Poised for Future Growth

From its 40-acre campus in tiny Lake Lillian, Minnesota, Hanson Silo is expanding its reach in both agricultural and non-ag markets around the country. With a strategy that combines forward-thinking leadership with outstanding operations and aggressive marketing, the 108-year old, fourth-generation company is positioning itself for stability and future growth.

In an outstanding profile about the company in the latest issue of Enterprise Minnesota® magazine, writer Mary Lahr Schier shows how brothers Matt and Mike Hanson are building the company for future success. Since taking over as president in 2007, Matt Hanson has taken deliberate steps to enhance Hanson Silo’s strengths and create a leadership structure that allows it to thrive.

Matt takes a very deliberate approach to leadership. Even before being named president, he joined Enterprise Minnesota’s Peer Council in Monticello, seeking the insight and support that comes from meeting regularly with others facing the same challenges. “You need to find a mentor or a group of people who you can be open with…someone who understands your business,” he says.

Matt also realized he needed to shift his attention beyond daily operations. He hired an outside operations leader to run the company day-to-day so he can focus on identifying new markets and assessing industry trends to set a course for Hanson Silo’s future. He also tightened up the company’s finances by “being deliberate about making good decisions.”

On the marketing side, Mike, director of business development, says that as farms have become larger and more complicated, gaining access to decision makers is more difficult. The company relies on a robust customer relationship management system and far-reaching partnerships built on deep knowledge of the industry. Based on one sale, Hanson Silo can anticipate what the customer might need next. “Working with us is like hitting the easy button,” he says.

Hanson Silo continually adds to its product line, with the goal of diversifying as much as possible while remaining mostly focused on agriculture. The company hasn’t built a silo since 2018, but its foundational expertise in concrete has helped it develop a healthy and dynamic precast concrete business. It continues to sell to farmers while reaching a growing range of markets, including municipalities and commercial customers.

About two-thirds of Hanson Silo’s 85 employees work in the concrete area. The other third work in fabrication, welding, and painting, where its market reach really breaks the mold: customers have included the makers of large digital displays at pro sports venues and manlift cages for the Army Corps of Engineers.

As he’s focused on new opportunities for the company, Hanson has also reconsidered its heavy vertical integration. Doing it all isn’t always the financially sound choice. At one point the company owned a fleet of semi-trucks, but most of those have been sold off in favor of hiring independent drivers. “We’re not making money on trucks sitting here,” he says.  “Drivers are hard to get so we’re subbing it out to brokers.”

Hanson says the company is also avoiding big investments that could become a constraint, such as robots that might become less useful over time. It’s currently leasing a robotic welder to do a repetitive project, freeing up company welders for more complicated work. The robot will retire when that project is done and its services are no longer needed.

At the same time, Hanson is working to even out the seasonal cycles that naturally impact an agriculture-focused business. Most of the company’s work comes in the warmer months, but adding contract manufacturing, powder coating, and laser cutting helps extend the busy season into a bigger portion of the year.

As the Hansons continue to strengthen Hanson Silo for the future, there’s a potential fifth generation in sight. Matt’s son Sam is a 19-year old entrepreneurship major at South Dakota State University.

Read the full article about Hanson Silo here.

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