Bane-Welker Equipment Celebrates 50 Years

The following is a release from Bane-Welker Equipment:

Bane-Welker Equipment, LLC is turning a half a century old this August. To mark the impressive occasion, the company is planning many events, sales and offers, as well as introducing a special 50th anniversary commemorative logo which customers will see beginning later this month.

“It is hard to believe we are turning 50 years old,” stated Phil Bane, CEO of Bane-Welker Equipment. “I can’t believe it was 50 years ago that my dad, Kenneth Bane, signed a contract that started this journey.”

Kenneth Bane started Bane Equipment in 1967 when he answered the local newspaper ad from a representative for the JI Case Co., which was looking for a dealer in Montgomery County. By August of 1967, Kenneth and wife Patricia Bane, had signed the Case contract and the family business was born along with a commitment to superior products and service.

“At that time, no one could have imagined that 50 years later, three generations of our family would still be going strong and growing the business like never before,” stated Bane. “Dad left us a legacy none of us could’ve imagined.”

Kenneth Bane passed away in 1999, but today, his widow Patricia, sons Phil and Jeff, and grandson Jason Bane continue the family business.

Bane Equipment became Bane-Welker Equipment in 2013 when Norm Welker brought his expertise to the table. He owned North Central Agri-power and merged with Bane to form Bane-Welker Equipment, LLC.

“I knew we would be able to offer our customers the very best if our two companies became one,” stated Welker. “It was a no-brainer and our customers have benefitted since.”

Through the years, the company has seen many changes, including great advances in technology. BWE has committed to being on the cutting edge of that new information to ensure the success of their customers. Bane-Welker Equipment also remains committed to superior products and service.

“We have been through the ups and downs of the economy with our customers; we have felt both happiness and pain with them, and have stayed true to a commitment to be here when they need us,” Bane said. “Our customers are like family to us. And if they don’t succeed, neither do we. We take great pride in the fact that we have been here so long and we look forward to another 50 years!”

Follow Bane-Welker on Facebook or Twitter to stay up to date with everything related to the 50th anniversary.

Bane-Welker Equipment is an agriculture equipment company representing Case IH and other complimentary brands. Bane-Welker offers new and used equipment, parts, sales, service, precision farming, online parts sales and customer support. The 50-year-old company operates 10 stores in Indiana including Crawfordsville, La Crosse, Lebanon, Remington, Terre Haute, Pendleton, Plymouth, Winamac, and Wingate, and three stores in Ohio, including Eaton, Wilmington and Georgetown.

Pace Dairy of Indiana: Maximizing Its Chamber Membership Through Employee Training

Sarver_ShirleyShirley Sarver keeps a special reminder of her experience at the 2015 Indiana Safety and Health Conference & Expo with her every day.

“There was a saying that I absolutely loved,” comments Sarver, a production lead at Pace Dairy of Indiana in Crawfordsville (an Indiana Chamber member since 1998). “I don’t have Internet access at work, so I had my (IT) person send it to me (via) email so I could keep it with me.

“It says, ‘When people understand you, you get their attention. When people trust you, you earn their loyalty. When people know you really care, you catch their hearts.’ ”

One of the presenters shared the quote during a session on leadership.

“The class was very, very informative,” she asserts. “Since I’m a lead, I loved how he talked about being in the leadership role.”

Twenty years ago, a desire to help people attracted Sarver to Pace Dairy, a cheese plant operated by Kroger. It has two locations: Crawfordsville and Rochester, Minnesota. Each site has approximately 280 employees.

“I go out on calls. If they’re (workers) having problems on a line, I help troubleshoot,” she explains. “If I can fix it, I fix it. If I can’t, I get ahold of maintenance and help out where needed.”

Sarver, who has attended several of the Chamber’s annual safety conferences, values gaining knowledge that she can apply directly to her job.

“I think it’s very beneficial for the team because it gives us new ideas on what we can bring back here to the plant,” she reflects. “I would highly recommend the expo. You get to be one-on-one (learning about different products and services) instead of looking in a book.”

Still Getting the Job Done at The Paper

As an old (that's as in former, not a comment on age) newspaper guy, I have a special place in my heart for print success stories. With the focus on social media, instantaneous news and the like, however, those successes are more difficult to come by in recent years.

Congratulations to The Paper of Montgomery County, preparing to start its 10th year of publication. It is one of two daily newspapers in Crawfordsville, remarkable in a world today in which few two-paper cities remain — much less communities of about 12,000 people.

