The History of CrustBuster/Speed King, Inc.
CrustBuster/Speed King, Inc. has over 40 years of manufacturing experience. The
company originated in the small community of Spearville, KS, located about 17
miles east of Dodge City, KS.
The company was founded by Michael Hornung in 1960 to manufacture farm
machinery. He had gained previous manufacturing ad business experience in an
organization he and another individual founded in 1954 to manufacture basketball
goals used in school gymnasiums across the country. With the knowledge and
experience he gained in his previous organization, at the age of 53 he founded
American Products, Inc.
The company immediately experienced good solid growth due to the phenomenal
acceptance of a product called the "Crust Buster", and later the company was
renamed to reflect the reputation and notoriety of this product. Due to the
trend toward the reduction in the number of farmers and the corresponding
increase in the size of the remaining farms, the agricultural market eagerly
accepted the tillage tools and grain drills with large field working widths,
which could fold hydraulically for each transport. This was the concept
CrustBuster used in building implements.
Throughout the 1960's, growth was solid and consistent. The 1970's demand
requirements - created by fence row to fence row farming and $5.00 per bushel
grain prices which, in turn, were brought on by the Russian wheat deal - fueled
an almost uncontrollable red hot demand for CrustBuster products. The battle cry
heard throughout the farm belt was that the American farmer must answer his
country's call to feed a hungry world.
The 1980's was ushered in by the energy crisis erupting in the Middle East. The
Federal Reserve Board, in a successful endeavor to control inflation, exploded
interest rates, causing farm commodity prices to drop below half of what they
were averaging in the 1970's. These factors forced several farmers into
bankruptcy, spawning a farm depression not seen since the 1930's.
CrustBuster's management was faced with readjusting and reorganizing its
business to reflect this decisive drop in sales and revenues. By the mid 1980's
many previously good farm machinery manufacturers were beginning to fail.
CrustBuster found its survival by purchasing the assets of other failing
agricultural corporations and combining these operations under one operating
umbrella of CrustBuster/Speed King, Inc.
At this time, the product lines of several other previously successful
businesses were incorporated into the CrustBuster/Speed King product line. Of
course, CrustBuster continued to manufacture its highly successful line of grain
drills, but with the acquisition of Speed King, a very successful manufacturer
of fertilizer blending and industrial equipment throughout the 1960's and 70's,
a whole new division of bulk material handling equipment was added to the
product line of CrustBuster/Speed King, Inc. in 1986.
In 1987, the famous Boll Buggy product line was purchased from a company based
out of Plainview, TX. This too proved to be a highly successful product line and
in later years, CrustBuster/Speed King went on to expand its cotton handling
product line adding both the module builder product line in 1991 and module
feeder product line in 1993 to its already successful line of Boll Buggies.
With the addition of the fertilizer blending equipment and the bulk materials
handling equipment brought on by the Speed King acquisition, it became a natural
evolution of the product line to introduce a whole new division of bulk seed
handling units to meet with the industry's growing demands for seed handling.
Thus, in early 2000, CrustBuster/Speed King, Inc. introduced a whole new product
line of seed tenders and bulk seed handling units to answer farmer's demands for
bulk seed handling.
To meet the challenges and manufacturing needs of these diverse product lines,
the company's two manufacturing facilities underwent several upgrades in
equipment and expansions to the manufacturing facility itself. The most recent
expansion was completed in 1994 when the three existing buildings at the
Spearville plant were all brought together to encompass a 60,000 square foot
facility. This expansion, along with the 90,000 square foot Dodge City facility,
proved to sufficiently meet the new demands of all the product lines
CrustBuster/Speed King now produces.
In addition to two large manufacturing facilities, CrustBuster/Speed King also
constantly strives to keep its manufacturing equipment and techniques as up to
date and cost effective as possible. CrustBuster/Speed King was one of the first
manufacturers in the state of Kansas to implement I.B.M.'s MAPICS DB
manufacturing software allowing the use of programs such as C.I.M. (Computer
Integrated Manufacturing) and inventory control and programs such as MRP
(Materials Requirements and Planning).
Donald Hornung, son of Michael Hornung, serves as the company's President and
CEO. Don has been with the company since 1965 and has served as President and
CEO since 1975. He continues on in his father's tradition and still holds to the
same values as his father, which are now expressed in a Mission Statement:
- The integrity of the company will be shown by its dealings with customers,
suppliers, and company personnel.
- The company and its employees are committed to quality enhancement of present
products and all new products through conscientious engineering and
manufacturing practices.
- By continuing these policies and practices, we will perpetuate a substantial
company for future generations.
Now, at the beginning of a new millennium, CrustBuster/Speed King, Inc.
continues to commit to the same values held by Michael Hornung over 40 years ago
while at the same time striving to be at the cutting edge of technology - be it
in customer relations, equipment, techniques, or engineering designs. Through
these commitments of constantly being aware of customers' concerns and through
the implementation of new technology as it becomes available, CrustBuster/Speed
King, Inc. hopes to become a major force in the ever-changing agriculture
industry in this millennium and beyond.