronomy applications, and Kahler’s terminal management integrates with a wide variety of third-party software packages eliminating the need for double-entry of order and receipt information. c The Streamline system is designed to be modular, so that as business grows the system can grow with it.

“It’s been about three years since we came out with our Streamline scale system using open RFID, which links directly to the elevator’s accounting system,” explains Jagodzinske. “Additionally, our system is network-based, so every piece of equipment in our system is IP-based. Technicians from here can link up through the internet and check almost anything on a system like that” he adds.

The company also offers grain flow control systems that utilize a wide variety of technologies to assist customers in the management of a grain handling system. A sample of technologies include RFID readers, cameras, outdoor printers, marquee displays, PLCs (programmable logic controllers), touchscreens, traffic lights, computers, and software integrated into one system for an entire site.

Additional agricultural business automation systems include:

• Liquid fertilizer and chemical plant automation systems, including 24/7 self-service systems.

• Mini-bulk container and shuttle filling and tracking systems.

• Tank level monitoring systems.

Industrial Automation Services

For customers in a variety of industries in addition to grain handling who want a comprehensive, out-of-the-box solution, Kahler provides a complete power and control solution, with all the technology installed, configured, programmed, and tested. The assembled control center arrives at a site ready to go. By simply supplying power to the container, wire motors, and monitoring devices, a customer is essentially ready to run the system.

With a Kahler automation center, a company can train operators at its factory in advance of a project’s completion Kahler has factory-trained technicians available for startup and maintenance, as well.

“Kahler is a company where I would say honesty, a positive attitude, and the desire to work hard for what you like would probably be the best attributes for someone to work here,” says Jagodzinske. “It’s a place where you get enough freedom to pursue the things that you like, and if you have an idea, you pursue it. A lot of the positions are filled in-house, and in the four years I’ve been here, we’ve almost doubled in size. And in most cases, to fill positions, someone shifted and moved up in-house. That works really well.”