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* The sound of trees and scrap wood being shredded and chipped echoed in Winn, Mich., on Sept. 20 and 21 as more than 200 owners and dealers of Morbark processing equipment gathered in that manufacturer's home town.
The company, celebrating its 50th anniversary in 2007, hosted its Demo Days event during a stretch of beautiful late summer weather, as invited guests, dealers and prospective dealers toured the Morbark factory and a nearby proving ground, where whole tree chippers, horizontal grinders and tub grinders were on display.
Among the stars of the show were three track-mounted horizontal grinders (or wood hogs) that worked their way through tree branches, trunks and stumps.
Two large tub grinders also handled large amounts of material, while a pair of chippers worked through whatever tree trunks and branches were fed their way.
Customers interested in Morbark's talon debris shear were also able to see it work its way through thick tree stumps, and the company's three-station multibagger was demonstrated by bagging wood chips.
During the two-day event, guests heard directly from Morbark President and CEO Lon Morey, son of Norval Morey, the company's founder.
The family-owned company now employs some 600 people, most of whom work from the 1.6 million square foot complex in the small town of Winn. The entire complex has grown outward from the original garage where Norval Morey started his business in 1957.
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Morey credited the Morbark workforce for the greatest contributions to the company's success. "We have one of the best groups of people working at Morbark today that we've ever had," said Morey. "They're helping us make good decisions," he commented, and praised them for their dedication to quality training and continuous improvement.
Of the company's 1.6 million square feet under roof, some 1.2 million of it is factory space that is currently producing about 100 pieces of equipment to be shipped out each month.
Morbark's sizable manufacturing operation consumes some 30 million pounds of steel each year, generating about 500,000 pounds of steel scrap annually.
Despite the size of the company now, Morbark Vice President of Sales John Foote remarked, "Our company is still run like one big family."
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