The Hornady Heritage and Vision
Joyce Hornady’s bankers thought the idea was far-fetched, to say the least. Bullets? Making bullets for reloaders? What kind of business was that? A person could go broke in a hurry. The Hornady Sporting Goods Company was a business they could understand; bicycles, tennis rackets, team uniforms, basketballs, baseball bats and gloves. Now, that was a business. But bullets … no, there was no future there. And so it was that J.W. Hornady learned the entrepreneur’s first lesson: “A banker is someone who’ll lend you an umbrella only when the sun is shining.”
In 1949, with World War II over, with the economy returning to peacetime status, with shortages beginning to recede, with Americans anxious to get on with normal lives, Joyce Hornady started a new business. The nation was optimistic. Hornady was especially optimistic. He knew, he absolutely knew, there were thousands of shooters who wanted what he’d wanted: accurate, deadly, dependable bullets they could afford to reload. “Accurate, deadly, dependable” described his products so well that it became the new company’s first advertising slogan.
Hornady, the son of a pastor, was named for a prominent Methodist bishop, Bishop Joyce, who oversaw church affairs in Colorado and western Nebraska. The resourcefulness Joyce later put to use in his business was evident from his childhood on. His father died from an abscessed tooth—something modern medicine would cure in a moment—and he learned early on to share responsibilities helping his mother and his siblings make do on a tiny pastor’s widow’s pension. Nevertheless, he learned to shoot, he learned to hunt—and he loved both.
Hornady Manufacturing Company’s locations in USA
There are many other aerospace companies in USA. If you want to have a look at our mapping of the country, please follow the link bellow.
Hornady Manufacturing Company locations in Grand Island NE area
Activity:
3625 W Old Potash Hwy
1-308-382-1390
Mid-Century Surge
When the Korean War wound down, growth did, indeed, resume. By 1958, the company’s need for space required it to move to its present location, an 8,000-square-foot plant with a 200-yard underground test facility.
J.W. Hornady, who from the first had tested each lot of bullets by driving—winter and summer, rain or shine—to the Grand Island Rifle Range, could now just walk downstairs to the ballistics lab and range.
Moreover, instead of spending a great deal of time on the road as the company’s chief salesman, he employed a staff of professional sales representatives to handle marketing duties. The company’s growth required every minute of attention he could provide.
A Focus on Quality
The “bullet works,” as his children sometimes lightheartedly referred to the company, was a very interesting business. Hornady Manufacturing Company customers:
- Were shooting hobbyists and enthusiasts
- Had the same performance expectations as J.W. Hornady did
- Could test bullet accuracy and dependability as well as the company’s lab
In brief, customers were generally knowledgeable, demanding, and critical. If a lot of bullets didn’t measure up, feedback was immediate.
Two decades before all of American industry became aware of the importance of total quality control, Hornady Manufacturing was committed to it. J.W. Hornady captured the quality ideal in a simple phrase: “ten bullets in the same hole.” Operationally, on the plant floor, that translated into consistent performance and continuous improvement. The “same hole” could always get smaller. And customers could—and would—always test this for themselves.
Innovation & Success
Just as quality had always been highly prized within the company, so, too, was innovation. It took new form in the early 1960s with the first major change of bullet design the company had undertaken. While the bullet catalog now ranged from .22 caliber to .45 caliber, all spire points retained their traditional conical point shape. The ballistics lab supported experimentation that led to the secant ogive spire point shape common to all pointed bullets currently.
Quality, continuous improvement, and innovation were bedrock principles on which the company’s growth was built. Behind them one could see some of the principles of the company’s founder: honesty, fair value, responsiveness to customer needs—and employee welfare. J.W. Hornady had paid his very first employees more than he paid himself. As the company grew, health and retirement benefits were added. As he succeeded, so he wanted his employees to succeed.
DOING BUSINESS WITH Hornady Manufacturing Company?
Willing to do business with Hornady Manufacturing Company and you don’t know how to start? Looking for a person with extensive knowledge in Hornady Manufacturing Company’s activity?
Aerospace Export regroups experts from all location with all type of skills (sales rep, M&A consultant, lawyers, government officials. ). We specialized in supporting the organic and external growth of Aerospace & Defense companies. If you feel that we could be helpful in your projects, please don’t hesitate to contact us. We will assist, advise and connect you with our network for FREE.
Trade Shows & Conferences to attend
Trade shows and conferences are the best place to go if you want to grow your business with Hornady Manufacturing Company & others, learn about new technology, find a new job opportunity at Hornady Manufacturing Company or elsewhere,… You have the opportunity to be able to meet with all the industry main actors in one single place.
Feel free to check the listing that we established of the best trade shows & conference to attend in the Aerospace & Defense market.
