Following the retirement of John Christ, Kahler Automation’s board named Jessica Geelan, previously the company’s CFO, as CEO.
For Geelan, the leadership transition is both a continuation of Kahler’s long-standing role in ag retail automation and an opportunity to bring a different perspective to the company’s next phase.
Kahler Automation provides industrial automation solutions built for ag retail operations, including systems that support blending, loadout, control and reporting processes.
“I think being the leader in the automation industry, especially for agricultural customers, is super important,” Geelan says. “We continue to offer the leading-edge automation services to our customers. That’s where our customers gain the most value from us in our software and our project management.”
The company’s current automation offerings include platforms that connect inventory, blending, loadout and automation systems into a single workflow; bulk material handling automation for fertilizer and grain operations; and solutions designed to help fertilizer and grain facilities manage truck traffic flow from entry to exit.
Geelan says Kahler’s technology is only part of the company’s value proposition. Just as important, she says, is the technical expertise supporting those systems.
“We have a large team of engineers here that support in the background,” she says. “They’re not the front-facing piece, but they’re the hidden, not talked about enough, but super valuable piece of this company. That’s the legacy that we want to continue to bring.”
Geelan says her background as CFO gives her a different lens than some of Kahler’s previous leaders, many of whom came from more technical or engineering-focused backgrounds. Instead, Geelan says her focus will be on connecting Kahler’s automation capabilities to the business challenges customers are trying to solve.
“I think what I bring is the ability to focus on more of the business aspect and bring that perspective to the team,” she says. “That’s what I can bring to our customers, too, aligning some of those things from their business perspectives and bringing that back for our team and adding that value, too.”
Customer Challenges Driving Product Development
Many customer challenges are familiar across ag retail: labor availability, efficiency, accuracy, reporting and the need for better visibility across operations.
“Labor is a huge issue, especially when we get into rural areas where a lot of our customers are located,” Geelan says. “We have some of those same challenges of filling the talent needs and the staffing needs, especially in a cyclical type of business, which a lot of our customers have.”
Automation, she says, can help retailers manage those pressures while creating measurable returns.
“I think that’s important, what we can bring to that, our automation and how we can help with that,” she says. “There’s a huge ROI from that.”
Kahler’s product strategy going forward will continue to be shaped by those customer needs. Geelan says the company recently held a planning session focused on where it sees growth opportunities, including further development of LoadPass and Constellation.
“We’re going to grow our LoadPass offerings,” she says. “I think that’s super important. But I actually see the biggest thing that we can bring to the customer is from our Constellation offering, that ecosystem piece where we can bring large groups of data and have it available across the organizations. Those will be our main focuses going forward.”
Measuring ROI Beyond Speed
For ag retailers evaluating technology investments, Geelan says the ROI conversation extends beyond speed and throughput. Inventory visibility and accuracy are also major pieces of the value automation can deliver.
“If you have a problem in your process and you can’t identify it until months down the road, that’s a big place for ROI,” she says. “Just the visibility that we are able to give on the inventory, and the accuracy, and loading, and all the things that we offer through our automation — that’s a huge ROI piece to them. Inventory accuracy — that’s been a problem across some of our customers historically.”
Room For Automation Adoption to Grow
Geelan also sees opportunities to expand automation adoption in regions where it has been slower to take hold. While Kahler’s Midwest location has naturally shaped much of its customer base, she says retailers in other regions face many of the same labor and efficiency pressures.
“Some regions of the United States haven’t adapted to automation as quickly as others,” she says. “That’s where we can bring that to them and show them the ROI. They have some of the same challenges with labor and efficiencies.”
WHAT STAYS THE SAME
As CEO, Geelan says customers should expect continuity in Kahler’s focus on ag retail automation, customer service and product investment.
“We want to be the leader in this automation. I think we currently are,” she says. “We have offerings that nobody else has. We’re going to continue to expand that. We’re going to continue to listen to our customers and listen to what they want and need from their automation provider.”
Looking ahead, Geelan says Kahler’s role will continue to be helping retailers adapt as the industry changes around labor, fertilizer pressures, regulations and crop production demands.
“We’re going to continue to grow with our customers,” she says. “We’re going to continue to help them with their automation needs in terms of their bulk material handling. We’re going to continue to grow the customer experience, the interface that they get to work with every day. We’re going to listen to the customers. What do they need? What challenges are they seeing? Where can we help them?”
For Geelan, the company’s team is central to maintaining continuity through the transition.
“I have a great team here,” she says. “They’re the actual backbone of this company.”
