Mike Todd

Mike Todd, Hydro-Gear's vice president of operations, was the featured speaker at a joint community meeting at the Princeton Country Club Wednesday.
...
Mike Todd, vice president of operations for Hydro-Gear, spoke about the company's history in Princeton and plans for its future during a joint community meeting at the Princeton Country Club Wednesday.

"Our future is innovation, innovation, and innovation," he said.

The company, headquartered in Sullivan, Ill., broke ground on its Princeton plant in June 2005.

"Five months later, we were shipping product out of the facility," Todd said.

Princeton, he added, met a few key criteria for company executives as they sought to expand their operation.

"Hydro-Gear was growing in Sullivan at a faster pace than what the labor supply could give us," he said.

At the same time, the company wanted its new facility to remain close to its Illinois headquarters.

Princeton, about a 4-hour drive from Sullivan, also had the labor force the company was looking for.

"What attracted us to Princeton was the people, first and foremost," said Todd.

Executives also appreciated the community's positivity, and the combination of state and local incentives presented to the company.

The company manufactures hydrostatic drives for the lawn and garden equipment industry - essentially, automatic transmissions for lawnmowers and other products.

"We make products to make the wheels move," said Todd.

The Princeton plant, located in the city-county industrial park on U.S. 62 West, has since risen to manufacture the majority of the company's transaxles intended for use by residential consumers.

The company also manufactures longer-lasting trans­axles for use in commercial applications, and its customer base is widespread.

"We sell products to every manufacturer that makes lawn and garden equipment," Todd said.

The Princeton plant has also been the site of some new developments for the company.

Production on the company's T2 transaxle began here on Jan. 1, 2007, adding about 60 new jobs to the plant.

A second assembly line for the product will be put in locally this year, Todd said.

One of the company's three assembly lines for some of its zero-turn products was moved from Sullivan to Princeton in August, he added.

The Princeton facility currently employs about 250 workers, he said.

The entire company has about 850 employees, including a few in Europe and Asia.

The company, he added, wants to make its employees view their jobs as more than just jobs, and view their colleagues, in a sense, as family.

"This concept of a family-type environment is one that we have and one that we strive for," he said.

Developing people who can embrace that concept and take pride in their jobs and the products they create is another company goal as Hydro-Gear eyes the future, he said.

The company, he added, wants to develop a closer relationship with the local school district to help prepare students for possible future positions in the company.

Such a relationship is already in place in Sullivan, Todd said."The school district reached out to Hydro-Gear in Sullivan and said ‘We want to work together,'" he said.

The company helps sponsor a Junior Achievers program in Sullivan and would support a similar program here, he noted.

Mike Todd, Hydro-Gear's vice president of operations, will be the guest speaker at the lunch meeting, which begins at 11:30 a.m. at the Princeton Golf & Country Club.

The cost is $10 per person; all Caldwell County civic groups and organizations are invited to attend.

Todd maintains global responsibility for managing all of Hydro-Gear's manufacturing, machining, purchasing, production and logistics.

He has been at the company's Sullivan, Ill., headquarters since Hydro-Gear was created in 1991.

During his tenure, he spent three years in Asia, where he met his wife.They have an 8-year-old son.

Todd has a broad background in purchasing, quality and manufacturing standards.

He is originally from South Dakota, where his parents still reside.

He graduated from Iowa State University and completed an advance management program at the Wharton Business School at the University of Pennsylvania.

In addition to his job at Hydro-Gear, Todd has been actively involved in community support through Junior Achievement and Chamber of Commerce board positions.

Mike Todd, vice president of operations for Hydro-Gear, will be the guest speaker at a joint meeting of civic clubs and organizations in the community on Wednesday, Feb. 13.

Todd, who works out of the company's main office in Sullivan, Ill., was instrumental in the location of Hydro-Gear in Princeton in 2005.

The meeting, coordinated by the Princeton-Caldwell County Chamber of Commerce, will be at the Princeton Golf and Country Club and is open to the general public.The Chamber said all civic clubs and organizations are encouraged to attend.

Todd is expected to discuss challenges in today's workplace, particularly as it applies to hiring and attracting younger workers whose goals and expectations differ from those of older workers.

A video produced by Hydro-Gear focusing on the local plant and this community will be shown.

"We have a very aggressive startup schedule, but it is the first of many important milestones in making the Princeton operation a long-term success," added Hydro-Gear's Vice President of Operations Mike Todd.

An e-mail read aloud from Mike Todd, Hydro-Gear's vice president of operations, indicated the company's pleasure in its pending local launch and place in the county's industrial sector.

Mike Todd, Hydro-Gear's vice president of operations, said work on the building was not coming along at the pace they expected, and the company's target date for beginning production had been pushed back to mid-November.

Labor crews continue to work on the plant facility, located in the Princeton-Caldwell County Industrial Park spec building.

Todd said work on the building's infrastructure - mechanical systems, plumbing and electricity - was continuing.

Princeton Electric Plant Board crews installed a large transformer at the plant Wednesday, and Princeton Water and Wastewater Commission crews, assisted by Public Works laborers, recently completed the installation of water and sewer lines to the building.

By March, Todd said, Hydro-Gear expects to have about 160 people employed at its Princeton plant.Most will be full-time employees, he said.

One of the goals at Thursday's job fair, he added, was to find people willing to start around the first of November.

A group of 20 or so employees would make the trip to the company's Sullivan plant for about a week to gain experience and learn the workings of the equipment used in the plant's operation, for the manufacture of parts and equipment used in the lawn and garden industry.

About 12 people from the Sullivan plant are also being selected to relocate to Princeton and help with the local plant's startup.Those selections are almost complete, Todd said.
...
Todd said two other companies would also probably be expanding or locating in the area to offer additional services, relative to Hydro-Gear's manufacturing efforts.
...
Todd also announced the hire of Scott Laffoon as Hydro-Gear's Princeton plant manager.
...
"We think he's a good fit for what our needs are," said Todd.

Hydro-Gear Vice President Mike Todd said that the company was sold on the community because of its location and residents' work ethic.
...
Mike Todd, the company's vice president of operations, was part of a team headed to China to set up new customer relations there, Moore said.
...
"We have a very aggressive startup schedule," Todd said, "but it is the first of many important milestones in making the Princeton operation a long-term success."