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Besler Industries celebrating 40 years in business
CAMBRIDGE, Nebraska -- The north side of an upside-down rusty sign on a Quonset building in an alley in downtown Cambridge, Nebraska, says something about a "New Idea." The other side of the sign and the black block letters on the Quonset door read "Shop."
Though the rusty signs didn't belong to Herb Besler, Herb's "new ideas" about starting a welding and manufacturing business -- with help from Larry Jones and Alan Gaskill -- in the early 1970s very quickly outgrew the Quonset "shop" that he was using. Now, 40 years later, in a large, modern and more efficient facility, "Besler Industries Inc." is marking its fourth decade in business.
Herb and his family and employees invite customers, sales representatives, dealers and the general public to the company's 40th anniversary open house Friday. Tours of the Besler plant -- built in 1975 on the western edge of Cambridge and expanded over the years -- start at 10 a.m., followed by a free barbecue from 11:30 a.m. until 1 p.m. Drawings for gifts and door prizes will be conducted throughout the day until the open house ends at 4 p.m.
Cliff Kester, Herb's son-in-law and the manufacturing plant's inside sales manager, admits that unless someone is an employee, a customer or a dealer, what goes on inside the plant is something of a mystery. So, yes, he says, the general public is most graciously invited to attend the open house.
"It's fun to have the community see what we do," Cliff said, adding that they want everyone to celebrate with them because, in a small community and in rural America, "everyone helps each other out."
With help from Larry Jones and Alan Gaskill, Herb Besler started the "Cambridge Industries" manufacturing business in the quarter-moon Quonset hut near the bowling alley in downtown Cambridge on April 1, 1973.
Over the next six months, the 816 square feet of the Quonset proved to be too small, and the Cambridge Development Corporation, along with local individuals, helped the three men build a new manufacturing plant west of Cambridge.
Herb bought the company about 1 1/2 years later and changed the name from Cambridge Industries to Besler Industries Inc.
Over the years, the plant has manufactured farm equipment including pickup flatbeds, stalk choppers, cotton pullers, sub-soilers, chop-n-slicers and root slicers. On display and introduced during the open house will be Besler's newest products -- 4500 rippers, stack fold toolbars, wire winders and a 5000-series seed-bed conditioner used primarily in cotton growing.
Conducting tours of the plant during the open house will be Herb's sons, Roland, who is production manager and in charge of metal fabrication, punching, drilling and welding, and Randy, who is in charge of assembly, painting and quality control.
Both Roland and Randy have trained on the plant's new "Han-Kwang" FL3015 laser cutter, and Roland will demonstrate it during tours.
Brenda Webb, Herb's daughter, is in charge of handling parts calls and UPS service, along with other duties for the business.
Cliff, who is married to Herb's daughter, Karen, said that at Besler's, raw iron comes into the plant and goes out as a finished product to the farmer or dealer. "The tours will be informative," Kester said. "It's fun to show people what we do."