“I’ve always felt it’s important to listen to the farmer. He’s the one who knows what he wants.” – George Morris, Founder
It’s true that “the more things change, the more they stay the same,” especially when we look back to our early beginnings. Our Founder, George Morris believed that the path to innovation could be found in listening to our farm customers when it came to product innovation and development. Despite gaining the position as a leader when it comes to innovation in agriculture and revolutionizing short-line farm equipment, our continued success is still found in not only listening but also hearing what the needs of farmers are. At Morris, we are all ears.
In fact, we have been listening and responding to the voiced needs of farmers through our relentless pursuit of unearthing ground-breaking innovation since 1929 when the company released the first automatic trip release technology into the market, which is still in use today. And that was just the beginning. From there, Morris developed the revolutionary Seed-Rite hoe drill in 1965 and then, in 2013, Morris introduced the long-awaited 9-Series Air Cart to rave farmer reviews.
You’d think with so much success that exponential growth might be assigned top priority at Morris, but that just isn’t the case. It has become apparent to Morris and Morris’ customers that the size of a company doesn’t necessarily translate into better equipment or better service or more customer satisfaction. In fact, it often works in reverse.
“Our size allows us to be nimble, as well as responsive when it comes to new or better ideas,” says Ben Voss, President and CEO, of Morris Industries. “But perhaps even more important, our size allows us to have deeper connections with our farm customers – including and engaging them at every level. Our relationships with our farm customers as well as our dealers and suppliers are more partnership-based and are the key to our continued success at Morris. We wouldn’t want to approach business in any other way,” says Voss.
Morris operates on shared values and transparency as well as an approach that doesn’t get lost in a bureaucracy, an ailment often attributed to larger companies and corporations.
“As a short-line company, Morris is not overloaded with operating procedures or a top-heavy bureaucracy. Both of which can render decision-making into a long, difficult and inefficient process that can leave the wheels spinning without direction,” says Voss. “In addition, our company’s size allows us to continually foster a culture that encourages everyone on the team to explore and try new ideas or new ways of doing things.”
“Removing the fear of failure also removes the ceiling on reaching new heights of success,” says Voss. “It’s a daring greatly approach that that will continue to unearth innovations that reveal gains in efficiencies and opportunity for our farm customers and ultimately, the global industry of agriculture.”
You can expect more from Morris. What innovation can we bring to your operation next? Tweet us @Morris_Seeding