Veteran merchandiser Randy Ives, president of ICM Marketing, understands and appreciates this modern approach as well as anyone in the business. He adheres to an unscripted business philosophy that hinges success upon product quality and places an emphasis on niche market discoveries. In fact, the University of Illinois graduate's belief in the intrinsic value of distillers grains has resorted to word creation: His vernacular now includes the mega-jargon "decommoditize," a word used to describe his belief in building value and brand loyalty through local, niche-market sales.
"We have to stop treating distillers grains like a commodity" he frequently says at industry workshops. "We need to get away from just loading rail cars."
Not all merchandisers see eye to eye with Ives, and he doesn't pretend they do. But his message is based on experience and his zeal is earnest.
Distillers grains with solubles, referred to as DDGS when mechanically dried in gas-fired rotary drum dryers or ring dyers, is also sold wet - straight off the plant - and in various modified forms, including pellets, bags and barrels. It is a surprisingly sophisticated and versatile livestock feed with growing dairy, beef, swine and poultry applications worldwide. Niche and specialty markets are bringing new success to the business and the ICM Marketing team is among the best in the game.
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Niche Marketing
"Every marketplace, every plant, has a niche. Sometimes it's obvious, sometimes it's not," Ives says. "I believe it is our job to discover those niches whenever possible."
Ives said ICM Marketing, a sister corporation of Colwich-Kan.-based ICM, Inc., one of the fuel ethanol industry's leading process-engineering firms, has operated relatively low key, with good results, since the company's inception eight years ago.
"For the most part, we've been more focused on merchandising than promoting our company," Ives said. "ICM Marketing started with the belief that if we do things right and build success on our reputation, business would just come to us - and it has - but you can expect us to become more visible now. We feel it's time for that."
In fact, most distillers grains marketing firms operate relatively quietly and receive little media attention in comparison to ethanol production facilities, suppliers and service providers. ICM Marketing is one of several major distillers grains merchandisers based in the Midwest. Other successful firms include Minneaplois-based Commodity Specialists Company (CSC), Scotland, S.D.-based Dakota Commodities (a subsidiary of The Broin Companies), Shoreview, Minn.-based Land O' Lakes Farmland Feed, and U.S. Commodities, of St. Paul. Some of these merchandisers market brand name distillers grains products specific to plants represented by the marketer. Dakota Commodities, for example, sells only "Dakota Gold" disitillers grains from Broin-managed ethanol plants. Many buy and sell from one another based on regional supply and demand.
A Balancing Act
Traveling and speaking at ethanol and distillers grains meetings is an aspect of work Ives has always enjoyed and taken quite seriously. Along with representatives from the other major marketing firms, Ives is one of the most frequently requested speakers at distillers grains seminars across the country.
"I enjoy meeting people, and I enjoy traveling," he says, adding, "Merchandizing is the love of my life. At the same time, my job is to manage and help represent ICM."
So being president of ICM Marketing is a rewarding balancing act for Ives: manage, merchandize and promote. It's what he does best, and it's the reason ICM President Dave Vander Griend wanted him on his team when ICM was formed in 1995 after Vander Griend bought out the engineering and marketing divisions of High Plains Corporation (now Abengoa) in Colwich, Kan.
Ives was the lead marketing manager at High Plains and took a similar position with Vander Griend's newly formed ICM when the company was formed. ICM, Inc. restructured a few years later to attain a moderate level of autonomy among its different divisions. Subsequently, ICM Marketing was formed and Ives was named company president. His marketing team, which started with just Ives and three others, now includes a staff of 13 men and women headquartered in a building that stands independent from ICM's main office but located on the same property.
"While we are a separate company located in a separate office structure, we remain very close-knit, and interlinked with the engineering side of the company," he said, adding, "It's always been very important to us to maintain the cohesiveness that ICM began with. This matters to me because our merchandisers are the kind of folks who know their way around an ethanol plant and can comfortably talk to operators and engineers. We understand the process and that means we really understand the product."
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