BUSINESS NEWS
U.S. Senator Dr. Roger Marshall, on a weekend visit to his hometown of Great Bend, visited Fuller Industries Monday between touring Advancing Barton County Childcare’s new Bright Beginnings daycare facility and meeting with supporters before leaving town later in the day. Fuller General Manager Joe 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.
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.”