Skid steer loaders (often referred to by the brand name Bobcat) are some of the most versatile machines around. Their ability to maneuver in tight spaces, yet still have exceptional lifting capacity has brought their wide acceptance in many industries. They are relied upon daily to complete increasingly difficult jobs throughout agriculture, construction, landscaping, forestry and snow removal applications. The biggest advances the past 10 years have been to their hydraulic performance. Now packed with maneuverability, lift capacity and high-performance hydraulics, skid steer loaders are a mainstay on farms and job sites around the world.

The skid steer loader itself wouldn’t be able to do much of anything without attachments to harness all its advantages. That’s where Virnig Manufacturing comes in. With over 90 unique attachments and nearly 5,000 ways to customize them, there’s a Virnig attachment for almost any job. It hasn’t always been that way though. Like many companies, the beginning of Virnig Manufacturing happened almost by accident and the path to success was much less clear.

Established in a two-car garage, outside the city limits of the rural community of Pierz, MN, in 1989, Dean and Lois Virnig started Virnig Manufacturing and Welding. It began as mainly repair work for local farmers and construction companies in Central Minnesota after layoffs left Dean without a job while Lois was at home taking care of their newborn son. This necessity to succeed resulted in many long days, but within five years of opening the doors, Dean and Lois moved from their makeshift shop into a larger building and expanded into manufacturing skid steer attachments and dump trailers. They subsequently changed their name to Virnig Manufacturing, Inc. and continued high product demand and limited space warranted additions throughout the nineteen-nineties. Finally, the Virnig’s decided to build a state-of-the-art manufacturing facility in Rice, MN, in 2001. Multiple additions to the facility currently brings the entire square footage to over 70,000. Additionally, the entire roof is covered with more than 1,800 solar panels providing almost 45% of the electricity needs.

Today, the facilities encompass all aspects of the manufacturing process. From engineering and cutting raw materials to machining, welding, and painting, Virnig manufactures all of its skid steer attachments in-house. The high-quality product and attention to detail in all areas of the business have allowed growth throughout the United States and Canada, as well as multiple OEM customers who sell worldwide.

There are many things to attribute for the past and continued success of the company, but Virnig wouldn’t be where it is without great employees who truly care about the customer and listen to their needs. This basic principle drives new product development, the entire production process and how its sales and service teams interact with customers daily. This “can-do” culture is rooted in hard work and family values evident at Virnig Manufacturing from the very beginning in that garage outside Pierz. Although the company has grown substantially over the last 30 years, the mission of providing a high-quality, durable product has and will continue to be the same.