Berlon/Lowe sales department (L-R) Howie Krohn; Diane Salzman, director of sales; Cody Apfelbeck; and Kurt Kaeppel.
(CEG photo)
Berlon Industries, a manufacturer and distributor of a variety of attachments, is on a mission to provide high-quality attachments by partnering with dealers and retailers and gathering input from customers. The company, headquartered in Hustisford, Wis., offers buckets, augers, trenchers, grapples and other tools for skid steers, mini-skid steers, tractor loaders, compact utility tractors, wheel loaders and telehandlers.
History
Berlon began creating attachments for skid steers in 1995 by Lon Berndt. In 2012, Berlon was sold to Blackthorne Partners, the company's current managing director. In 2020, Randy Schickert, current president and CEO, purchased a stake in the company and joined the board of directors.
In January 2022, Berlon purchased Lowe Manufacturing of Viola, Wis., maker of attachments for fencing, construction, landscaping, rental, contracting, utility and agricultural applications. Lowe was founded in 1971. Richard and Mary Lowe ran the business for the past 42 years. Richard retired after the sale and Mary remained with the business until February 2023, to help with the transition.
"We set out a new course of growth and we've doubled the size of Berlon Industries in the last three years," said Schickert. "We have done well on the growth side. After the acquisition of Lowe, we doubled Berlon again. We are now four times the size we were just a little more than three years ago."
Post acquisition, all sales and marketing were combined into one team led by Diane Salzman, director of sales. Today, there are approximately 80 employees — 60 in the shops and 20 office and management staff — combined in both locations.
Product Lineup
Salzman has been with the company for 17 years. She has seen the company's product line evolve. She said walk-behind skid steers have become increasingly popular — and so have the attachments for these machines.
"Our array of products in that industry has been good for our growth strategy," she said.
Berlon has a product range that includes buckets, grapples, mini-products, pallet fork frames, bale spear carriages, log splitters, land planes, trailer movers and bale handlers.
"One of our unique products in the industry is our material long bucket," said Salzman. "It is used at quarries to clean underneath conveyors. We also make a material pusher that expands from 48 inches out to 96 inches long that is used to push that material out from under the pulley."
Berlon had these items on display at ConExpo-Con/AGG this past March and according to Salzman, people were very intrigued by it.
Lowe's product line-up includes auger drives, auger bits, trenchers and grapples.
"We offer our BP-Series planetary auger drives and the Classic Series chain auger drives, which Lowe built their business on and is a niche in the industry."
Snow Removal Tools
Berlon also manufactures snow removal equipment.
"Our fourth quarter, which is our largest in our corporation, includes the normal demand of our traditional products in both divisions, but when we add in the snow products, it puts us over the top," said Schickert.
In addition to the company's line of blades, pushers and salt spreaders, Berlon makes a unique tool to clear snow.
"The Snowgrr is a unique attachment that windrows 16 feet all into one area," said Schickert. "The main usage is in distribution centers. It is usually mounted to a skid steer and goes underneath the trailers that are backed up to the dock doors. The Snowgrr pulls all that snow out from underneath the nose of the trailers and put it into a nice windrow."
Mount System
Berlon and Lowe attachments are made for a variety of manufacturers' equipment and can be outfitted with either universal or custom mounts.
"There are so many mounts we can put on our product, including the old Gehl and New Holland machines that are not universal," said Salzman. "We can make all those old mounts and put them on any one of our attachments, which makes us unique in the industry."
Distribution
Berlon has approximately 1,600 distributors — construction, agricultural and rental dealers — throughout the United States, Europe and Canada. The company has added new dealers, new OEM customers and a cross-customer base through the Lowe acquisition.
"The acquisition of Lowe certainly allowed us to grow as a company," said Schickert. "We are actively looking at other avenues to allow us to continue to grow."
New Products
To keep growing, Berlon Industries continues to develop new products each year.
"We have recently introduced the new root rake grapple that is doing extremely well both on the mini- and full-sized skid steers," said Schickert. "We really have expanded our ability in the snow, especially with the mini-snow products such as snow pushers and snow blades. We've also developed a new bale spear carriage. So, some of our sales growth in doubling the size of Berlon has come from these new product introductions."
Production
Expanding capabilities of manufacturing operations also is an important part of the company's growth strategy. Automated saws, CNC break presses and robotic welding have been added to streamline production and increase capacity and productivity. Due to the increased demand, additional production shifts also have been added.
Plans for Future Growth
Berlon Industries is currently experiencing a high growth pattern, and all indications are for that pattern to continue.
"I believe we are going to continue to grow through our dealer network, rental market, OEM relationships, regional expansion, new products and through acquisitions," said Schickert. "This will lead to significant growth that we have planned here at Berlon. So, the future here looks very bright."
For more information, visit berlon.com. CEG
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