HAVEN — For more than five decades, a small but sturdy agricultural manufacturing plant has sat on the west side of Haven, just off of Highway 96.
This specialty manufacturing company, Kincaid Equipment Manufacturing, is known nationwide for its seed research vehicles, many of which they ship to colleges and labs across the country.
Todd Warner, the vice president of Kincaid, wants to increase the company’s platform. Just recently, Kincaid purchased Seed Research Equipment Solutions out of South Hutchinson. SRES is known both nationally and internationally. 
“They have a footprint in South Africa, Chile, Australia, and Europe,” Warner said. “It’s a product line that complements our product line as we try to grow more.” Warner said the two companies fit well together. “Their specialty is in precision planting,” he said.
Since 1999, SRES has provided custom-built planters, software, controllers and equipment.
“This current acquisition is a way of leading the industry into the future,” Warner said. “The technology keeps us in line and at pace with the competition.” Along with patents on their own technology, similar to Kincaid, SRES developed their own software. “This makes the planter foolproof,” Warner said. “The planter is doing all the work through the GPS.”
Kincaid Equipment will now provide customers with planters, controls and data insights. This collaboration draws on 79 years of combined experience in the seed research industry and allows both companies to deliver high performance and reliability into the industry.
Kincaid’s product line continues to include the high-performance 8XP multi-crop plot combine, twin plot combines, planters and threshers. Kincaid continues to split all combine brands for twin plots and works with companies to provide contract manufacturing.
As a division of Kincaid Equipment, SRES will continue to deliver next-generation solutions.
This purchase will add 10 more jobs to Kincaid, and in about one year the SRES division will relocate from South Hutchinson to Haven, including all the workers. Stacy Unruh, who built SRES, will stay on as well. In addition, Kincaid has a few more products coming out.
“We’ll probably add five to 10 jobs in Haven in the next two to three years (in addition to the SRES jobs),” Warner said. “With the acquisition, that’s 42 jobs.” With a population of slightly more than 1,000 residents, these inner-city jobs are crucial for helping smaller communities like Haven flourish.
Although Kimberley Kincaid-Warner, the president of the company, said there is a lot of synergy between the two companies, the colors of their equipment are different. Kincaid prides itself on a robust red, while SRES uses an azure blue. Minor differences aside, the two companies look to continue to increase the economic footprint of Reno County.
“As we grow the company,” Kincaid-Warner said. “We’re able to give back to the community.”
As reported in The Hutchinson News.
