Fuller Industries Inc. has a lot going on, from expanding product lines to growing staff to incorporating more state-of-the-art automation. That was the message company General Manager and Vice President Joe Mann had for U.S. Senator Roger Marshall on Monday morning.
Marshall, on a weekend visit to his hometown of Great Bend, visited Fuller between touring Advancing Barton County Childcare’s new Bright Beginnings daycare facility and meeting with supporters before leaving town later in the day. Mann gave the senator a brief tour of the massive plant and talked about the progress.
“I’m proud of what you’ve accomplished out here. Congratulations,” Marshall said, noting he has watched the company through the years. “This is the first time I’ve been here in 20 years that I am more optimistic as I leave than I was when I arrived.”
Marshall also noted the importance of manufacturers like Fuller to the local, state and national economies. Progress is the key to maintaining that edge.
“Technology is the key,” he said. This is what is going to allow companies like Fuller to compete.
Indeed, said Mann. Fuller is pushing its innovations in the water-soluble detergent delivery system (monopods) and adding new robotic production methods.
Fuller produces primarily commercial janitorial products, serving customers across the Western Hemisphere. So, as the company continues to expand, modernize and grow its lines of environmentally sustainable products, Mann said they understand the need to look to the future.
In addition, by November, the facility will have finished integrating the operations of a sister plant in Canada into the Great Bend location.
Mann and Marshall also touched on the challenge of finding labor, and other issues facing industry like the high cost of energy and consolidation in an ever-shifting business landscape.
“We have found our niche,” Mann said as he walked with Marshall through the plant. Fuller was already headed in this direction when Toronto, Canada-based GDI purchased the firm in 2021 and now this growth is accelerating.
By the time he arrived in town Monday, Marshall said he had already attended a business roundtable discussion in Ellsworth. He said the problems faced by Fuller are faced by business owners he spoke with during that meeting.
“We appreciate the senator for taking time from his schedule to visit our facility,” Mann said. “There are many big issues on the national level that impact companies like ours here in Central Kansas, and it is reassuring to know that our elected leaders in Washington, D.C., have our backs.”
At Bright Beginnings
Sen. Marshall also visited Bright Beginnings at 4507 Parmers Plaza Lane. The Daycare Center, which officially opened last spring, is a 6,500 sq. ft. facility operating under Advancing Barton County Child Care. The daycare that accommodates up to 80 children, was made posssible in part by a $500,000 contribution from the Patterson Family Foundation and a $2.23 million grant from the Kansas Children’s Cabinet and Trust Fund Child Care Capacity Accelerator. Barton County also contributed $435,000 to the facility.
GBED Director Sara Arnberger also related that Barton County still has a substantial childcare deficit, with current providers only meeting 43% of need. The county still needs more than 700 additional childcare slots to fully meet demand.
