Rural Success Stories
Home | View all Success Stories

Instilling 'spirit of renewal' is focus of Allmand Brothers CEO

Roger Allmand says the last two or three years have been the most enjoyable of any he’s had in business – and Roger’s had more than a few.

As CEO of the Allmand Bros. manufacturing plant in Holdrege, Allmand has personally overseen the growth that makes his company one of the world’s leading suppliers of construction light stands and other heavy construction equipment.

Allmand Bros. today ships product throughout the U.S., Canada and Mexico as well as to 36 other countries throughout the world.

“Just this last week, we had our people in Puerto Rico, and we have people going soon to the U.K. and Germany,” Allmand said. “Our business has really grown in recent years, and the last three years were all sales records.”

But it’s not the sales records or the profits that are making Roger Allmand happy these days, it’s something he calls a “spirit of renewal.”

“I’ve been thinking a lot about the purpose of an organization like ours, as separate from its mission or vision statement. In some ways, the business itself is less important than the purpose; the business is just a platform for the purpose.”

Allmand sees the “purpose” of Allmand Bros., at least in part, as fulfilling the needs of its stakeholders, whom he defines as five distinct groups: customers, employees, owners, vendors and the community.

“Obviously, you have to put customers first, because without customers, the whole thing collapses,” Allmand said. “But the purpose of this company is to be a positive force in the lives and fortunes of all the stakeholders.”

“For instance, we don’t want our employees going home frustrated at the end of the day, kicking the dog. We want them to feel productive and proud of what they’ve accomplished,” Allmand said.

Allmand says they spend a lot of time trying to instill this “sense of purpose...or soul...or spirit of renewal” into the employee relationships. “We’re trying to get everyone to think like a marketing company,” he said.

“We talk a lot about how we have internal customers and external customers,” Allmand said. “The external customers are obvious, but we take it a step further to show that the people in fabricating have a ‘customer’ they have to satisfy in welding. If the products are late or off spec, they haven’t done a good job taking care of their customer. The same thing is true down the line – welding’s customer is painting; painting’s customer is assembly; assembly’s customer is shipping. Everybody has someone they need to satisfy.”

Whatever the technique, it seems to be working. Allmand estimated the total employees is up to 175 from 120 just five years ago and that demand is continuing to rise.

“We’ve had a long relationship with Caterpillar dealers,” Allmand said. “Now they’ve launched an enterprise called the Cat Rental Store that’s giving us an opportunity to work with them internationally. Our people are working with them in Latin American right now.”

Allmand said the company continues to improve their existing product lines, and is today getting into the emergency services market with light stands for fire and police operations, and into security, with light stands that also incorporate video cameras.

Recently honored by the Holdrege Area Chamber of Commerce with a Lifetime Achievement Award, Roger Allmand is enjoying a role that lets him see and impact the processes of his business.

“We have a president. We have a whole set of qualified managers. That means I have a whole lot more time to think about things these days and see if there isn’t a way to make them better.”

Who To Contact...

Allmand Bros., Inc.
Roger Allmand, CEO
1502 West 4th Ave.
Holdrege, NE 68949
(308) 995-4495
rallmand@allmand.com
www.allmand.com

This article is reprinted with permission from the Phelps County Business Journal, a publication of the Phelps County Development Corporation.

back to top | more Success Stories