Tim Timmons is publisher and CEO. I had a fascinating discussion with Tim just a couple of years into his paper's adventure. At the time he was promoting his book, Coaching Success, that made strong comparisons between the athletic and business worlds. Read Tim's guest column about the book in a 2005 BizVoice edition.

Timmons noted in a recent email that not many people gave his crew a chance nine years ago when it was starting from scratch. But since then, "we have grown, bought a weekly, another daily and our Paper of Montgomery County is still rolling off the press each day."

Tim Brewer, our standout VP of Membership, is a Crawfordsville native. Thanks, Tim, for sharing this update on our Chamber member and Indiana success story. And kudos to the team from The Paper of Montgomery County.

NUCOR Earns Unique Certification for Steel Company

Congressman Mike Pence and Indiana Labor Commissioner Lori Torres will be in Crawfordsville today to celebrate NUCOR Crawfordsville earning an OSHA-sponsored STAR classification. It’s the highest safety rating a company can achieve, and NUCOR would be the only steel company in Indiana to earn the designation.

NUCOR Crawfordsville, one of the largest employers in west central Indiana, has added one more “first” to its ever-growing list of accomplishments and  has  scheduled a celebration to acknowledge the 710 teammates who worked together  to reach  this milestone…

“Working safely  is Priority One at all NUCOR locations and achieving the highest rating for the VPP program is something that we all worked to accomplish and will continue,” said John J. Purdy, Safety/Medical Director for the Crawfordsville operation.  He added that Nucor Steel Indiana is also dual registered in two other Safety Management Systems, ANSI Z10 and OHSAS 18001.

“It was a rigorous process that took three years to complete and involved a comprehensive wall-to-wall inspection with a dozen OSHA Safety and Health experts who spent two weeks observing and evaluating our procedures and talking with teammates,” said Ron Dickerson, Vice President and General Manager. “With the addition of VPP Star to the two other designations, we take great pride in being the only steel mill in Indiana and the Midwest to reach this level of Excellence in Occupational Safety and Health,” he said and added that the Crawfordsville Division joins eight other NUCOR steelmaking operations across the country which have achieved VPP’s STAR designation.

This latest accomplishment adds to the list of “firsts” attributed to the Crawfordsville plant.  When it opened in 1989, it ushered in a new era of steelmaking as the first Mini-Mill in the world to make quality flat-rolled steel using the revolutionary technology of “thin” slab casting.

In 2002, the plant also introduced the world’s first Castrip® Micro Mill which produces Ultra-Thin Cast Steel. The process instantly transforms molten steel directly into steel sheets in just one remarkable step. Compared to a traditional steelmaking facility, the Castrip process consumes about 95 percent less energy and emits less than one-tenth the greenhouse gases.

“We couldn’t be prouder of our teammates who have embraced the Safety First culture and entrepreneurial environment at NUCOR and work with us to keep the Crawfordsville operation a safe, top-performing facility,” Dickerson added.

Coming Clean on Coal Energy

Ben Smith of Politico blogged today about Joe Biden’s remarks in Ohio regarding coal plants in America. That is, that there shouldn’t be any. This seems to back up what he said last year during the primaries, according to Smith’s blog:

"I don’t think there’s much of a role for clean coal in energy independence, but I do think there’s a significant role for clean coal in the bigger picture of climate change," (Biden said) last year. "Clean-coal technology is not the route to go in the United States, because we have other, cleaner alternatives," he said, but added that America should push for a "fundamental change in technology" to clean up China’s plants.

Meanwhile, as if on cue, the McCain campaign countered today by issuing a press release insisting their candidate will protect coal-based jobs in the U.S. via a new coalition:

The coalition will help spread the message about the importance of clean coal technology and the advantages of tapping the country’s vast coal reserves. As part of John McCain’s "all of the above" energy plan, the Lexington Project, clean coal will be a strong component of the drive to energy independence. In addition to providing domestic energy, the coal industry is a key part of the economy in several states.

This is topical for me as I was in Crawfordsville just last week interviewing the manager of Crawfordsville Electric Light & Power — the city’s public utility company — for an upcoming member spotlight in BizVoice. He stressed to me the importance of clean coal as a future energy source in Indiana. He explained that our best minds need to be working on this in the future for the good of both the state and the nation. It’s also worth noting that the Indiana Chamber has a longstanding position that clean coal needs to be part of the energy mix in our state.

Obviously, this is just one of many issues voters will base their support on this election season and just a minor point/counterpoint in the grander scheme of the 2008 electoral dance. However, it seems the two tickets have drastically different opinions on these matters — or at least different rhetoric.