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On Tuesday, Jan. 17, a group of seven potential investors and U.S. HIB representative Orval Howell flew to Germany to view the headquarters of the Meissenheim-based wooden eco-block company.
Howell, Greensburg Mayor Bob Dixson, Dayle Heft, Cheryl Heft, Steve Heft, Christi Heft and Scott and Susan Brown spent five days visiting the factory and headquarters of HIB in southwest Germany.
“The purpose of the trip was for potential investors in HIB to go over and see their operation, to see some of the HIB homes and to get to know Dieter [Junker] as a person,” said Howell. “We saw the mill and the machinery. It’s a fifth generation family mill. HIB is a separate company that he started. We went to his office and his home and had lunch where we met his kids Ben, Olivia and Norman. The investors got to know him as a person. Not just to invest in a company but to invest in an individual.”
Howell has been the point person for HIB and has been working with investors, the city of Greensburg and HIB to bring a manufacturing, training and assembly plant to the new Greensburg Industrial Park. Last week’s trip was an extension of those efforts said Howell.
“My number one purpose of my going on the trip was to represent the citizens of Greensburg and economic development of Greensburg and Kiowa County,” said Mayor Dixson. “I want to do everything we can to make sure our relationship with HIB is ongoing. We want them to have their factory here in Greensburg.”
The city has offered economic incentives to the company outlined in last November’s letter of intent, which offered rent of $1 per year in the industrial park, a reduction of utility costs and potential tax relief. The city has committed a lot of money and resources to build the industrial park and has been hoping to fill the vacant lots.
“Economic development is about relationships,” continued Dixson. “To develop those relationships, there has to be a connection that ties it and binds it to the community. They are a solid company and they make a quality product. They are very committed to Greensburg and Kiowa County, but it is a process. We spent a lot of time with the business officials in a non-business atmosphere and we got to know each other better.”
The U.S. factory would house all three sectors of HIB. The training facility that would train and certify contractors to build HIB houses properly, the assembling facility which would combine, pack and ship the interconnecting wooden blocks and the manufacturing facility. At the German factory all of the detailing is done, in part by a sub-contractor.
On Tuesday, Jan. 17, a group of seven potential investors and U.S. HIB representative Orval Howell flew to Germany to view the headquarters of the Meissenheim-based wooden eco-block company.
Howell, Greensburg Mayor Bob Dixson, Dayle Heft, Cheryl Heft, Steve Heft, Christi Heft and Scott and Susan Brown spent five days visiting the factory and headquarters of HIB in southwest Germany.
“The purpose of the trip was for potential investors in HIB to go over and see their operation, to see some of the HIB homes and to get to know Dieter [Junker] as a person,” said Howell. “We saw the mill and the machinery. It’s a fifth generation family mill. HIB is a separate company that he started. We went to his office and his home and had lunch where we met his kids Ben, Olivia and Norman. The investors got to know him as a person. Not just to invest in a company but to invest in an individual.”
Howell has been the point person for HIB and has been working with investors, the city of Greensburg and HIB to bring a manufacturing, training and assembly plant to the new Greensburg Industrial Park. Last week’s trip was an extension of those efforts said Howell.
“My number one purpose of my going on the trip was to represent the citizens of Greensburg and economic development of Greensburg and Kiowa County,” said Mayor Dixson. “I want to do everything we can to make sure our relationship with HIB is ongoing. We want them to have their factory here in Greensburg.”
The city has offered economic incentives to the company outlined in last November’s letter of intent, which offered rent of $1 per year in the industrial park, a reduction of utility costs and potential tax relief. The city has committed a lot of money and resources to build the industrial park and has been hoping to fill the vacant lots.
“Economic development is about relationships,” continued Dixson. “To develop those relationships, there has to be a connection that ties it and binds it to the community. They are a solid company and they make a quality product. They are very committed to Greensburg and Kiowa County, but it is a process. We spent a lot of time with the business officials in a non-business atmosphere and we got to know each other better.”
