Precision Pulley & Idler is celebrating 40 years in Marion County.

President and CEO Roger Brown tells KNIA/KRLS News that PPI has remained in Pella and small communities throughout Iowa for a variety of reasons, including their commitment to employees and the cities they live in.

“Pella’s probably the largest town we’re in in Iowa,” he says. “We have plants in Corning, Lenox, and a facility in Algona — not metropolises in Iowa, but places we’ve been able to put roots in and develop plants and grow in all of those areas, and that’s huge to us, so one of the main things we try to do as a corporate citizen is give back to our communities.”

“The big thing for us is that we want to help our people–our people live and work in those communities and that’s where we want to help.”

That investment in employees is due in large part to the fact that PPI is owned by those that work there.

“The biggest thing for our folks though and I think almost everyone in Pella realizes it, but I don’t think they realize that we are a 100 percent ESOP company, so we are 100 percent owned by our employees” he says.

Brown says they’ve also made acquisitions in the food processing industry to keep diversifying their portfolio as they look to continue growth.

Governor Kim Reynolds and Lt. Governor Adam Gregg were also both in attendance for a ceremony celebrating PPI’s 40th anniversary.