Osmundson Manufacturing Co., a Perry business for 115 years, marked its fifth generation of owners Wednesday with a ribbon cutting sponsored by the Perry-Area Chamber of Commerce.
Longtime company President Doug Bruce of West Des Moines, who began working at the company in 1966, is passing the torch to his daughter, Heather Bruce, who will take the reins in February as the new leader of the family-owned business.
Heather Bruce’s son and potential sixth-generation CEO, 1-year-old Harry Bruce, also braved the arctic cold to join the Chamber celebration.
The 42,000-square-foot factory produces disc blades, and about 90 percent of their tillage tools are sold in the U.S. to companies such as John Deere and New Holland. Eighty workers are split between two shifts, the first shift from 6 a.m. to 4 p.m. and third shift from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m.
Osmundson’s has developed new steels and heat-treating techniques that give the company a green footprint, such as their use of a water-quench instead of a n oil quench. They are the only U.S. maker of high-quality disc, coulter, seeder and grain drill blades.