The U.S. factory would house all three sectors of HIB. The training facility that would train and certify contractors to build HIB houses properly, the assembling facility which would combine, pack and ship the interconnecting wooden blocks and the manufacturing facility. At the German factory all of the detailing is done, in part by a sub-contractor.
The group visited the Weinig factory where the machines that cut and detail the wood are manufactured. The company would make all of the machines used in the Greensburg factory and none of the work would be subcontracted. “We would have everything done in Greensburg,” said Howell.
HIB was first brought to the U.S. by Greensburg Greentown via a design and construction competition for the yet-to-be completed Meadowlark house. Since then, Junker and his headquarters in Meissenheim have had a connection with Greensburg that has created a seemingly perfect fit with a company wanting to break into the eco-home market in the U.S. and a city hoping to add green businesses to it’s eco-portfolio.
“People [in Meissenheim] know about Greensburg because of the tornado and because Dieter came here to put one of his homes up,” said Howell. “People there understand what happened here. I think they realize why Deter wants to build a factory in the U.S. We’re fortunate enough to be the chosen town for him to build the factory, if we can get the investment.”
Junker stated in an interview last November that an investment of $2 million dollars would be required to build the factory and purchase the equipment.
Scott Brown and Dayle Heft were two of the potential investors to make the 5,000-mile trip.
“I went to Germany because if you are going to invest in something maybe you should see it, to know what you’re investing in,” said Brown on Monday afternoon. “We had seen the product here, and we were impressed with that part of it. It looked like it was going to take a sizable but not insurmountable investment to get this thing in Greensburg and probably quite a bit of the money is going to come locally. I thought it was worth it to make the trip over there to see if he had a skill saw under a steel shed over there or if he had a mill or a plant or what he had. What I wanted to see was, what his manufacturing plant looked like. Was it a 40-year-old tin shed with light bulbs hanging from the rafters?”
“I came in one day and Scott said that if we are going to be serious about this maybe we ought to go over there and look at it,” said Heft. “I was interested in meeting his family, his workers and his investors over there. I was very impressed with what I saw.”
Both Brown and Heft spoke very highly of Junker and his family, noting that everyone from HIB made them feel very welcomed.
“I was impressed with getting to know him,” said Brown. “We went to his home. We ate at his table; we met his mother and met his whole family. I have no doubt in my mind that these are top-notch folks and I think they’ve got a top-notch product. That ain’t a bad start. Now the thing is trying to figure out how we can get them here.”
With a sizable financial investment needed to bring the company to the county, Heft and Brown will undoubtedly act as ambassadors to other interested parties in the area.
Howell thinks a round of meetings will bring the project closer to becoming a reality.
“We are going to try to raise the capital that’s needed to build the factory here. I think we can achieve that in the next couple of weeks. I think the trip was very successful because I think all of the people that came back were more decisive about this than before they went.”
Howell, Brown and Heft see a large market for HIB products in the United States, which they believe will bring investors (themselves included) a return on their investment and touts the product as almost tailor-made for the U.S.
“It’s really simple, [Dieter] developed a highly insulated efficient wall system for building,” said Brown. “And where is the market for that? Here. Even in the United States, with the economic downturn, he can buy his main product, wood and lumber, at a much more reasonable price than it is in the Black Forest. If the product is made in the U.S., the cost of traditional building and HIB building is much closer. If you are thinking about efficiency and energy savings it narrows right up in a hurry.”
All three men feel strongly that HIB is the right business for the community and were preparing to take their case to others. Both Heft and Brown, who consider themselves to be conservative investors and whom Howell calls “very shrewd businessmen,” have decided to become partners in the business, with Brown committing to a larger share following his trip to Germany.
“Oh I’d just be tickled pink to have them come to Greensburg. There have been hundreds of opportunities and proposals for businesses to come to Greensburg and they just weren’t a good fit or they were fly-by-night. This one looks like it is a good prospect and the trip reinforced that. I hope we’ll be able to get them to come to Greensburg.”
editor@kiowacountysignal.com
