| |
| 1964
- With courage, motivation, and a $5.00 sale, Bud Thoen founded
Douglas Machine. |
| 1966
- 1966 was a landmark year as Bud’s cousin, Vern Anderson
(current CEO of Douglas Machine), joined the business. The company
was incorporated and became Douglas Machine Corporation. The first
machine was sold to Curtis Candy Company for $6,476.00. |
| 1967
- The company now has six employees and is operating in a 4,960
square foot facility. The product line is taking shape and the first
brochures are created. |
| 1969
- Vern Anderson’s brother Paul joins the team and ground is
broken for a new 12,760 square foot facility. |
| 1970
- The new facility is complete and Bud, Vern, and Paul are intent
on making their dreams of building exceptional automated packaging
machinery come true. |
| 1974
- Added 12,500 square feet to accommodate increasing machine sales
and a growing number of new employees. |
| 1978
- To meet the growing demand for packaging automation, the product
line has expanded to include case packers, tray packers, box formers,
and inserters. |
| 1980
- A new metal finishing facility is built to meet the growing finishing
demands of the company and ensure exceptional quality. |
| 1982
- Acquired five years earlier, Thor Engineering located in Villard,
Minnesota is merged into Douglas Machine. The existing Thor employees
start working in Alexandria. Palmer Staple, a manufacturer of fasteners
for the electrical industry, is acquired. |
| 1984
- The 1,000th machine is sold to the Coca-Cola Company in New York
to package non-returnable plastic bottles. Transitioned from drafting
table design to computer-aided design. Today, Douglas Machine is
converting from Cadra to Solidworks. |
| 1986
- At the first of the year, Bud Thoen shifts his interests to Palmer
Industries and Vern Anderson assumes the helm of Douglas Machine. |
| 1986
- The company becomes a wholly owned subsidiary of APV/PLC in London,
England. The acquisition provides opportunity for international
market expansion and the addition of complementary product lines. |
| 1987
- Douglas Machine becomes completely vertically integrated to enhance
customer responsiveness and quality control. Receives recognition
by the Alexandria Chamber of Commerce and the Alexandria-Douglas
County Developers as the Industry of the Year. |
| 1993
- Vern and Paul, the original owners of Douglas Machine, buy back
the company from APV/PLC with plans on becoming an employee owned
company. The company is now Douglas Machine, LLC. |
| 1993
- As part of the buy back agreement from APV/PLC and to meet increasing
shrink-wrap equipment demands, twin roll shrink-wrap technology
is acquired from APV Rockford. |
| 1993
- Single roll shrink-wrap technology is acquired from a German company
to meet the increasing demand for shrink-wrapping machinery. |
| 1996
- Acquired controlling interest in Davis Engineering, located in
Deerwood, Minnesota. |
| 1996 - Company sells first sleever to a large food manufacturer. |
| 1998
- Acquired the AccuLift palletizing and depalletizing technology
to meet the demand for single source packaging machinery suppliers.
|
| 1999
- To complement its existing paperboard cartoner offerings, Douglas
Machine acquired a controlling interest in Dimension Industries,
Inc. |
| 2000
- The company becomes Douglas Machine Inc. and 100% employee owned,
providing the employees with a vested interest in the company. |
| 2001
- Selected from over 8,000 suppliers, Douglas Machine receives the
Miller Brewing Company’s Partnership in Excellence Award. |
| 2002
- Douglas Machine receives the 2002 Governor’s International
Trade Award from Jesse Ventura for its contributions to Minnesota’s
success in global markets. |
| 2003 - Manufacturing expands to the warehouse located across 36th Avenue and south of the main manufacturing facility in Alexandria. |
| Today Douglas Machine has over 7,000 machines installed in 30 countries. |
|
©
2007 Douglas Machine Inc.