A Company Moving Forward
Executive leadership of the Hornady Manufacturing Company has not faltered in the firm’s first 60 years. What was created in 1949 grew sound enough and strong enough to survive the cruel blow of losing the founder 32 years later. Under Steve Hornady’s leadership, and with the active support and involvement of the Hornady family, the business has doubled, and doubled again, and doubled again. In 2006, Jason Hornady, Steve’s son, returned to the company as director of sales and is currently vice president. The stature of Hornady Manufacturing Company within its industry has never been higher.
Hornady Manufacturing has gone from a start-up in a small Grand Island former auto body shop to become the largest independently owned maker of bullets, ammunition, and tools in the world. That’s quite an accomplishment. It demonstrates that a great many things have been done right throughout the company’s history. It suggests as well that the future may prove just as promising.
The Hornady Manufacturing Company is truly more than the sum of its employees, equipment and facilities. A visitor to Grand Island, Nebraska, can quickly discover how active the Hornady family has been in community affairs, how generous in its philanthropy, how concerned for helping others—including the larger shooting community.
Mid-Century Surge
When the Korean War wound down, growth did, indeed, resume. By 1958, the company’s need for space required it to move to its present location, an 8,000-square-foot plant with a 200-yard underground test facility.
J.W. Hornady, who from the first had tested each lot of bullets by driving—winter and summer, rain or shine—to the Grand Island Rifle Range, could now just walk downstairs to the ballistics lab and range.
Moreover, instead of spending a great deal of time on the road as the company’s chief salesman, he employed a staff of professional sales representatives to handle marketing duties. The company’s growth required every minute of attention he could provide.
A Focus on Quality
The “bullet works,” as his children sometimes lightheartedly referred to the company, was a very interesting business. Hornady Manufacturing Company customers:
- Were shooting hobbyists and enthusiasts
- Had the same performance expectations as J.W. Hornady did
- Could test bullet accuracy and dependability as well as the company’s lab
In brief, customers were generally knowledgeable, demanding, and critical. If a lot of bullets didn’t measure up, feedback was immediate.
Two decades before all of American industry became aware of the importance of total quality control, Hornady Manufacturing was committed to it. J.W. Hornady captured the quality ideal in a simple phrase: “ten bullets in the same hole.” Operationally, on the plant floor, that translated into consistent performance and continuous improvement. The “same hole” could always get smaller. And customers could—and would—always test this for themselves.
Innovation & Success
Just as quality had always been highly prized within the company, so, too, was innovation. It took new form in the early 1960s with the first major change of bullet design the company had undertaken. While the bullet catalog now ranged from .22 caliber to .45 caliber, all spire points retained their traditional conical point shape. The ballistics lab supported experimentation that led to the secant ogive spire point shape common to all pointed bullets currently.
Quality, continuous improvement, and innovation were bedrock principles on which the company’s growth was built. Behind them one could see some of the principles of the company’s founder: honesty, fair value, responsiveness to customer needs—and employee welfare. J.W. Hornady had paid his very first employees more than he paid himself. As the company grew, health and retirement benefits were added. As he succeeded, so he wanted his employees to succeed.
DOING BUSINESS WITH Hornady Manufacturing Company?
Willing to do business with Hornady Manufacturing Company and you don’t know how to start? Looking for a person with extensive knowledge in Hornady Manufacturing Company’s activity?
Aerospace Export regroups experts from all location with all type of skills (sales rep, M&A consultant, lawyers, government officials. ). We specialized in supporting the organic and external growth of Aerospace & Defense companies. If you feel that we could be helpful in your projects, please don’t hesitate to contact us. We will assist, advise and connect you with our network for FREE.
Hornady Manufacturing Company’s locations in USA
There are many other aerospace companies in USA. If you want to have a look at our mapping of the country, please follow the link bellow.
Hornady Manufacturing Company locations in Grand Island NE area
Activity:
3625 W Old Potash Hwy
1-308-382-1390
A Company Moving Forward
Executive leadership of the Hornady Manufacturing Company has not faltered in the firm’s first 60 years. What was created in 1949 grew sound enough and strong enough to survive the cruel blow of losing the founder 32 years later. Under Steve Hornady’s leadership, and with the active support and involvement of the Hornady family, the business has doubled, and doubled again, and doubled again. In 2006, Jason Hornady, Steve’s son, returned to the company as director of sales and is currently vice president. The stature of Hornady Manufacturing Company within its industry has never been higher.
Hornady Manufacturing has gone from a start-up in a small Grand Island former auto body shop to become the largest independently owned maker of bullets, ammunition, and tools in the world. That’s quite an accomplishment. It demonstrates that a great many things have been done right throughout the company’s history. It suggests as well that the future may prove just as promising.
The Hornady Manufacturing Company is truly more than the sum of its employees, equipment and facilities. A visitor to Grand Island, Nebraska, can quickly discover how active the Hornady family has been in community affairs, how generous in its philanthropy, how concerned for helping others—including the larger shooting community.
