The annual awards program celebrates excellence in Manitoba’s manufacturing and exporting sectors, recognizing achievements in leadership, innovation, safety, sustainability, and business growth. More than 400 industry professionals attended this year’s event.

Lodder accepted the Hall of Fame Award on behalf of Walinga, a longtime FEMA member known for its contributions to agricultural and industrial equipment manufacturing. The award recognizes individuals who have made a lasting impact on Manitoba’s manufacturing industry through leadership, innovation, and business growth.

Reflecting on the recognition, Lodder said, “We were humbled and honoured to receive the Hall of Fame Award. It was a beautiful cap to a more than 48-year journey for me and Walinga.�

Congratulations to Cor and the entire Walinga team on this well-deserved recognition.

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“Our vision and mission remain to provide innovative solutions for the ag market, both for transportation and pneumatic conveying. That forms the basis of what we do every day,” said Walinga CEO Butch Medemblik.

When Cornelius Walinga and his son-in-law John Medemblik founded the company in 1954, it was called Commercial Body and Coach, and their slogan was “Building any body for anybody.” As the business evolved, they saw a need for high-quality equipment designed for the specific needs of the agricultural market, and they decided to make that their entire focus. Robert Lodder joined the company as a third owner in 1959, and in 1965, they moved their headquarters to a larger facility on the outskirts of Guelph, Ont., to meet the needs of a growing customer base.

In the 1970s, the company underwent what Butch calls “a natural progression,” expanding from trucks and trailers to also include pneumatic conveying solutions, which grew out of the pneumatic systems that moved grain and feed in and out of Walinga’s trailers. The inaugural pneumatic conveying solution offered by Walinga was a mobile unit that could be powered by a farm tractor, making Walinga one of the first producers in North America to use a positive displacement system to transfer grains, resulting in faster transfer rates using less horsepower and smaller lines.

“Today, engineered transportation equipment and pneumatic conveying solutions are the two business units that form the backbone of Walinga,” Butch said.

Source: Sideroads Summer 2024

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