Osborne Industries, Inc. is Celebrating 40 Years
Osborne Industries, Inc., Osborne, Kansas, will celebrate its 40th anniversary at company headquarters on May 15, 2013. The employee- owned company is a diversified manufacturer and distributor of production equipment and products for the swine industry, an original equipment manufacturer (OEM) of composite plastic components for a variety of industries, and markets a small line of pet products.
Osborne Industries was incorporated in 1973, with only five employees, inside a rented building on the county fairgrounds. Today,
just across the street from the same fairgrounds, the company has nearly 250,000 square feet of manufacturing, warehouse, and office buildings, occupying almost 11 acres in the Osborne Industrial Park. Osborne Industries is the largest employer in the City of Osborne.
Early manufacturing for the company was limited to labor-intensive hand lay-up methods for fiberglass-reinforced plastic fabrication. In 1976, Osborne Industries developed a new production technique: resin transfer molding (RTM). Now, 40 years later, Osborne Industries holds its reputation for advanced RTM manufacturing capabilities for fiberglass reinforced plastics with numerous OEM customers. Osborne’s RTM manufacturing is also used on many of their proprietary livestock equipment products.
In 1994, Osborne expanded its OEM capabilities with the addition of a department dedicated to reaction injection molding (RIM) plastic components. The expansion into RIM molding allowed Osborne to become one of only a few molding companies worldwide with Telene® polydicyclopentadiene (pDCPD) molding capabilities. Today, with almost twenty years of experience in RIM molding, Osborne has become a reputable supplier of high quality, custom-engineered RIM parts for a wide variety of industries.
With the purchase of various companies throughout the 1980s and 1990s, Osborne expanded its capabilities to include metal fabrication, machining, tool building, and an electronic design and assembly division. These additions assisted in the expansion of Osborne’s livestock equipment products.
In 2000, with the creation of the Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP), Osborne Industries transitioned into becoming an employee-owned company by purchasing a 30% ownership interest from several individual stockholders. In early 2007, the final stocks were purchased and the company became 100% employee owned, ensuring the business would stay in Osborne and continue to provide employment opportunities in North Central Kansas.
With its first international sale in 1979, Osborne Industries quickly began marketing and distributing products worldwide. In June 2010, the company was awarded the prestigious Kansas Governor’s Exporter of the Year Award. Today, Osborne has exported products to over 40 countries which accounts for approximately 20 percent of total company sales. Osborne continues to expand its business internationally.
For more information on Osborne Industries, visit www.osborneindustries.com or e-mail plastics@osborneindustries.com.
Contact: Sarah Heinen
e-mail: sarah@osborneindustries.com
