Mid-States Companies, located and headquartered in Nevada, Iowa, is in the final stages of their most recent expansion effort: a 9,000 square foot administrative office building intended to bring together their range of businesses and services under one roof. The expansion is the latest in a long line of reinvestment projects for the company.
Kevin Vier, President and Chief Executive Officer of Mid-States Companies is a Nevada native and grew up in a family-owned construction business with his father. Through V&H Construction, he had his first opportunity to sell a grain bin dryer. “At the time, I wanted the opportunity to work on larger projects,” said Vier, thinking back to the origins of Mid-States.
In 2001, he founded Mid-States Millwrights & Builders (MMB) after working for and eventually purchasing Lint Millwright in Nevada. Over the next two decades, Mid-States expanded from five employees and a 50×70 shop, to a company that now employs over 100 people and includes millwright services, structural steel fabrication, material handling equipment, cranes and trucking services, as well as engineering and design services. Today, both of his sons Austin and Riley are helping to lead the company. Austin as Chief Operating Officer and Riley as Vice President of Marketing & Development.
“Our business has been fortunate to scale in steps,” said Riley, acknowledging the history of the company that he grew up in. Since 2001, Mid-States Companies has grown in scope and now occupies over 139,000 square feet of manufacturing space in Nevada.
In the mid-2000s, the supply chain of procuring equipment slowed with the ethanol boom. “Since we couldn’t get equipment in a timely manner,” Vier said, “we realized that we might as well start manufacturing our own equipment. This was when we first started making our own catwalk, towers, platforms, structural steel and soon after, our lines of material handling equipment.”
In 2010, they built a 14,000-square-foot manufacturing facility and officially launched Mid-States Material Handling and Fabrication. The company supported the millwright division by providing structures and material handling equipment.
In the years that followed, the expansions continued to keep up with the demand. A 34,000 square-foot addition was announced in 2017, followed by a 40,000-square-foot addition to the facility as new product lines were developed and additional demand grew. By 2021, the company had built up a fleet of cranes and trucks that were used for MMB projects and launched Mid-States Crane and Trucking to provide those services to external customers. Finally, in May of this year, Mid-States started Mid-States Design & Engineering and brought professional engineering services in-house and created a space for all their existing drafting and design staff to be under one roof.
“We are now vertically integrated from design and engineering, to manufacturing, to millwright services, to crane and trucking,” said Vier. “We are a one-stop shop for our clients, which is notable as we have more control over the services and products we provide.”
Mid-States Companies is an economic development success story that reinforces the importance of supporting local expansion projects and how that can positively impact a community. They operate nationwide across 34 states from California to New York. In addition to their own employees, they manage the same number across project sites.
“At Mid-States Companies, it’s all about the people,” said Vier. “We have been blessed with not only family, but also great leaders and dedicated employees across our various operations. It’s great to be able to grow this company in Nevada where I and the rest of my family grew up.”
Learn more about Mid-States Companies on their website:
