The leader of a Pella, Iowa-based equipment manufacturer says continued innovation and rising demand are fueling new manufacturing investments.
Vermeer Corporation president and CEO Jason Andringa tells Brownfield the company has unveiled plans to build a new 300,000 square foot facility in Bondurant. He says the state-of-the-art plant will manufacture industrial parts and equipment for their “Cutting Edge” business.
“For trenchers, the booms and cutting teeth that a trencher uses to make a trench,” he said. “For horizontal directional drilling, which is an incredibly important product line for Vermeer, it’s the tooling that goes on the front of the drill stem and the tooling that opens up the hole.”
Additionally, the facility will also include full-spectrum manufacturing capability – including machining, weld, paint and assembly – giving Vermeer Des Moines versatility to meet a continually growing demand and will focus on the manufacture of key products, including new generations of equipment, from their Utility, Tree Care and Landscape product line ups.
Andringa says their Des Moines operations began in the spring of 2023 by leasing a 108,000 square foot facility, but more space is now needed.
“We were unable to build sufficient machinery and Cutting Edge parts to meet the demand that’s out there.”
He says the expansion is expected to generate more than 300 jobs.
“Here in Pella, I would say the size of our facility has more or less fully occupied the workforce that is available within a driving distance of Pella. With our experiment in Des Moines, we are able to tap into a much greater pool of workforce and that’s what we need.”
Vermeer specializes in the manufacturing of agricultural, underground construction, surface mining, tree care and environmental equipment.
“Vermeer is incredibly proud of our background in agriculture,” Andringa said. “In fact, even though more than 80% of the business is the industrial side of the business, every part of Vermeer can trace its heritage back to agriculture.”
Andringa says the company purchased 186 acres of land for the plant site. Vermeer is expected to break ground on the project in the late spring of 2026 with the goal to be operational during the summer of 2027.
