H&S Manufacturing Co. Inc. was founded by Mr. Lauri Heikenen and two partners in 1967. In the years that followed, Mr. Heikenen bought out his
 original partners and H&S remains a family owned business. The business was started to manufacture and sell self-unloading forage boxes to farm equipment dealers. The original manufacturing facility was a 50 x 100' block building with a verysmall office located on 5 acres in the then new Marshfield Industrial Park.
Over its 32-year history, H&S has experienced steady expansion of facilities, products, and markets. The original 5,000 square foot manufacturing plant has grown to 220,000 square feet on 56 acres in Marshfield and Clintonville, Wl. and Ripley, NY.
From its beginning, the dairy farm industry has always been H&S's most important market. In 1968, there were 14 manufacturers making forage boxes for the dairy industry, though today that number has dropped to five. In 1968, H&S was the newest manufacturer of that group, while today H&S sets the standard for the industry and dominates the market.
Manure spreaders are another major product H&S supplies to the dairy industry, and H&S manure spreaders have become a dominant player in this market as well. Indeed H&S manure spreaders are used on dairy farms as far away as Korea and Japan. H&S manure spreaders have also gained great acceptance for the commercial spreading of municipal sludge. H&S's larger industrial grade Top Shot spreaders are literally spreading municipality generated sludge from the Atlantic to the Pacific and all the way down to the Gulf of Mexico.
In 1988, H&S chose to enter the large hay rake market. In the 11 years since, H&S has become not only the largest player in that market, but also the design leader, with six patents granted by the U.S. government for new designs of bi-fold and high-capacity rakes. The rake business has significantly increased H&S's presence in ag-markets beyond the dairy industry.
In 1991, H&S formed a new division to manufacture and market trailers under the Loadmaster label. The H&S Loadmaster business started with snowmobile trailers and now includes utility and cargo trailers as well. Today the trailer line is continuing to grow with 37 different models available through a separate network of over 200 dealers.
For the future, H&S is leading the pack in two developing agricultural technologies, wrapping high moisture baleage, and crop-merging in front of high capacity self propelled choppers. With its demonstrated ability to increase sales in shrinking markets, H&S is confident of its ability to lead in these new growing markets.