Page 461 - Peterson 85 Years and Going Strong

INNOVATION AND RISK
One of the hallmarks of Duane Jr.’s character is a particular bent towards innovation. Like his great-grandfather, Howard Peterson, Duane Jr. is an innovative thinker, an entrepreneur and a cal- culated risk-taker. At 37, he’s already got an im- pressive list of innovations that he’s made happen.
• Antarctic Challengers and extreme-weather machines (see pg 331)
• FTO forestry project (see pg 147)
• Finning equipment prep (see pg 144) • 527 TSK project (see pg 193)
“Duane has taken the initiative on several proj- ects,” says Duane Sr. “He was the driving force behind the 527 track skidder. There were a lot of negotiations with Caterpillar and lots of different pieces that had to come together to make it hap- pen. And he had a lot of people helping him on it. But he’s the one that got it done. It was a big deal. Same thing with F TO. That was a case where most people would have said there’s no sense wor- rying about something like that because it would never happen. But Duane made it happen—with both Caterpillar and Finning.”
In 2011, Duane Jr. asked to take on oversight of Special Services because it had lost its momentum. He wanted to get it back on track and revive Pe- terson’s reputation of customization. “We’re a very innovative dealer. We’ll do whatever customers need to help them be successful. A lot of times, that’s customized tractors.” Beginning with Buster Peterson in the 1940s, ‘50s, and ‘60s, Peterson built a reputation for custom fabrication, building one- offs for customers when there wasn’t a machine that fit their need. In the late 1970s and ‘80s, that fell off drastically because of potential liability is- sues and other aspects of the business demanding attention. Under Duane Jr., Peterson is once again actively pursuing custom fab projects both for cus- tomers and new niche markets.
Duane Jr. as PSSR at Schnitzer Steel in 2008
“My dad and I are both risk-takers. We really en- joy these kinds of projects,” says Duane, “but you have to find the right balance. I appreciate that my dad gave me room to learn from my mistakes. What I learned is that you have to be responsible because you could run with all kinds of crazy proj- ects. We still have to run the business and make money. And most of these projects are not going to make money.”
Some of that wisdom came from an experience back in 2009 when Duane Jr. was a PSSR. “I had a customer who owned dozens of D4Es outfitted with special crop spraying equipment. My idea was to convert all those D4Es to Tier 4 compliant en- gines without changing any of the customer’s spe- cial attachments. I worked on that for over a year and they finally gave me a tractor,” says Duane Jr. “The concept was very appealing to them. And it had a huge potential payoff for Peterson.” Unfor- tunately, after the first attempt, the customer lost patience. “You have to learn from each one of these and get smarter about the projects you choose and the business decisions you make, what business you want to pursue and, more importantly, which ones you need to say no to. And you have to learn quick because these lessons are very expensive.”
CHAPTER 28 | 459