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Hovering between the 25th and 50th milestone anniversaries is the very dignified 40th anniversary where celebrants are finally able to sit back, relax and perhaps enjoy retirement while reflecting on their many accomplishments.
But don’t mention that to the folks at Hustler Turf Equipment.
The Hesston, Kan.-based mower manufacturer may be turning 40 this year, but forget about offering up the traditional gift of rubies. Hustler’s corporate office and dealer network aren’t seeing red this year and the company’s bottom line is firmly in the black.
“Our 40th anniversary year has gone extremely well,” says Ken Raney, advertising manager for Hustler Turf Equipment. “We started out the year by developing a 40th anniversary logo, which we applied as a decal to all of the mowers we produced during the year. We also hosted a contest to give away a free Hustler FasTrak mower.”
Landscape contractor George Gumbert of Berlin, Pa., was the winner of the FasTrak contest, but Hustler certainly hasn’t had to make mower giveaways a part of their marketing campaign over the years. Interest in the company’s products has been strong since 1960 and is currently seeing impressive growth in its dealer network and number of units produced.
“Hustler’s been known for two things over the years,” Raney says. “One is innovation in the products we build and the other is our reputation for building very strong products. Over the last few years, we’ve been debuting as many as three or four new products a year and we’ve had a very positive response to that. The best way we can illustrate that is that five years ago we had 85 dealers and now we have 850 – the products are being very well-received.”
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With such dramatic growth, Raney notes that Hustler is presented with the challenge of finding enough space to house the company as production increases at the same rate. Earlier this year, the company opened a 40,000-square-foot facility to incorporate a state-of-the-art powder-coat paint system into its production line. Additionally, Raney says the company is looking at building a second facility of the same size to allow for more production space.
Because Hustler remains a privately-held company, financials and numbers of units sold are hard to come by. However, Raney notes that whereas mower production used to run about 1,000 to 1,200 units for the company annually, those numbers have jumped into the tens of thousands in recent years. Moreover, Raney reports that Hustler broke several company records this year in terms of sales and production.
“This year we had a new record for the number of units produced, the revenue for the year and revenue per month,” he says. “Generally speaking, April is usually our best month and this year April was our highest sales month ever recorded.”
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What’s made sales keep rising over the company’s last 40 years? Raney credits much of the company’s success to its ability to view mower operation from the user’s perspective. “One of our aims over the years is to sit back and ask ourselves, ‘What would make jobs easier for the guy who mows grass all day long?’” he says. “Several years ago we came out with the SuperZ that goes 15 mph because we knew speed was a top priority for those operators. Now we’re looking at another aspect besides speed as a possible production booster and we’ll be introducing a new product fairly soon to address that need.”
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While information about Hustler’s new product line remains hush-hush, previous innovations from the company insist that future introductions will be well-received. From 1964 when the company introduced the first true zero-turning-radius mower – the 36-inch Hustler – to 1970 when they premiered the first dual-hydrostatic drive system for lawnmowers, Hustler has continued to be an innovator in its field. New products available this spring include a 48-inch walk-behind mower with a deck that flips up and pivots to fit through a garden gate.
“We’ve got a lot of new ideas in store for the coming years and we have a hardworking staff that’s ready to make those new ideas become reality,” Raney says. “Our 40th anniversary year has definitely been a good one, but we’ve got a lot more work to do before our 50th anniversary rolls around.”