Vermeer Corporation is a manufacturer of industrial and agricultural equipment. The

privately held company A privately held company (or simply a private company) is a company whose shares and related rights or obligations are not offered for public subscription or publicly negotiated in the respective listed markets, but rather the company's stock is ...

distributes products globally from seven production facilities and offices in

Pella, Iowa Pella is a city in Marion County, Iowa, Marion County, Iowa, United States, with a population of 10,464 at the time of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 U.S. Census. Founded by immigrants from the Netherlands, it is forty miles southeast of Des ...

, United States and multiple locations worldwide. Founded in 1948 by Gary Vermeer, as Vermeer Manufacturing Company, the company is in its third generation of family management under President and CEO Jason Andringa as well as other members of the third generation. Vermeer serves the construction, landscaping, environmental, excavation, and forage markets domestically and internationally from locations in the Netherlands, Germany, Mainland China, Singapore, Hong Kong(China), Canada, and Brazil, as well as various wholly and partially owned subsidiaries in the United States. Its products are sold and supported by independent dealers in over 60 countries.

History

In central

Iowa Iowa () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wisconsin to the northeast, Illinois to th ...

in 1943, Gary Vermeer created a mechanical hoist to ease the process of unloading his grain wagon during harvest. Farm neighbors observed his wagon hoist in operation and asked for ones of their own. At his request, a local machine shop fabricated a number of these hoists to meet the demand. Today, Vermeer holds several product and design patents within its line of utility and track trenchers,

directional boring Directional boring, also referred to as horizontal directional drilling (HDD), is a minimal impact trenchless method of installing underground utilities such as pipe, conduit, or cables in a relatively shallow arc or radius along a prescribed unde ...

systems, tub grinders, tree equipment, excavation machines, and hay-harvesting products. The company markets 100 agricultural and industrial products worldwide, and operates of plant space for manufacturing. On July 19, 2018 the Vermeer campus was hit by a tornado causing significant damage to two plant buildings and minor damage to other buildings

Milestones

*Portable ''Pow-R Drive'', a self-propelled irrigation system, hay conditioner and cutter are introduced in the 1950s. *Vermeer invents the first machine to dig, transport and replace large trees in the 1960s. *The first larger round hay baler was invented by Gary Vermeer in 1971. Allis Chalmers first introduced the small round rotobaler in 1947. *Vermeer begins building large trenchers to lay underground pipelines in the 1980s. *The first Vermeer horizontal directional drill is introduced in the 1990s. *The prototype of the first self-propelled hay baler is demonstrated in 2017.

References

External links

Vermeer website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Vermeer Corporation Agriculture companies of the United States Companies based in Iowa Manufacturing companies established in 1948 Marion County, Iowa Pella, Iowa 1948 establishments in Iowa