WESTERN PRODUCER — In March 2021, Rite Way Manufacturing acquired Morris Equipment. In mid-May of this year, the company announced the launch of a new parent company, Superior Farms Equipment Ltd., which it says will “bring together the rich legacies” of both equipment brands under one umbrella organization.
The company will continue the two independent brand names, but farmers will eventually begin seeing slightly different decals on the sides of implements. The firms say they will begin transitioning their product lines to Rite Way SFE, Morris SFE and ProAG SFE.
“Over time you’re going to see some Superior Farms decals on Morris equipment and on Rite Way equipment,” says Garth Massie, Canadian sales and marketing manager at Morris.
“We’ll kind of ease into it. Of course, there’s brand equity in Morris and Rite Way. The thing for people to get used to is Superior Farms. I think you’ll see Morris and Rite Way in the long term be very prominent. You’ll also see Superior Farms decaling to tie them into this new parent company.
“We are really managed together and always have been, but they’re just kind of formalizing it and making it more public now.”
Added Cameron Johnson, chair and chief executive officer of SFE: “We are thrilled to unveil Superior Farms Equipment and unify the companies to better serve our customers.
“This transition is an exciting step, and the combined companies will continue to be operated by Heather Forbes, who will become the President of SFE after having successfully led Rite Way as its President and CEO since 2012.”
Although the two brand names will remain independent, a lot of integration has already happened within the organization. When Rite Way purchased Morris it did not acquire all of the assets, including the Yorkton production facilities, so air drill manufacturing has moved.
“We’re shifting our parts from Yorkton to Regina,” says Massie.
“That should be complete in a couple of months. Manufacturing for the Quantum drills has moved to Regina, and we’ve moved some of the hay products to Imperial.”
