With two decades of experience under its belt, Bandit Industries, Inc. is celebrating its successes.
The company, which saw equipment sales of only $90,000 in its first six months of business, has grown to become a recognized name in the green industry.
This year marks Bandit’s 20th in the green industry. The company’s current product line includes hand-fed chippers, whole tree chippers and grinders.
It all started with Mike More, Sr. and Dave Forquer. The pair worked together at a Bandit competitor before branching off in 1983 to start their own line of hand-fed chippers. “We just thought we could do a little better job than [the competition],” Morey explains.
The ambitious pair started up their new business in a 6,000-square-foot building with no employees. They used a credit card to make their first materials purchase for the first Bandit machine. Later, the entrepreneurs got a loan from Isabella Bank & Trust in Mt. Pleasant, Mich.
Orders during the first few years were shaky. “We went through times with no orders and times with more orders than we could ever dream of filling,” Morey recalls. At one point, Bandit’s owners sat down to discuss whether it was even possible to make 20 machines a month. The twosome decided this feat was impossible. Looking back, Morey laughs. Today Bandit can produce 200 units each month and has produced more than 2,500 in a year.
“The first couple of years were really tough,” he admits. “During the first two years, I would have bet we would not make it.”
Bandit continued to grow, and in 1987 the company faced three key factors: a new equipment development and two new co-owners.
In terms of equipment development, the company designed the first hydraulic winch specifically for a hand-fed chipper. In the personnel side of things, Dennis Tracey and Jerry Morey entered the company as co-owners – also coming from a Bandit competitor. The new recruits took over sales and marketing responsibilities for the manufacturer.
“Our growth is a fairly remarkable accomplishment,” Jerry Morey notes. “I don’t think there’s a company in the industry that has had the kind of growth we’ve had. Essentially, as the demand for our product grew and when our capital allowed, we added on, hired more people and built more equipment.”
Since 1990, the company has added six manufacturing building to its complex, averaging roughly one expansion every two years.
So, what’s in store for Bandit in the near future?
“Our future is extremely bright because of the markets we are in,” describes Jerry Morey. “We’re dealing primarily with recycling of green waste and there will always be a need for equipment to deal with it. There are also great opportunities for us in foreign markets, and we’re putting forth great effort to expand into those markets.”
And, in fact, the manufacturer plans to release a new product line in 2004.
The author is Assistant Editor-Internet of Lawn & Landscape magazine and can be reached at aanderson@lawnandlandscape.com.