Business View Magazine | April 2020

22 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE APRIL 2020 Regarding the company’s competition, Smith believes that what sets L.B. White apart in the agricultural marketplace is that while it focuses exclusively on heating and cooling, its competitors have a wider range of product offerings. “They might sell a heater, but they also might sell a feed bin, or a drinker, or something else,” he states. “We concentrate on heat and because we do that, we have, probably, the largest engineering department of all of our competitors. “And because of that, we tend to be the leaders in product development and our competitors often choose to copy us,” says Gagermeier. Funke, adds, “We have many configurable parts numbers going into these different markets that can satisfy customers’ specific needs. We also make very high-quality, long-lasting, robust heaters in a very short manufacturing and shipping lead time. That also differentiates us from our competitors.” Just as the firm’s founder continued to innovate in the company’s early days, Smith says that Vice President of Marketing, Chris Smith