FOUNDING MEMBER
Bringing growth, ingenuity, and experience to market for over 50 YEARS
AMC’s Influence on 50 Years of Success in Agricultural Manufacturing by Treena Hein Among AMC’s proud founding members is S3 Enterprises, or as it is more specifically known, S3 Air Systems (pneumatic chaff management systems), S3 Delta Harrows (the number one flex harrow in North America), S3 Manufacturing (customized components) and S3 Wireform (custom steel springs for agricultural OEMs). Obviously this company has evolved and grown a great deal over time, but the importance it places on being part of AMC remains unchanged. “As an AMC member, we know we are not alone,” explains Richelle Andreas, CEO. “Sometimes when you’re inside your business, you feel like you’re the only one in the world struggling to understand foreign exchange hedging or social media technologies, the only business struggling to find qualified employees or feeling unsure about extending financing to a customer overseas. But we know that whether we’re battling Canadian copyright legislation or concerned about the carbon tax, AMC has our back.”
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S3 started out in 1963 as Rem Manufacturing. In the 80s, it purchased the GrainVac product line, which became synonymous with the Rem name. When the product line was eventually sold to AGI, Rem’s leaders realized a name change was needed to avoid confusion. At that point, S3 Enterprises was born. In the beginning, S3 sold product directly to farmers within a 20-mile radius of Swift Current, Saskatchewan. Over time, each of its subsidiary businesses developed organically and found its own appropriate distribution channels. At the same time, the firm built long-term relationships with other farm equipment OEMs. S3 now sells through North American dealers and distributors, international sales reps and “this past year we came full circle and opened our first online store,” says Andreas, “so that we can sell directly to farmers again.”
50 years of change
increased awareness and a proactive approach to employee safety, use of data to help make decisions, building a culture of continuous improvement, adoption of new manufacturing technologies and the use of computerized design. However, despite its heavy focus on product R&D and high-tech tools, Andreas says “this is a relationship business. There are some basic things all customers want. They want their product on time, on spec and on budget. They want you to do what you say you are going to do. And, if there is a problem, they want you to work with them to solve it. But technology, social media, the internet and other new tools are giving us more ways and better ways to serve our customers.” Video, for example, has become a tremendous tool for communicating, says Andreas, allowing S3 employees to remotely see what customers are seeing and solve problems more quickly with fewer assumptions and unknowns.
Over the last five decades, changes at S3 have focused on five areas. These are
Implement Success | Winter 2020-2021 | 50th Anniversary Edition
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