TriMark • Celebrating 50 Years 7 TriMark makes mark on New Hampton area loads, UV exposure tolerance and hot/cold temperature testing. “We’ve been through the good times and bad times,” said Mary Ott, who has spent her entire 42 years at TriMark in production and inventory control. “We’ve seen the changes from manual work when we fi rst started to computer technology now, but the company, the bosses and my co-workers have always been supportive of me in different ways — both emotionally and physical- ly.” ••••• Last month, the employees and retirees of TriMark gathered on the grounds surrounding its New Hampton plant to celebrate the 50th anniversa- ry of the company’s founding. They ate, they drank, they played and they looked at vehicles ranging from huge trucks to motorcycles that have TriMark prod- ucts, but mostly they talked. They shared sto- ries about the “old days.” They smiled. They laughed. “A lot of us think of TriMark as our second family,” said Lynn Hopp, a member of the senior management team who helped put the event together, “and that’s why we want this to be a family type of deal. While we’ve worked hard all these years, we’ve also watched each other’s kids grow up, get married and see some of them become part of this second family.” Luann Heying has worked at TriMark for 44 years — two years in assembly, eight years in the old machine shop, 25 years in stamping and the past nine in process engineering. Back when she worked in the machine shop, she remembers Emil Marr bringing his son, Scott, into work on Saturday mornings. “Scott was around 4, 5 years old,” she said. “We would wave at Scott and tease him a bit, and I always remember Scott would always bring in his artwork and show us. He was infatuated with the TriMark truck and would draw pictures of it. … Well, I currently work in the cubicle next to Scott Marr.” ••••• As TriMark gears up for its next 50 years, it has built a rock-solid foundation in New Hampton. The company has been heavily involved in the commu- nity almost from its start, and it supports numerous orga- nizations and activities on an annual basis. Its employees are in a word, committed, to New Hampton and the surrounding area. Take Ric Marzolf, for example. He started as a design engineer in the late 1970s and worked as design engi- neering manager, sales and marking manager, product development manager and vice president of Research and Development. “I started at Owatonna Tool Company in July [1977] and shortly thereafter they said they have a division in Iowa that needed engineers to complete some projects and was convinced/told that I should go. So I transferred to Lynor Engineering in August 1977 and thought that I would maybe stay six months or so until the products were launched but never left.” Why? “Life is all about decisions and I felt that I could not have made a better choice than to live, work and raise a family in New Hampton. I have progressed and grown in the same ways that TriMark has.” Just a small sample of the products produced by TriMark employees! TriMark reaches near and far as employees (above) and their families take part in a Heartland Days Parade in New Hampton and the company’s booth (below) is set up for a trade show in Las Vegas.
