Business View Magazine | April 2020

20 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE APRIL 2020 A ccording to Kevin Gagermeier, CEO of L.B. White, a manufacturer and supplier of specialized climate solutions for multiple commercial markets, the company has become a leader in the markets it serves by creating and adjusting products for specific applications and needs. Some of the products L.B. White offers include forced-air box heaters, radiant heat brooders, radiant tube heaters, portable direct and indirect heaters, tunnel doors, and evaporative cooling systems. “For example, when you’re raising pigs and you can keep them more comfortable at a constant temperature, they’re happier, they grow quicker, and they’ll reach market weight in a more timely manner, which make them more profitable for the farmer,: Gagermeier shares.” And so, L.B. White’s products are designed specifically for the job at hand. When raising pigs, L.B. White heaters are used for every phase of development, including breeding-gestation, farrowing, nursery, farrow-to-finish, wean-to-finish, and grow-finish. The L.B. White Company was founded by Lyle B. White, an engineer who started developing metal propane torches in his garage and basement after returning home to Wisconsin after World War II. Over time, White discovered that people were using his products for purposes other than what he had intended, and so in the 1960s, he began to adapt them to what his customers were trying to do. Keeping pigs warm was an example, so White designed a heater specifically to do just that, and his company quickly became the market leader in that industry. From there, L.B. White went into the poultry industry, as well as the temporary, portable heat market. “That was another example of adaptation,” says Chris Smith, Vice AT A GLANCE L.B. WHITE WHAT: A manufacturer and supplier of specialized climate solutions WHERE: Headquarters in Onalaska, Wisconsin WEBSITE: www.lbwhite.com TE Providing climate solutions