Working as a team is essential for handling
challenges, Ulland and Welch agreed. “There is a really
high level of respect and trust among our people and
we work hard at maintaining that,” Ulland said. “That
allows good communication and promotes teamwork.”
“When we have problems, they’re everybody’s,” Welch added. “We solve them together. The core group handles some problems and a bigger group deals with others. By solving problems together, they keep developing teamwork.”
Over the years, Ulland Brothers has built a strong group of managers like Welch who bring many years of experience to their work. Vice president and general manager Ken Johnson heads the Albert Lea operation, with major roles also played by general superintendent Joan Rouse and senior estimators Jeff Carlson and Paul Stollard.
The general superintendent in the main office in Carlton is Orlin Ofstad, Jr., whose father, Orlin Ofstad Sr., worked side-by-side with Bob Ulland at the company for many years. The company’s chief financial officer is Lance Strandberg. Curt Wercinski and Ryan Swanson are project managers and estimators for the northern operation. “We have numerous superintendents who have been with the company many years,” Ulland noted.
Keith Mancina, who manages the crushing operation in northern Minnesota, Dave Beckel, the materials manager in the south, and equipment manager Cully Hall are among many others who deserve mention, said Ulland.
Ofstad, Jr., who started running parts for Ulland when his dad was a general superintendent, said the real credit goes to the people in the field. “The people who work for Ulland come back year after year. There’s very little turnover and they take pride in what they do. We put their stamp on it, not the Ulland Brothers stamp.”
Cully Hall,
equipment manager
Longtime RMS
territory manager Jim
Gunderson (center) with
Ulland Brothers
president Mike Welch
(left) and chairman
Bob Ulland (right)
Rapid response
Long-term relationships are also an important reason Ulland Brothers deals with Road Machinery & Supplies Co., which has supplied countless pieces of equipment to the company over the years and helped maintain them effectively.
Bob Ulland recalled longtime RMS salesman Bob James, who began working with Ulland right after World War II and remained for 44 years. “He would come out here and we weren’t going to buy anything, and then pretty soon he’d have an order for 15 belly dumps,” Ulland joked.
For the past four years, veteran RMS Duluth branch territory manager Jim Gunderson has been Ulland’s link to RMS. “It’s fun to work with people who like to work and take really good care of their equipment,” Gunderson said. “But it’s the people — very good, quality people — when they say they want to do something they just do it. There isn’t any guesswork.”
“We are demanding,” acknowledged Bob Ulland, “and we operate with a sense of urgency. We don’t like to talk about getting something next week, but tomorrow morning. RMS has reacted well and provided good service.”
Ulland’s current equipment inventory includes a large fleet of Komatsu wheel loaders and excavators. During the past year, the company acquired three Komatsu wheel loaders — a WA800-3, WA450-5 and WA250PT-5, and three Komatsu excavators — a PC400LC-7 and two PC300LC-7s. The company also rented 15 to 20 Komatsu machines from RMS to meet its short-term equipment needs during the past two peak construction seasons.
Ulland chose the huge new 808-horsepower WA800-3 wheel loader equipped with a 14.4 cubic yard bucket because of its productivity and durability. It has also been popular with the operators. “The operator who runs it the majority of the time says the hydraulic system is unbelievable compared to what he used in the past,” Welch reported. The company currently uses the big 220,000-pound-plus wheel loader at the company’s crushing site near Virginia.
The excavators draw positive reviews as well. “The operators I’ve talked to say they’re quiet,” Welch remarked. “That was one of the first things they noticed. The machines are smooth, and the operators really like them.”
Ulland marvels at the technological advances he has seen in equipment over the years, including