Attachments International began business in 1983 as a “mom and pop” operation run by Bonnie and Gerry Henry in a garage in tiny Downer, MN. How this company grew to be a major force in the worldwide equipment attachments industry is truly a Minnesota business success story.
Bonnie and Gerry started their business with a single product, the innovative quick coupler that enabled excavator operators to change buckets on-site in a couple of minutes. The eventual sales success of this remarkable product convinced the Henrys to branch out and eventually produce a variety of buckets, grapples, hitches, and couplers for construction and agriculture.
The Downer garage was soon outgrown and in 1986, the couple leased a 3,600 square foot building in Barnesville, MN. Within a few years however, they realized that this space wasn’t sufficient for their rapidly-growing enterprise.
In 1989, the Henrys moved to a vacant mobile home assembly plant in Pelican Rapids, MN. The plant had 40,000 square feet of space available to accomodate current and future Attachments International activities.
“Each of our growth phases in Pelican Rapids,” comments Gerry, “are correlated with the inclusion of additional products to the product line. Most of our products were developed as the result of a specific need expressed by someone in the construction industry. Typically, our new products are taken here from the concept stage to design and to actual production of the finished product.”
The majority of Attachments International’s sales are distributed through Caterpillar, John Deere, Komatsu, and Case/New Holland.
“Most of our products are low-volume items that the big players can’t produce profitably. We fill the niche for these items.”
Attachments International products include a wide variety of specialty buckets, couplers, forks, blades, rakes, grapples, asphalt cutters, tooth bars, rippers, tines, tree spades, bale spears, ball hitch adapters, grader blades, snow plows, and all types of tractor attachments.
Today, we pride ourselves in lead time, quality, and the ability to custom manufacture nearly anything a customer may want or need. Contact us today if you have a hard-to-find attachment in mind or want us to design and build a custom item for you!