Our Story
1972
After building portable crushing, washing and conveying equipment for his dad’s gravel pits, Neil Schmidgall establishes Superior Machinery in Minnesota.
1974
At 20 MPH, Neil and Linda drive their International tractor to retrieve conveyor idler manufacturing equipment purchased in Kansas.
1975
After a terrible winter, which includes the “Great Winter Storm” that buried the region under 20-foot snowdrifts, we build our first indoor warehouse.
1976
Concrete Minnesota acquires Schmidgall Sand & Gravel, which allows Neil and Linda to dedicate 100% of their time to manufacturing.
1982
A paint line is constructed using materials purchased from recently bankrupt Arctic Cat, an American manufacturer of all-terrain vehicles.
1986
Neil leases equipment and space to employees to start their own business as suppliers to Superior and others.
1990
Superior’s first professionally-trained design engineer joins the growing company
1991
A dedicated facility for conveyors and portable plants debuts moving final assembly indoors for the first time.
1994
Neil sells 30% of his ownership in Superior to employees creating an Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP).
Superior earns its first patent for development of the FD Series conveyor axle, which reduces conveyor setup time to seconds.
1996
A King Air C90 Beechcraft airplane is purchased to allow quicker responses to customers’ service needs.
1997
After years of research and development, the first TeleStacker® Conveyor debuts. It earns international attention and connects Superior to the world.
1998
After fire destroys the previous system, a new conveyor parts paint area comes online. The new system includes fiber-optic controls, powder coat painting and infrared curing.
1999
Superior is acquired by publicly-traded Astec Industries of Chattanooga, Tennessee
2000
Plans for facility expansion and production supplies start after the decision to add conveyor pulleys to the product portfolio.
2003
On route from Chicago to Morris, a small plane carrying two young Superior engineers and a pilot crashes in Northeast Iowa. All men onboard passed away.
2004
A group of employees and local community investors purchase ownership of Superior back from Astec Industries.
2007
To better serve rapidly growing markets in the Southwest United States and Latin America, Superior expands manufacturing to Prescott Valley, Arizona.
2007
Conveyor wing pulley market is disrupted when Superior unveils first-ever V-shaped wing pulley.
