Manitoba Chamber of Commerce
Issue link: http://publications.winnipegfreepress.com/i/518232
24 mbiz | may 2015 p e m b i n a v a l l e y Westfield industries, now owned by ag growth international (agi) was one of the first manufacturers in rosenort, and it's still the largest. Photos courtesy of Ag Growth International (AGI) f arming has always required hard work and ingenuity, so it's no surprise that Manitoba's bread basket is also hotbed of innovation when it comes to farm equipment. Manitobans lead the way on a global scale, manufacturing innovative soil preparation and harvesting machinery, conveyors, storage containers and more. The small town of Rosenort, population 700, is a major manufacturing centre with clients throughout the world, and that's largely thanks to good old Mennonite ingenuity, says Chamber of Commerce chairman Shane Kroeker, who is also vice-president of Marketing for K-Tec Earthmovers Inc. One of the first businesses in Rosenort was a grain auger manufacturing company established in the early 1950s when a local entrepreneur improved the design of a commercially built auger that collapsed under loads. Inventor Abraham Plett rebuilt the undercarriage of the auger so that it would meet or exceed load requirements during operation. When the manufacturer refused to use his design innovations, Plett decided to open his own business and Westfield Industries was born in 1951. Plett's company was bought in 2000 by Ag Growth International (AGI), a large manufacturer and worldwide distributor of agricultural equipment, including a line of portable augers made in Rosenort by Westfield. Today, Westfield is the largest company in the southern Manitoba town, with more than 300 employees and 175,000 square feet of manufacturing space. Kroeker says K-Tec Earthmovers Inc. has a similar history. It was founded in 2000 by Ken Rempel, who grew up on a farm and owned a dirt-moving company. Rempel was not satisfied with the quality of the dirt scrapers on the market. They were prone to bogging down in Manitoba gumbo, creating stress fractures and resulting in too much downtime. So he designed and built the first K-Tec scraper, a durable, lightweight machine that went into full-scale production in 2004. giantS of induStry rosenort is big on manuFacturing By David Square