Company looks ahead to its second century

ALBANY, Ga. — Celebrating its 100th anniversary this year, Albany-based Covington Planter, and its sister company, Cole Planter, are the oldest makers of planting equipment in the United States.

While many American companies have suffered — or failed — in the current harsh economy, Covington continues to thrive. CEO Mark Pirrung thinks he knows why.

“It’s simple, really, ” said Pirrung, 61. “We build a quality product and pay attention to our customers. Nothing has changed much in a century except we don’t use mules anymore.”

Covington makes basic one-row and two-row planters, which are designed to be pulled by tractors, and have a starting retail price of about $900 to $1,000. According to General Manager Jacky Stanfill, 61, the planters are ideal for seeding and fertilizing home gardens, making food plots for deer or for working small farms of up to 60 acres. There is even a planter, built by Cole, that can be pulled by a small lawn tractor. Products are available in every state, with dealers as far away as Australia.

In 1984, leadership of Covington was passed on to Pirrung from his father, Gilbert. In that same year, the operation was relocated to Albany from Dothan, Ala., where it had been since the late 1940s. In 2003, Cole Planter was purchased at auction and merged with Covington.

Cole is the older of the two companies, having been founded in North Carolina in 1885. In addition to being CEO of Covington/Cole, Pirrung heads Albany Beverage, a local beer distributorship.

During a tour of the factory at 410 Hodges Ave., each step of the process was explained, from the arrival of raw materials at one end of the plant, to the final assembly and product shipment on the other. Little of the process seems high-tech.

In fact, the facility is a time capsule of sorts, with much of the production equipment dating from the 1930s or before. A wood-frame drill press was said to have been made in the late 1800s. The old machines perform well, still, and with a minimum of maintenance.

“When they made these machines — way back then — they knew what they were doing,” said Stanfill, gesturing toward a massive “punch press” some 15 years his senior.

Just prior to World War II, the planters were re-engineered to reflect the nation’s reliance on tractors, rather than mules, to work their farms. Beyond the increased sturdiness of that redesign, today’s planters are nearly identical to those introduced by W. F. Covington and built at his Headland, Ala., plant in 1911.

One exception is the “hopper,” which rides atop each planter, and dispenses fertilizer. Originally of wood construction, it was replaced with a fiberglass bin. Unfortunately, the fiberglass proved inflexible, tending to crack or break during long-term use. The stock solution now, according to Stanfill, is a bin of durable, yet flexible and lightweight plastic, which holds up longer.

“Well, there is just one problem, from our point of view,” said Stanfill, grinning. “They never need replacing.”

And clearly, there are some long-time customers who like things the way they’ve always been. Stanfill pointed to a mountain of bins, stacked one inside the other, all of them wood, all hand-dipped in Covington red. The original wooden bins are offered as optional alternatives on all new planters.

So how badly has Covington been hurt by the economic downturn? No injury at all, according to Pirrung. In fact, 2009 was the company’s best year yet, with last year running a close second. Pirrung believes that hard times themselves have a been a boon to sales, keeping people closer to home and relying more on their gardens.

But how can Covington be competitive without going digital high-tech, or outsourcing their labor overseas? Large farm equipment companies, such as John Deere, make planters no smaller than four-rows, leaving it to Covington to supply the needs of small and backyard farmers.

And what about China? Could these classic American-built products be manufactured more profitably overseas? Not according to Pirrung.

“No, that’s never going to happen,” he said, emphatically.

Perhaps one of Covington’s greatest success secrets lies in its in-house customer assistance team, headed by Jacky Stanfill, and complemented by “the ladies in the office,” Sharon Kilgo and Cathy Morey. It’s a part of Stanfill’s job he clearly enjoys.

“I love helping people. I don’t mind going anywhere reasonable to help someone set something up,” he said.

Both Kilgo and Morey are knowledgeable in the construction and use of the planter products and spend a considerable part of each day on the phone speaking with clients.

Company officials are united in saying they look forward to the firm’s second century of business.