Superior Industries is reaching new heights—and that’s not just their signature TeleStacker conveyor, which already stretches 210 feet into the sky. As the AEM Manufacturing Express visited Superior Industries today in Morris, Minnesota, the TeleStacker provided a sliver of shade as over 200 of the hardworking men and women of the Superior team gathered to celebrate their role in building America. It was a great opportunity to reflect on the significance of companies like Superior to Morris and towns like it across Minnesota. There was also fun, prizes and double-stacked burgers (even the burgers are Superior).
Superior leaders attribute their success to a strong company culture, and those who build careers with the company can tell. Weld Team Lead and 20-year Superior employee Brad Olhoft will tell you himself: “When I first got hired, I thought it might have been a 2-3 year job. But on my first day I fell in love with the culture of the business, and that was 20 and a half years ago.”
They may have over 1800 employees across 22 locations, but Superior has never lost its small-town feel. Founded in 1972 to build portable crushing, washing and conveying equipment for gravel pits locally in Minnesota, Superior has grown into an international powerhouse of the mining industry.
Even as their equipment now works all around the world, Superior stays true to its identity as a company proudly made in Morris, Minnesota. A town built largely around agribusiness, Superior’s robust mining equipment product lines provide stability to the local economy even during agricultural downturns. As Jason Adams, President of Superior, says: “If it can’t be grown it must be mined.”
Superior is always looking to break new ground. Since the company’s inception, innovation has been central to Superior’s manufacturing prowess. The company recently completed a multi-year partnership with a leading Dutch firm to create an impressive line of autonomous roll welders—the cutting edge of industry technology. That’s how Superior delivers world-class products from right here in Morris, Minnesota.
The Superior team here in Morris is plenty big, but just like their equipment, each component plays an indispensable role in making the best possible product. Superior has much to brag about: the company’s ESOP, strong investments in training and resources for its employees, and top of the line material processing equipment, all ways in which Superior Industries lives up to its name. But after 20 years here, Brad Olhoft chalks it all up to the Superior company culture they work to build every single day: “Show up, have a good attitude, be courteous and friendly, and you’ll do well.” That’s a Superior way of looking at it.
