By Kim Breyley
We are fortunate to know of and appreciate many local, successful entrepreneurial businesses started by ordinary folks who are also our friends and neighbors. Norden Manufacturing (formerly Kuhns MFG) is a prime example of a local, successful international farm implement supplier with manufacturing capabilities for multiple applications.
In the early 90s, Kenny Kuhns, owner of Norden Manufacturing, with his wife Irma and their children moved from a dairy farm in east central Illinois in search of help for their 3-year-old severely handicapped son, Steven. Their journey ended on an uncle’s farm in Ohio where Kuhns would take on a farm management position for a couple of years – that was 30 years ago.
“We started making hay,” said Kuhns. “Which is my passion.” He discovered early while producing hay, “There is a big difference between bailing (baling) hay for cows and horses. For cows, you are focused on protein; for horses, you’re focused on good, cured, dry hay.” Our horse hay customers often required a 40 lb. bale rather than the 60 lb. bale preferred by the dairy farmers. “The machines at the time were designed more for the dairy farmers,” says Kuhns. “There was really nothing out there to suit the needs for our horse hay customers.”
Before Kuhns began the design process, he looked to have other companies do it for them. “We gave them our ideas, and no one picked them up,” he says. “Manufacturers were all looking at other places for opportunity and didn’t believe that there was an actual market for the Kuhns’ proposal. “After four or five years of coming up with ideas and no one seeing them as viable,” says Kuhns, “we got a pile of steel and a welding machine and started making our own.”
After many redesigns, they came up with a simple effective hay accumulator. A hay accumulator is a machine that drops several grouped bales to be easily picked up and transported to a wagon and on into the barn. “Our first machine had a lot of parts on it. It worked, but it also malfunctioned a lot. In the first redesign,” he continued. “In the process of making it better, we eliminated 70 parts. A simple machine is harder to design than a more complex one.”
It was 18 years ago when the business was started; they lacked capital, but the potential was real. Irma, expert money manager, financed all on credit cards for the entire first year. “There is a very thin line between the American dream and the nightmare,” adds Kuhns. “Some days you are on one side and some days you are on the other.”
“In 2007, we walked into the bank, showed them our profits, showed them our sales, and for the first time we got a commercial loan.”
Product growth and profits doubled each year between 2005 and 2008. Then for the next eight years, business stagnated. From 2016 – 2021 sales were again on a steep incline. In 2022, production exceeded sales for the first time in our history. “Our biggest vulnerability was we were a one-trick pony.” This created the necessity and opportunity for change. The restructure allowed for needed diversification; production and efficiency began to improve.
In February 2022, after realizing the name Kuhn was in use by a global company, the decision was made to change the company name to Norden, which is the German word for North. With the newly structured expansion efforts, Norden has developed capabilities to manufacture for other companies across the world.
Ten minutes east of Middlefield, Norden Manufacturing employs more than 50 people. “The thing I love most about my job is the people,” says Kuhns. “Though family is a big deal, and it is a family-run business, without our employees we would not be where we are today, and the customer experience would not be what it is. Today, we are surviving on the edge of thriving,” he adds.
For more info about Norden Manufacturing, visit nordenmfg.com.
