Jim Lenz, GEAPS (Host):
Across the grain industry, facility managers and operations teams are being asked to do more than ever, with fewer people, tighter budgets, aging, and higher expectations for safety and uptime. So, how do you actually do more with less without cutting corners, burning out your team, or gambling with reliability? In today’s episode of the Whole Grain Podcast, we explore what it really means to create real value in real time, not just by fixing problems when they happen, but by preventing them before they start. My guest is Kyle Dixon, Vice President of Sales and IBT Industrial Solutions. Kyle brings a rare 360-degree perspective to this conversation over his career at IBT, works directly with brain customers as a sales representative, led teams as a regional manager, and now partners with leadership teams to the strategic level SVP sales. That means these team grain operations for the floor, the store room, and the board room, and the understanding for small changes to our planning and collective maintenance and deliver outsides results. From maximizing testing equipment and reducing downtime to simplify storm rooms, covering technology might be 40 workforce, this conversation is packed with practical insights that brain professionals used right away. Stay tuned. Hello and welcome to the show. Welcome to the Full Green Podcast, where we explore the people of innovation and friends and green industry. My name is Jim Lenz, your host and director of Global Education and Training at GEAPS, where our mission of the Grain Elevator Processing Society is to champion, connect, and serve the global grain industry and our members. Today we’re talking about how grain facilities can do more with less. By working smarter, extending equipment life, reducing risk, and creating value in real time. And there’s no better person to explore that with than Kyle Dixon from IBT Industrial Solutions. IBT is the cheapest premier partner. If you and your organization would like to learn more about our partner program, please visit just like recently. All that and more coming up next. Alright, today we are going to talk about a challenge every grain facility faces, how to do more with less, and how to create real value in real time with solutions that don’t just fix problems but actually prevent them. Joining us is someone who sees it every single day from the front lines. His name is Kyle Dixon, Vice President of Sales at IBT Industrial Solutions. Kyle, welcome to the show.
Kyle Dixon, IBT Industrial Solutions:
Hey, thanks, Jim. I appreciate the invitation. Excited to dig into the topic with you today.
Jim Lenz, GEAPS (Host):
Kyle, before we get into the big topics today, give our listeners a bit of your background. What path brought you into the world of industrial and grain solutions?
Kyle Dixon, IBT Industrial Solutions:
Yes, specifically industrial with IBT. I’ve been with IBT for over 30 years in a multitude of different positions. However, I did grow up in the agricultural market. I grew up on a uh small farm out in uh south central Kansas, fourth generation calving operation with a wheat farm south of Wichita. So I’ve been involved in agriculture in one way or another since I was about two years old.
Jim Lenz, GEAPS (Host):
Oh, great. I did not know that about you. And for those who may be new to IBT Industrial Solutions, I know if anybody has been attending the exchange trade show floor, uh, Expo Hall for the last years. For example, it’s been in Kansas City. You cannot go in Expo Hall without seeing all the great people and find things you offer at IBT Industrial Solutions booth. More than a booth, isn’t it? Yeah, well, but we’ve made it a booth on steroids, Jim. There you go. Uh, but uh, if they did not know about IBT Industrial Solutions, tell people about what products and services you offer.
Kyle Dixon, IBT Industrial Solutions:
IBT focuses on the MRO industry, and we play a critical role in grain space. We support the full life cycle of grain handling and the processing of operations. Our focus really revolves around uh solutions and helping our customers move, store, process different grain capacities safely, efficiently, and most of all profitably.
Jim Lenz, GEAPS (Host):
Good overview of what you do uh for your organization and what your organization does for the grain industry. Now, the phrase do more with less gets thrown around a lot. You hear it in budgeting and operations and safety pretty much everywhere. But in your world, Kyle, what does that actually mean on the ground in a grain elevator or processing plant?
Kyle Dixon, IBT Industrial Solutions:
Well, do more with less is really just another way of saying maximize your capabilities. And it doesn’t just apply to the grain industry, it applies to uh industry across everything today. And in fact, uh you’re in my home spaces as well, most likely, but organizations are expected to deliver a higher output or at least at a consistent production level with fewer resources, whether that be people, uh aging equipment, or even support. Facility managers today carry more of a responsibility than in years of the past. In my world, doing more with less means getting more production out of existing equipment and keeping it running longer and more efficiently. So facility managers can stay focused on their running their business and not fighting their day-to-day operation issues.
