AriensCo was established in 1933 by Brillion, Wisconsin resident Henry Ariens. Since then, the company has been passed down, son to son, for four generations. Over the course of nearly 90 years, our company’s zip code, along with our CEOs’ last names have remained the same. That’s our commitment to local, family-run manufacturing, and we don’t plan on changing.
Dan Ariens, great-grandson of company founder Henry Ariens, joined the company in 1983 and became President and CEO in 1998.
Since that time, Dan’s leadership has been defined by a set of five Core Values and 15 Management Principles that clearly outline management expectations. His core values are simple and unwavering: Be Fair; Be Honest; Respect the Individual; Keep our Commitments; and Encourage Intellectual Curiosity.
Dan plays leadership roles in the Wisconsin business community, serving on several Boards of Directors for educational entities, for-profit companies and non-profit economic development groups in the state, including the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation (WEDC) Authority Board (Vice Chair), Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce (Chair) and the NEW North. He also holds a position on the Executive Committee of the Green Bay Packers’ Board of Directors.
Dan is also an active participant in industry issues, having served on the Outdoor Power Equipment Institute (OPEI) Board of Directors since 2000, including two terms as Board Chairman.
Next year marks your 40th year with family business and your 25th as President and CEO. There certainly has been many highlights and also many challenges. What has been your number one highlight of your 25 years as President and CEO?
Dan Ariens: I don’t have a number one; there’s no such thing. The whole journey has been fun, rewarding and challenging. Over the year’s, we’ve been focused on keeping the company family-owned, while growing into a contemporary, world-class business. And that’s only possible with our people and culture. You can’t do any of that without the culture being right. Employees need to believe in the culture, and we all trust each other.
There are still a number of very strong family-owned business in this industry such as Stihl, Kohler, Walker, JCB and of course Ariens. Certainly, all have had multiple suitors offering to pay premium prices that would not have been even thought possible 10-15 years ago. What drives you to keep the Ariens Company an Ariens family company?
In June you announced the plan for a $38 million manufacturing and warehouse facility in Fayetteville Tennessee. Why Fayetteville Tennessee?
We conducted many site reviews looking at existing buildings and considered building our own. We found an empty manufacturing facility in Fayetteville that met our needs allowing us to remodel vs. build. The local community is thrilled to bring this facility back to life with great jobs. When the prior business closed, it that forced many community members to drive out of the county and in some cases to another state. We’re thrilled to bring jobs back to Fayetteville and Tennessee.
Our team did a ton of research looking at logistics. How can we get products to our dealer partners as quickly and economically as possible? The Southeast is home to many of our dealer partners focused on commercial customers and this location brings us closer to them.
We also looked at local and government support/partnerships. The Tennessee economic options were right. Gov. Bill Lee and his team along with the Lincoln County team were very collaborative making it an easy decision. We’re looking forward to working with more people from the community.
Congratulations on the acquisition of Thomas Equipment. Will there be Gravely and or Ariens versions of the Thomas Loaders or will the company run independently?
COVID affected different industries in different ways. While some business struggled to survive (and many didn’t) others prospered, as did many in the power equipment industry. While sales of outdoor power equipment surged, there were other complications that emerged.
Please provide comments on the following:
Sales Successes 2020-2021 (Did supply meet demand, Sales of Ariens products deemed essential services.)
Supply Chain issues (Has the Ariens Lean manufacturing Principles helped or hindered?)
Most serious supply issues?
Worker recruitment (Government Wage Subsidies effects on recruitment, Special incentives offered by Ariens to attract workers.)
Another reason we are going to Tennessee is to tap into another pool of labor. It has become more and more difficult to fill positions here in Wisconsin. Tennessee’s economic development team and the Governor were collaborative and have been very helpful as we branch out there.
The Government wage subsidies didn’t help, and we weren’t able to get PPP funding. It was difficult competing for new employees when they were essentially being incented to stay home. The programs hurt our retention and recruiting efforts. We did come up with our own unique programs and incented employees with extra pay during the pandemic.
We made the decision to never shut down. We continued to run, to support our people and keep them employed, to keep the supply chain flowing to us, and our employees thanked us. Because we never shut down, we kept the supply chain going, others that shut down still haven’t caught up. By maintaining our production, we kept other businesses going too.
Other than the above, for the COVID period 2020 – 2021, what take-aways and/or what lessons were learned?
We kept recruiting when others shutdown. It provided stability and some normalcy for our employees and their families – their ability to provide for their families, their overall mental health, etc. It’s a ripple effect. By supporting our employees, it supported their families, our communities, our culture and all of that effects our business. It’s one thing after another. It’s all interconnected.
We also learned how to allow greater flexibility for office employees to work remote from their homes. That was a great lesson, and we continue to offer this for a corporate office employees.
As Equip Exposition Show Chairman, we understand that you have been directly involved with the planning of the new show. What are the highlights and new attractions that you can share with our readers?
