During this year’s annual GEAPS Exchange – a convention with an exposition organised by the US-based Grain Elevators and Processing Society – Milling and Grain was fortunate enough to meet with Pat and Bill McLean, the now-retired couple who had worked hard to build the now international company of Essmueller, a supplier of conveying and grain handling equipment.
Today’s McLean family is in its third generation of family ownership of the Essmueller company which began life 147 years ago as a flour mill construction business in St Louis, Missouri in the USA. Mr and Mrs McLean were visiting this year’s GEAPS Exchange to congratulate their sons on constructing one of the largest bucket elevators to come out of North America at 2800 tonnes per hour – and which is destined for port facilities around the world. Mr McLean retired as President and CEO of the company in 2014. Milling and Grain met with the couple in the Essmueller booth.
Welcome Pat and Bill. Can I start by asking Bill a little history of the Essmueller company and how you became involved with the business?
Bill: The Essmueller company was started in 1878, and there were three Essmueller generations that ran the company. At the end of the third generation the McLeans came in. Now there’s been three McLean generations in the business.
The company started in St Louis, Missouri building flower mills. There were many flour mills needed on the Mississippi and Missouri rivers between St Louis and Kansas City which kept The Essmueller Company busy with orders. Their approach was to go out and build an entire mill out of timber. Everything was made of wood.
And why did that stop?
Bill: Essmueller did that for many years. Then flour processing changed everything. You could now keep flour stored for a longer period of time, three or four times longer than freshly milled flour. Therefore, there was not the need for so many flour mills.
The Essmueller Company stopped building flour mills. As a result, the conveying business was started with Ralston Purina. We exclusively supplied all its drag conveyors from early-1950’s until mid-1960’s. We stayed with them for 15 to 20 years and didn’t sell to anyone else. Together, we had jointly developed a much better conveyor. Then, their company had a board change and a whole new leadership decided that they should go out and request bids on all new equipment.
We were no longer their sole supplier of conveying equipment. We went out into the market with our unique conveyor which was quite a big deal at that time.
How successful were you?
Bill: We took the conveying business by storm because we had developments that worked. We were selling to feed mills, basically, replacing conveyors with ’rounded bottoms.’ Millers wanted to handle bushels and wanted to keep product-degradation to a minimum, so they don’t want anything that would lead to a crush of materials when being moved.
This was at the time my father and his three colleagues bought the company from the last Essmueller family member, Mr Arthur Essmueller. When the new owners took over, the company’s given name was kept as it respected the original family’s name. Mr Arthur Essmueller was the last Essmueller and I believe it was in the late-1950’s to early-1960’s that my father’s group bought the company.
After the purchase the four new owners ran the company for a long time. My dad became the major stockholder of the business. When my father retired, he was kind enough to pass to myself and my brother the stock he held in the company to put us both on the board.
When did you retire Mr McLean?
Bill: I retired about 10 years ago in 2014. I was 70 and things were changing and have changed very much since then. My sons have taken off and have just run with developments occurring in the industry. Today, they have a super group of people, and right now the company is about 130 employees including strong office support.
So, Mrs McLean, what has been your role in the company?
Pat: Right now, I’m just supporting what our boys are doing, but before when Bill and I bought the company, I was involved. I had no accounting background, but I took on this area of the business and became the accountant for the company and learned on the job. So, in a few words, Bill sold everything, and I collected the money.
Mrs McLean, has your relationship with Bill improved by working together for all these years? Are you just as happy now as you were when you started out?
Pat: In the very beginning we made an agreement that whenever we left the office no matter what time it was, business stayed at the office. We did not come home with it. We did not need to talk about it because we had talked together all day long.
And Bill are you still involved in the company?
Bill: Yes, I’m still chairman of the board, but I’m not going down to the factory as much as I used to. One of our sons lives about three miles from us and he’ll stop on his way home and tell me what went on that day.
Where are the company’s orders coming from the continental USA, or are international orders growing?
Bill: International orders are beginning to grow, and we have engaged an international marketing specialist to help the company open its international potential. Big companies are coming to us now for exports, because they can’t get this type of equipment where they are.
We learnt this morning at GEAPS 2025 Idea’s Exchange that it’s proving difficult to attract young people to engage with our industry. What is your view of this situation?
Bill: Back when I ran the company, I knew everybody’s name, their wife’s name, all their kids, those who played football or who played baseball, all that stuff. And that was when it was fun, because it was personal.
We had about 50 employees, so I could remember everybody. But now the company has 130 and no-one can do that anymore. Of all those who came to work for us, I think there are only one or two left that haven’t retired. Some employees have been with us for more than 35 years.
Having a family-type organisation allows you to keep people, because you can afford to take care of them. They shouldn’t move on to some other company, a holding company or one of these big companies, where you are just a number, just a cost.
Any final remark Bill?
Bill: No, other than the fact that we’re just very, very proud of what this younger generation has done and what they’ll continue to do. We’re just so proud of them.
Published in the April 2025 issue if Milling and Grain.
