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Tipping the Bucket: How Maxi-Lift Feeds the World


Did you know that elevator buckets touch everybody’s life? Okay, I know at least half of you are like what even is an elevator bucket? And even if you do know what it is, you are probably wondering how it reaches you. Tuesday in class, I got the incredible chance to meet Paul Phillips, president of Maxi-Lift, Inc. Maxi-Lift is an awesome company that started from scratch. They are family owned and privately held. They have had significant growth in the past 15 years and have incurred no debt! They are what business pro’s would call a PRMG company. They are a company where you would never have to worry about your job (if you’re doing the right thing of course).

Maxi-Lift produces elevator buckets. Elevator buckets are these heavy duty, plastic buckets that attach to grain elevators. Grain elevators are used in agricultural and industrial settings and they are used to move product. Product is poured into a bin, which pours into a vertical conveyer belt that has buckets attached. The buckets ride to the top, then tip over and pour the contents out into a storage silo. Generally the first thing we think of are feed mills where grain is moved every day. But these elevators also move things that I never even thought of. These buckets move rice, pet food, sugar, wheat, sand that is made into glass, coffee, coal, rocks, clay, nuts. Anything that’s sold as a bulk solid, is pretty much moved by these elevators. The bread that we eat, the glass for our window panes, the rice from your favorite Asian restaurant, all of it has been moved by elevator buckets. Just like Paul Phillips said, “they affect your life in every way, you just never see ‘em.” I know that some of you may still be wondering how it works, so if you can’t visualize my words, watch this video.

Maxi-Lift also makes sure their products are sustainable. They know that last year the world had to produce 2.4 billion pounds of grain to feed 7 billion people, and by 2050 that production rate has to increase by 70%. Unlike the U.S. most parts of the world eat mainly grains and rice. They don’t eat as much meat as Americans. So Maxi-Lift has done what no other company can do. Mr. Phillips said that to be able to feed the world you have to do 3 things:
1.       Provide new, innovative technology
2.       Produce products at a lower price
3.       Produce products with a more efficient design

That sounds like the 3 pillars of sustainability to me! And guess what? Maxi-Lift is doing all of those things! By using plastic injection molding technology Maxi-Lift has been able to produce elevator buckets that last 3-5 years longer than any competitor.Their buckets are color coded so that they know what customers need. If a customer calls and doesn’t know what model bucket they need replaced, they can just tell Maxi-Lift what color their bucket is! By changing the design of elevator buckets to be bigger and thicker in vulnerable areas (like corners) for tougher jobs, they have improved efficiency across the industry. Maxi-Lift has a sister company called Southwest Agriplastics. They use the same plastics technique to create flooring for swine facilities and hatcheries, animal shelter kennels. They also create other livestock products like feed containers and pails. 

Maxi-Lift is now working in 70 different countries, providing elevator buckets to new granaries being built. To continue promoting their business and building consumer confidence, Maxi-Lift created a brand. When they released the Tiger-Tuff elevator buckets, Maxi-Lift created a brand to be remembered. The video below is actual footage of the live tiger that they brought with them to a trade show. Maxi-Lift doesn’t want to sell people a product, they want to sell their brand. Simply because it is the best! When people associate a product to a brand, it creates a lot of business. Think about it, when you tell your friend about the coolest new thing that you bought and how well it works you don’t just tell them that you bought a new phone. You tell them that you bought the newest Apple product or whatever it happens to be. The same way we associate tissues with Kleenex, we associate items with brands. I think Maxi-Lift does their job well, especially when it comes to impressing their customers.


So to summarize, Maxi-Lift is a great company (did I mention they’re located right here in Texas?!). They are really important to the agriculture industry as well as other industries. Without them to innovate efficient storage where would we be? If we didn’t have a way to store our coffee beans…America would be in chaos! I hope you realize the importance of this company to our livelihoods. Check out their website www.maxilift.com and follow them on Twitter @maxiliftinc to get updates!


**This post is not endorsed by Maxi-Lift, Inc. This post contains information received from the visit with Maxi-Lift and my own opinions.**

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