Founded in the late 1950s, Orthman Manufacturing is a family-owned business specializing in five divisions – Agricultural; Industrial; Energy; Logistics; and Conveying. The company is headquartered in Lexington, NE. and oversees the delivery of its wide array of products through its own logistics division.
Over time, the company’s conveying sector has evolved into one of its most prized assets. The division is comprised of Screw Conveyors, Bucket Elevators and Belt Conveyors for a wide variety of markets. The division provides custom conveying equipment for both multi-million dollar construction projects as well as parts for the distribution industry.
Orthman Manufacturing is changing the way conveying equipment is manufactured by implementing a strong company culture, continuous improvement and brand new initiatives.
Services
Orthman Conveying specializes in manufacturing customized equipment for specific projects. Through a broad selection of screw conveyors and components, the company provides bulk material handling and processing applications for foods, chemicals, power, light and heavy manufacturing, and agriculture.
The company’s vast experience allows them the capability to engineer bulk material and handling systems of any size and scope. Along with manufacturing components in compliance with CEMA standards, the company implements its own quality assurance program to ensure all products are made to their strict standards. Components are factory tested to the highest standards before shipment and the proof lies in their field-proven testimonies. Orthman’s number one goal is to produce conveyor equipment that stand the test of time.
Employees
Orthman is a hands-on, family-oriented business. The company believes employees come first and are the life-blood to their success.
“We believe if you’re going to grow a company you start with the employees first,” says Doug Hampton, Business Unit Manager. “Here at Orthman, we treat everyone fair and honest because that’s who we are.
Being located in Nebraska, the company is avidly involved in its community. In addition to donating money to local events and projects, the company works with local schools to promote education and develop new skills.
“We work with a lot of local universities and community colleges,” says Hampton. “We have intern programs that attract a lot of students from around the United States. At the end of our program, we have interns give a presentation to the entire company to showcase what they learned.”
Orthman believes training is vital to their success. The company prides itself as being a “hands-on business” and they work to ensure employees are constantly striving to improve efficiencies as well stay updated on safety precautions.
“Whether it’s on safety or product knowledge, we’re constantly training our employees to be better informed and up-to-date,” says Hampton. “We believe our training programs show our employees we care and that we want to make their life as smooth as possible.”
Continuous improvements
Orthman Conveying works to continuously improve in everything it does. The company has recently implemented a new lean process into its manufacturing line with hopes of becoming more efficient.
“We’re working to make sure employees stay within their work zones as much as possible and have the tools and products to be successful at the end of the day,” says Hampton. “We’re also looking at our products to see if we can make them more efficient with less time and parts.”
“It’s not just a temporary thing – it’s every day, 365 days a year.”
Cultivating and nurturing vendor relationships are a big part of what Orthman does best. With over 40 years in the industry, the company has found the perfect formula for quality relationships.
According to Hampton, the company treats its supply chain relationships as personal as possible. “We don’t try and find the lowest price. We base our relationships on delivery and honesty as well as years of service. We also do supplier audits and visit their facilities to make sure companies are following our guidelines. We’re not always adding suppliers but we’re making sure the ones we have are honest.”
As for the future, the company is currently engaged in building a new facility to streamline its manufacturing.
“We’re building a new 150,000-square-foot facility that will include lean manufacturing,” says Hampton. “The new facility should be down by this time next year.”