Jim Lenz, GEAPS (Host):
So it’s not about cutting corners, it’s more about smarter processes, better planning, and sometimes even small changes that make a huge difference?
Kyle Dixon, IBT Industrial Solutions:
Yeah, absolutely. It’s it’s cutting corners isn’t the goal at all. It’s quite the opposite. What we’re really focused on is extending the life of equipment and reducing downtime in a smart, efficient ways so facilities can operate more reliably and have fewer disruptions to their operations.
Jim Lenz, GEAPS (Host):
Your team at IBT talks a lot about creating real value in real time. That sounds powerful and very needed, but what does that look like in practice?
Kyle Dixon, IBT Industrial Solutions:
Yeah, Jim, we just came through a really busy fall harvest. Everybody’s aware of having much success centers around having the right product in the right place and the ability to respond with same-day service for critical MRO emergency needs, keep running. But the support goes well beyond reactive responses. A key part of our approach is helping facilities to move forward or at least toward proactive maintenance programs such as conveyor belt surveys. When our team is able to help someone uh survey a facility, we can provide a facility manager with actionable data that allows them to plan downtime, replace conveyor belts outside of the harvest season, and ensure their systems are running in a maximum capacity when they need them most. That’s how we help customers, you know, reduce risk, minimize downtime, and stay ready for the peak time demand.
Jim Lenz, GEAPS (Host):
I like that because a lot of grain facilities don’t have extra staff. When something breaks, they don’t have the luxury of waiting three days, for example, for a solution or guessing whether something is going to last.
Kyle Dixon, IBT Industrial Solutions:
Oh, you’re absolutely right. Uptime is everything, and the ability to respond quickly with the right fix is where the real value starts.
Jim Lenz, GEAPS (Host):
Let’s talk about the real-world stuff you see, the headaches, the inefficiencies, the silent killers that cost time and money. What are the biggest problem areas you run into again and again?
Kyle Dixon, IBT Industrial Solutions:
Yeah, some of the things we see, uh a lot of the handling equipment bottlenecks stem from different inefficiencies in production flow, some of which can be traced down to just human error in general. Things that are simply just aren’t inspected routinely or aren’t installed correctly. A good example would be over tightening of bucket elevator bolts, which can lead to premature damage of belting. At the same time, the workforce within MRO marketing is changing with a significant number of experienced employees retiring. We’re all on the receiving end of this, but the education and training have become more and more important than ever. Helping teams understand proper installation, inspection, maintenance practices. This is all critical to keeping the downtime low and protecting equipment and just having a maintaining consistent performance in your equipment.
Jim Lenz, GEAPS (Host):
Makes sense. I imagine many of those are preventable with just a bit of proactive attention. Absolutely.
Kyle Dixon, IBT Industrial Solutions:
They’re small, inexpensive steps that can save facilities thousands of dollars and hours of downtime.
Jim Lenz, GEAPS (Host):
Now there’s so much new technology being marketed to grain facilities, sensors, apps, monitoring tools, analytics. But from your perspective, what tools or innovations are truly making a difference right now?
Kyle Dixon, IBT Industrial Solutions:
Yeah, right now we’re seeing a lot of barge sensors. They’re really starting to gain real traction in the field. They’re making a meaningful impact on improving safety and helping facilities better control their capacity prior to shipping. We’re also seeing facilities successfully use bend level conveyor misalignment and temperature sensors. They can monitor those systems from a PC or even their phone, which can have a major operational impact. That also being said, I’m pretty old-fashioned. The fact that I’ll always say there’s no complete substitute for a daily walkthrough. Technology is a powerful tool, but combining it with hands-on observation is what truly drives safe, reliable, and really some efficient operations.
Jim Lenz, GEAPS (Host):
I like the way you think about that. Don’t chase tech for tech’s sake. Focus on what solves your problem today and gives you better decisions tomorrow.
Kyle Dixon, IBT Industrial Solutions:
That’s exactly right. Practical technology wins every time, man.
Jim Lenz, GEAPS (Host):
People love real-world stories because they vividly show what works. Can you share an example where a facility really did more with less, where a solution changed outcomes quickly?
