Kane Rasner of Advanced Blending Solutions

Growing up in the southwest corner of the Upper Peninsula (U.P.), Kane Rasner is grateful for the small town that shaped him – and for the company his father founded, which has become the center of his career.

Advanced Blending Solutions (ABS) is a world-class designer and manufacturer of material handling, blending and controls equipment for the plastics industry. Plastics manufacturers often need to combine pellets of different raw materials in precise, controlled ratios and rates to produce consistent, high-quality plastic packaging or components, making the product offerings from ABS a top choice. The company’s products include material blenders, hoppers, pneumatic systems, dust collectors, distribution systems, and much more.

To expand its international reach, ABS has leaned on support from International Trade services provided by the Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC), including grants through Michigan’s State Trade Expansion Program (MI-STEP). ABS now has its equipment in 43 countries around the globe. The MEDC has also supported ABS through capital access programs and tax abatement for facility expansion.

Today, Kane is the president of ABS and holds a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from Michigan Technological University. Along with his family, he’s become a key part of Menominee’s dreams to grow and prosper. 

“The Rasner family farmed in Menominee County for over a hundred years before my grandpa split off and went into banking. I spent my first few years of adolescence in the Fox Valley, in Wisconsin, before my dad decided to move the company back to his hometown. I was seven when we moved back, so I still count Menominee County as where I grew up. I’m more grateful for my small town each year. There’s something about a small, close-knit community that just can’t be replicated.

We always like to joke that ABS has a higher population than Wallace, where we’re headquartered. We employ around 120 people, and our town is not much larger, but that’s the way we like it. With Marinette and Menominee close by, we get to compete with their talent pool while also reaching some of the towns further north. It’s pretty rare to have a global company, with equipment in 43 different countries, in such a remote location. It is also pretty rare for a company to buy an old school building and renovate it into offices, especially when it’s the school building that my father, the founder, came through as a child. It makes me proud to be part of something that’s intentionally focused on sticking close to our roots.

I’ve spent time at the company since I was in high school. During breaks I would help by sorting bolts and sweeping floors. I spent a summer in our panel shop before moving into field service, where I spent seven years. I worked across the controls department, from traditional field service work and panel design to controls engineering and writing software for our machines. That’s when I gained most of my technical skill for our machine operations and how we fit into plastic production. I moved into project management and began to build a lot of relationships with our customer base. That was pivotal for learning to manage people, manage money and manage expectations. From there I moved directly into the president role, and I have been leading the company for the last three and a half years.

One thing I love about leading a company is that no two days look the same. I go where I’m needed, and that always seems to be changing. A typical day for me starts with a walk through our production facility, saying ‘Hi!’ to the employees as I walk past. One of my favorite things about being a small, family-owned organization is that everyone knows everyone. 

I like to focus on two big areas: sales and production. As we have been rapidly growing in the last decade, it seems like the only constant in our production facility is change. It takes a lot of effort to maintain the quality and service we’ve become known for, so I like to make sure my finger is on the pulse. I’m usually in at least one meeting a day talking about something production-related.

On the flip side, I also really enjoy building relationships with our customers, partners and others in the industry. Tradeshows, site visits and bringing customers in house for visits all strengthen that bond and let me get to know the people behind their professional roles.

Breaking into a new market anywhere is tough. Breaking into a new market across an ocean seems like an impossible task at times. Language barriers, cultural differences and quite frankly logistics are all large factors in being able to do business in or with other countries. We have a large global footprint, but that’s in large part due to our North American customers who have production facilities across the globe. Getting in front of the people in a new market and learning their needs is the first step in providing the solution that they need. This is why we attend international tradeshows on a regular basis, even if we aren’t bringing equipment.

My single biggest piece of advice for international markets is to find a person over there who knows the game. Business is done differently, and if you’re not careful, you can spend a lot of time and resources without making much progress. The MEDC helped us secure funding for a project to streamline new technology into our production environment. That lets us take on the capacity required to expand from a national to an international business. We’re grateful there are organizations like the MEDC who are actively looking to assist in this process.

There are probably quite a few stories like ours spread throughout the state. Michigan, and the U.P. specifically, is full of farming, logging and mining families from generations past. I have consistently found they are some of the hardest working people out there, because they grew up with hard work and sacrifice as part of daily life. These types of people are generally proud of the things they build and the places they come from. Speaking from our decisions to build our legacy in the U.P., we wouldn’t have it any other way.

Menominee County, and the whole U.P., feels like a hidden gem in our country. We have miles of Lake Michigan shoreline and thousands of acres of forest land to enjoy. Every season brings a new activity: the snow melt of spring; golfing, swimming, hiking and camping in summers; hunting, bonfires and beautiful colors of fall; and skiing and snowboarding in winter. There’s a hobby for every season and each brings a fresh invigoration for life.

I believe Menominee has a great opportunity to tap into a tourist market much like the Door County peninsula in Wisconsin. We have the exact same shoreline that is relatively untouched and underdeveloped. I would love to see us bring more life into our community in the summer that will help to sustain a larger population throughout the entire year.

In our community, my wife and I have recently taken on a pretty substantial project with the purchase of a local country club. The oldest golf course in the U.P., Riverside Country Club in Menominee, was on the verge of being shut down for good before we stepped in to save it. It’s our second year of ownership, and with the help of our incredible team and a much-needed facelift, we’ve more than doubled the revenue and membership base. Long term, our goal is for the club to be a self-sustaining community hub with a restaurant, banquet space and golf course. It’s been an incredibly rewarding (and time-consuming) journey where we’ve been able to meet so many new faces in our community – and hopefully provide this space for generations to come.”