Star Equipment Celebrates 45 Years in Business

By Giles Lambertson CEG CORRESPONDENT

When Max and Beverly Bowman decided to start a construction equipment company in 1968, Max perused industry publications for inspiration about a name. He saw an ad for a Kansas company called White Star and latched onto “Star” because he could build a logo around it.

Thus was Star Equipment Ltd. born 45 years ago in Des Moines, Iowa. It has evolved into a four-location, three-generation family-owned enterprise that shows no signs of being a shortlived shooting star. Rather, Max Bowman now is chairman of the board with three sons in executive positions and grandchildren seemingly settling into Star careers.

The board chairman looks back on the experience as another “American dream.” But, he adds, “I don’t know if I would start a company in these times. It would be a lot harder now. We went to the bank and said we wanted to start a business and three days later we had a credit limit on our account and were told, you can go ahead. Now you go to the bank and they want a physical and everything else. Where they wanted one document, now they want 27.”

Continued on page 4

From page 2

So it was fortuitous for Iowa contractors that the Bowmans ventured into business when they did. Max Bowman was 33 and, he admits, not mindful of starting a family legacy company. His stepfather was a successful building contractor and Max had worked for two or three construction equipment dealers. He saw the industry had a future and simply wanted to be a part of it.

“I liked construction equipment and what it could do and I could see that it was going to change and change pretty rapidly,” Bowman said. “The other company I had worked for had just introduced the skid steer loaders into Iowa. There seemed to be constant change.”

The fledgling Star Equipment was principally a new equipment dealer. Its original lines of equipment included the Uniloader skid steer manufactured 80 miles northwest of Des Moines in Hudson, Iowa. That machine shortly was incorporated into the Case lineup and Star switched to selling the Mustang skid steer made in Owatonna, Minn. Other showroom staples for the new Star were diesel-powered Atlas Copco compressors and Homelite water pumps and generators, and then saws (now sold as Husqvarna).

A Family Executive Team

The company started on 2nd Avenue in Des Moines in a building that now is a part of a complex of Star buildings, with some 30,000 sq. ft. under roof on the 10-acre site.

“The first year we were busy trying to make a living,” Max Bowman said from his 2nd Avenue office where he still works three to four days a week. “The kids almost grew up down here. Their mother was working here and the kids came down after school and on Saturdays.”

Beverly Bowman worked beside her husband for 20 years and three of the four Bowman children became so intrigued by the company business that they still work there 45 years later.

One son, Bruce Bowman, is company president, having “kind of done everything” at the company after high school, including driving trucks and working with rentals. After taking college accounting courses, Bruce decided to computerize the company’s accounting system in 1980. “That became my thing to put in,” he said. “It was a real adventure.”

With Des Moines remaining the principal Star location, the company expanded to Cedar Rapids in 1987, which now has a 10,000sq.-ft. facility on 6 acres, to Waterloo in 1995 (5,000 sq. ft. on 19 acres), and Ames in 2006 (17,000 sq. ft. on 7 acres).

“We’re always looking for areas to expand into, but we’re not ready to jump out and do it in today’s economy,” said the president.

Another son, Brad Bowman, is a vice president of Star and oversees the Cedar Rapids and Waterloo offices. He, too, worked his way through various levels of responsibility at Star, as a mechanic, a service manager, a general manager. Unlike in the more established operation in Des Moines, running the branch offices requires wearing several hats to work, one for parts, another for rentals, for service, for new equipment sales.

“Inventories are pretty much the same across the company,” Brad Bowman said of the Star locations, “but the customer base can be quite different. In Waterloo and in Cedar Rapids, we have a

Continued on page 6 manufacturing base. A lot of the industries are driven by manufacturing and that changes the dynamics of our business. When one manufacturer decides to have layoffs, it can impact us.

The company started on 2nd Avenue in Des Moines in a building that now is a part of a complex of Star buildings, with some 30,000 square feet under roof on the 10-acre site.

“That’s why we are continually trying to broaden our customer base. Through the years you just naturally find that you get along better with some people than with others. We consciously try to cultivate better relationships with the others and expand our base.”

A third son, Brett Bowman, is a vice president and general service manager for all four branches. He worked with another company — Schwing America — for 10 years before returning to Star 20 years ago, where he keeps service personnel technically current through factory-level training. He also oversees five service trucks responding to customer calls nearly every day.

Continued on page 8

Hooking up this Wacker Neuson light plant for delivery before retiring after 18 years with Star Equipment is Dwight Humke. “Star Equipment and the Bowman Family have been great people to work for. I will really miss working here,” said Humke.

With Des Moines remaining the principal Star location, the company expanded to Cedar Rapids in 1987, which now has a 10,000-sq. ft. facility on 6 acres, to Waterloo in 1995 (5,000 sq. ft. on 19 acres), and Ames in 2006 (1,700 sq. ft. on 7 acres).

From page 6

“We have some service people who have been here 15 to 17 years and some who are in their first year with us,” Bowman said of his service workforce, adding that replenishing the veteran staff with young talent remains a challenge. “It’s actually very hard to find good help right now. Many would like to work with a computer rather than work with their hands. We have to train them more and more. If a guy wants to run a computer all day long, he is not going to make it in the mechanical shop.”

A Diverse Product Line

The core division of Star Equipment is the light general-use machinery that continues to grow as an industry segment. Still a dealer of Mustang skid steer loaders, Star today also offers Takeuchi compact construction equipment and Gehl telehandlers. Specialized light machinery such as Somero concrete finishing rakes and screeds are new and popular additions.

Equipment rental accounts for 20 to 30 percent of Star business and currently is climbing back to the upper range. Mini-excavators are the big attraction to customers at the moment, according to Roger Bacon, Star’s Des Moines rental manager. “People are finding out how versatile they are.”

Bacon first started working for Max Bowman in 1977, leaving after five years to move west, only to return in 1994. What brought him back?

“It’s the way the Bowmans treat me,” he said. “So many people get up and dread going to work. This is the only company I’ve been where I actually enjoy going to work. The Bowmans are good people. We have teamwork. If you have a better idea, they’ll accept and use it. I have a couple of years before I retire, and I’m not even looking forward to it.”

Bacon’s first involvement with the company was pumping concrete with a sister enterprise of Star. He and Brett Bowman pumped concrete for construction of silos and bridges, one of the first companies, in Iowa in the late ’70s and ’80s to offer the service. The enterprise was closed after six years, but Star Equipment still is in the concrete pumping business as a distributor of Schwing boom pumps and Mayco trailer-mounted pumps. The company has trained mechanics at each location to service the concrete handling equipment.

Another niche that Star entered into successfully in the 70s (and is still growing) is the service truck division. ”The company provides both chassis and body upfit for vehicles that technicians can drive to the field for high-end service. These include technician and lube service trucks as well as material handling and boom trucks with telescopic booms and mounted National Crane, IMT and Elliott units.

Star Equipment has long been a new technology leader, first in laser and, beginning a decade ago, in global positioning systems. Max Bowman first encountered the red laser beam in 1969-1970 and introduced a sewer laser construction system to Iowa. The company has expanded its laser line many times over in the ensuing years and is leading the way with its GPS lineup. Together, the service truck division and GPS/laser line account for nearly a third of Star’s business.

Continued on page 16