Kyle Dixon, IBT Industrial Solutions:
Yeah, I can think of a couple of recent examples. We worked with one specific customer experience and some belting issues on a conveyor. Specifically, the belt was peeling off. Our team was able to come on site, diagnose the root cause of the issue, help resolve it. And what that did is it eliminated the customer from both downtime and money. He didn’t have to hire a millwrite, he didn’t have to bring in and replace the entire system. We were able to solve the problem there. Some other larger scale systems, we had another situation where somebody wanted to replace a three-row bucket elevator system. After evaluating the application, we were able to redesign it with a two-row bucket system utilizing larger buckets. It’s not only increased the overall capacity, but it also reduced the number of replacement parts. You don’t have to stock as many parts in the storeroom, and it’s more consistent and standardized across the facilities tool crib. So this demonstrated a longer-term energy savings as well for the customer. And these are great examples of uh how IBT partners with our customers to deliver practical, cost-effective solutions that improving performance for and reliability for that matter.
Jim Lenz, GEAPS (Host):
That’s fantastic. And those stories happen because people are open to new approaches, right? I mean, they’re willing to think differently.
Kyle Dixon, IBT Industrial Solutions:
The best facilities treat every issue as a learning opportunity, Jim.
Jim Lenz, GEAPS (Host):
I like that. One of the biggest concerns we hear across the industry is staffing. Newer employees, less experienced, smaller teams. It’s a real issue facing organizations. How is IBT helping facilities support new workers and build stronger capabilities?
Kyle Dixon, IBT Industrial Solutions:
Well, IBT goes beyond products. We act as a true operational partner. We provide hands-on support, application expertise. We try to offer practical solutions that help new employees get up to speed faster while reinforcing some of the better practices that we see from facility to facility across different operations. We really strive to have a fantastic training program. And through training and on-site support, we can help people standardize solutions and have reliable service. We help reduce knowledge gaps, improve safety, and create consistency so facilities can maintain performance even as workflow experience levels change. Ultimately, we help customers build confidence in their teams and resilience in their operations.
Jim Lenz, GEAPS (Host):
That sounds like not a transactional relationship, more of a transformational relationship. It sounds like the relationship between suppliers and facilities is evolving. You aren’t just selling parts, you’re extending their workforce, aren’t you?
Kyle Dixon, IBT Industrial Solutions:
That’s absolutely correct. IBT is not successful unless our customers are successful. I encourage our customers to consider us as an extension of their own workforce.
Jim Lenz, GEAPS (Host):
Hey, let’s look ahead at the next three to five years. I I know that the grain industry is very dynamic, evolving. Other industries are well, but for this industry and the grain industry, if you look ahead a few years, what excites you? I mean, what trends or improvements should grain operations be preparing for now?
Kyle Dixon, IBT Industrial Solutions:
Yeah, the grain industry is pretty resilient. They fill a need and will continue to do so year after year. The new facilities are going up that are bigger and faster and more automated with extremely efficient handling equipment. Very excited about the ability to maintain and the ease of maintaining some of those new facilities. From a trend standpoint, our industry needs to become younger with many experienced professionals retiring it. It’s critical in this marketplace for the next generation to understand that the grain industry offers the opportunity to build a strong, rewarding career through proper training. It does take some hands-on experience, but it it could be very rewarding. Uh investing in people, uh, education, mentorship is huge, and practical learning, uh, that’ll be the key to sustaining the industry’s success moving forward, in my opinion.
Jim Lenz, GEAPS (Host):
Well, it’s an exciting time, challenging, but certainly full of opportunity. Before we wrap up, I’d love to hear your one big piece of advice. I I know you offered a lot of great pieces of advice here, but uh if a grain facility leader wants to start doing more with less tomorrow morning, what’s the first step?
Kyle Dixon, IBT Industrial Solutions:
Yeah, let’s keep it simple. Give your local IBT representative a call and start having a conversation about your biggest challenge and pain points.
Jim Lenz, GEAPS (Host):
That’s fantastic. We certainly will keep that information available and the link to your website in the show notes. So check that out, listeners. Kyle, this has been fantastic. Thank you for sharing your insights and for the work you and your team do to support grain professionals across the industry. For our listeners, if you’d like to learn more about IBT industrial solutions, we’ll include again links and show notes. And of course, you can always explore more education resources and training for GEAPS. Kyle, thanks again for joining us on the Jeeps Whole Grain podcast.
Kyle Dixon, IBT Industrial Solutions:
Thanks, Jim. It’s great being here.