We expanded our unique outdoor experience to 30 acres and created a food yard outside. We’ve seen the results…big names in the business as first-time exhibitors and long-standing indoor exhibitors now creating outdoor booths. We expanded the UTV track experience and maxed out company participation.
OPEI in its first year as full owner and manager has created the largest show ever by sold sq ft exhibit space both indoors and out. 2022 Equip Exposition will be the largest in our history!
We’re focused on women in the business with new focus group and education offerings. We’ve expanded our education partnerships to put on classes and sessions that our attendees are looking for … landscape, irrigation, tree-care, outdoor lighting, hardscape, pool and spa, dealer offerings and regulatory changes…all at the KEC.
We’ll have our first Equip retail store and show merchandise as well as our first coffee house in the South Wing C lobby.
We’ve invested in big name talent (Trace Adkins concert and David Fehrety keynote speaker) and have created an opening reception on Tuesday for all attendees at Louisville Slugger Field with fireworks. We’ve added an onsite breakfast event on Friday with National Geographic’s Photo Ark creator Joel Sartore as keynote speaker.
Ariens Co. is very proud to sponsor a new event at the show in the health and wellness space with the Mulligan’s Fun Run and Walk 5K at the Big Four Bridge on Wednesday morning of show week.
Our annual Mutt Madness dog adoption event is back. Lucky Dog and Mission Unstoppable television episodes will be filmed at Equip and Mutt Madness as well as at the Kentucky Humane Society. The shows are broadcast on CBS and our TurfMutt Foundation is sponsoring. We’ll also film a Louisville family’s dog adoption and yard makeover during show week for the Lucky Dog show.
We’re also combining mission and function with our first international safety standards organization standards meeting at the show.
In our survey of attendees to the 2021 GIE+EXPO, in which 3861 were completed, just over one-third of respondents said that the 2021 show was their first GIE+EXPO event. As Equip Exposition Show Chairman, and directly involved with the planning of the new show. What are the highlights and new attractions that you can share with our readers that will entice past participants to return and get more first timers to come out?
In our survey we asked a series of questions about their fleet expansion (renewal/ upgrade) plans for 2022. We included a number of questions about battery powered products. One was “Do you believe there will be a time that all of your landscape equipment will be battery powered?” Of the 2,970 replies, 63% of those replying said that they believe that all of their landscape equipment will be battery powered in 10 years of less. 22% of the respondents say they expect it to happen in 2 – 5 years! What is your response to that question and why?
Tell us about the acceptance (or reservations) the Gravely PRO-TURN® EV by the professional landscapers.
The AS-Motor Brand does list battery powered commercial lawn mowers. Will that technology be used in future Ariens and/or Gravely products?
What can we expect to see in battery powered products in the near future in the Gravely and Ariens lines?
The biggest blow to snow since the ice age – the Mammoth! Why was the Mammoth developed – who is the target market?
Moving away from the Ariens – Gravely side of the business, please tell our readers about:
The Ariens Foundation:
Ariens Nordic Center:
Ariens Nordic Center kickoff event, April 2022
Our inspiration is our sponsorship of the United States Biathlon Team. We’ve experienced world-class facilities in Europe and the U.S. It’s an exciting sport and is wildly popular in Europe. It’s growing in the U.S. but there’s really no trail system close for our local athletes to train. We thought, why not Wisconsin? It’s going to be a great way to enjoy the outdoors and stay active during the winter.
It’s been fun talking to the Nordic community. They are so excited. And, we have great Nordic community partners helping us bring this dream to reality. Folks like U.S. Biathlon President and CEO Max Cobb, our two home grown biathletes Paul Schommer from Appleton, and Deedra Irwin from Pulaski who are on the U.S. National Team, and John Morton of Morton Trails, who has been instrumental in the design.
AriensCo Hospitality:
We established AriensCo Hospitality in 2020 with the opening of two luxury event venues, Stone Prairie and Round Lake Farms.
Round Lake Farms is our premier venue for corporate events, special occasions and weddings. The “barn” overlooks Round Lake with views of rolling hills. We have a large gathering room with fireplaces, a cocktail reception space, a full-service bar, a wine tasting room with a wine cellar in a historic barn silo, an executive meeting room, a bridal suite, a large pier for great photo opportunities. We even have a boat.
Stone Prairie is our year-round outdoor event site. It is also on the site of an old farm and we were able to preserve some of the original stonework. It has two fully heated pavilions, stone fireplaces, chandeliers, a Greenhouse imported from England, and restroom facilities. It is surrounded by hundreds of acres of our AriensCo conservation preserve and a robust trail system. We’ve hosted weddings, corporate events, concerts, and anniversary celebrations. We’ve even had funerals. Opening in 2020 gave people an option to still gather as we navigated the ever-changing Covid safety protocols.
As many of the readers of FocusOn Equipment Rentals and Retailers are dealers, what should they know about RapidCare™?
Just 2 more questions…
When the workday at AriensCo ends for you, what has made it a good day?
The final and most important question of this interview: Will the Packers still be playing football on February 12, 2023?