As anyone who works in agriculture knows, the industry can be unpredictable, and adaptability is key.

The same holds true for businesses that support an agriculture customer base, which is why strategic evolution has allowed a northwest Iowa family business to thrive for multiple generations.

Robert Dethmers founded Demco Products in Boyden in 1964 as an agricultural equipment manufacturer.

“Until 1981, it was strictly short-line ag products, and when the ag economy crashed in the early ’80s/late ’70s, it was becoming more apparent it was a struggle to maintain,” executive vice president Kevin Ten Haken said.

The company then developed the Kar Kaddy tow dolly, used to tow a vehicle behind an RV. The move not only helped Demco survive the ag crisis but also developed an entirely new and diversified business line.

“It was a new innovation and a new marketplace,” Ten Haken said. “We had no exposure or experience in that, but it was a saving grace for the company. We stayed in the space today and subsequently had additional business segments propagate from it.”

Ten Haken began working at Demco while still in high school and went on to marry into the family business. His wife, Kim, was Dethmers’ granddaughter.

After graduating college, Ten Haken worked for 18 months at Citibank in Sioux Falls.

“An unwritten rule we have is for any family coming into the business, we want you to cut your teeth outside the family business,” Ten Haken said. “Ideally, we’d see a promotion outside the business before you come into the business as well.”

Kevin Ten Haken

He joined Demco full time in a purchasing role in 1986 but originally wasn’t part of the leadership team.

After multiple transitions, including purchasing back an ESOP that was created, the company now is majority owned by the third generation with the fourth taking some minority ownership as well: Kevin and Kim Ten Haken, who helps with special projects and office needs, and Kim’s brother and company president Bob Koerselman, and his wife, Laura, who recently began helping with leadership development.

Bob Koerselman

 “We’re now at the stage of bringing in generation four from an ownership standpoint,” Ten Haken said.

“My brother-in-law’s son JC is taking a leadership role and doing very well getting exposure to different areas of the company as managing director with emphasis in engineering. My middle son, Kendall, is involved in IT and is a network administrator. Both have gained experience working elsewhere. We’re just now having conversations about what our future ownership structure could look like.”

As the company has navigated life as a family business, Ten Haken has found value in connecting with the Prairie Family Business Association.

He’s part of an Affinity Peer Group and regularly meets with others who are involved in family businesses.

“It’s become a well-rounded group of friends,” he said.

“I’ve also found value in listening in on the webinars that are held often, and we’ve been to several of the annual conferences. The prior two years, some of our management team members have been at the annual conference just to get exposure to what considerations look like for a family business.”

Demco Products is a strong example for other family businesses, said Stephanie Larscheid, executive director of the Prairie Family Business Association.

“We increasingly are hearing from ag-related business and farm-based family businesses that see the value in connecting with others in their industry as well as outside of it, and Demco is such a great model for adapting and intentional planning,” she said.

“They’re continually looking for optimal ways to evolve their business, and we’re happy to support them as they move into the fourth generation.”

Diversified business includes hotel

Demco Products includes about 300,000 square feet of manufacturing space split between locations in Boyden and Spencer, Iowa.

While it still serves the agricultural and RV markets, the largest segment of business involves trailer components that bolt onto industrial or commercial trailers, marketed mostly to original equipment manufacturers. The company also does contract manufacturing for major names in the truck rental business.

On the ag side, Demco makes products such as grain carts, wagons, trailers, sprayers and fertilizer applicators.

“So we’re unique from a customer base – we sell to dealerships, we sell to distributors or OEMs, and we do contract manufacturing,” Ten Haken said. “Our business in the ag space is still significant, but for the last two or three years, the ag market in crop production has been pretty depressed, so being diversified has helped us mitigate some of that fluctuation.”

One of the company’s newest additions further underscores how it adapts to current conditions. Demco converted a legacy commercial printing building into The Depot and Heritage Center, a training facility for employees, distributors, dealers and customers and a way to showcase the company’s 60-year history.

“My brother-in-law had the idea that we should address how it can be really different to engage with customers today because the value of trade shows diminished over time with the internet,” Ten Haken said. “How about we create a platform, a space, to have them come to Demco? We can show the Heritage Center, do a plant tour, do sales training.”

So they built 12 hotel rooms onto the perimeter of the building, added a full kitchen with capacity for catering and created a 24/7 location for team members and visitors.

“We can feed and house you, it’s a one-stop shop, and it’s been received very well,” Ten Haken said. “A lot of our customers have come for training, and our employees use it for leadership development. Remote employees have stayed here, so that’s been very valuable as well.”

The company increasingly is focused internally on supporting its emerging talent. Co-owner Laura Koerselman is a former teacher who now is working with HR on an internal program for emerging leaders.

“It’s about a six-month program journey for about a dozen individuals, and the purpose is to build them up – not to guarantee a leadership role, but to ensure they have the acumen when something is available,” Ten Haken said.

It’s approaches like that which help ensure a business sustains, Larscheid said.

“There are a lot of themes here – looking for ways to meet your marketplace where it’s at, investing in your own and helping others see the value of being part of a family business,” she said. “That’s why businesses like Demco are positioned to endure despite changing markets and generational transitions.”

To learn more about positioning your family business for multigenerational success, connect with the Prairie Family Business Association at fambus.org.