Bratney Companies

What Bratney Companies does

Bratney Companies is a privately held, family-owned design-build engineering and equipment supplier founded in 1964 by Ken Bratney and now in its third generation of family leadership under President & CEO Peter Bratney. The company provides turnkey processing facility design, engineering, construction, equipment supply, installation, training, and aftermarket maintenance services to agricultural processors across eight verticals — primarily seed conditioning, food and edible products (including popcorn), and flour/oat/rice milling, with secondary exposure to grain, animal feed, malting/brewing, coffee, and mining/chemicals/fertilizer. Its equipment portfolio is anchored by exclusive US distribution partnerships with five major European manufacturers: Cimbria (cleaning, color sorting, flour milling; 30+ year partnership, part of AGCO), Concetti (packaging), BoMill (grain protein sorting), OMAS Industries (cereal milling), and F.H. Schule Mühlenbau (oat/rice/specialty milling, Kahl Group). The firm complements this distribution model with four US patents covering optical robotic sorting and corn shelling equipment, in-house construction crews, factory-certified service technicians, and a sample testing and process validation laboratory.

The business operates through a direct enterprise field sales model with regional territory managers covering eight US regions (Eastern Midwest, Upper Midwest, Northern Central, Intermountain, South Central, Central, Iowa, Pacific Northwest) plus Alaska and Hawaii, and recently extended into Central and South America via a 2024 strategic partnership with Argentina/Brazil-based Grupo DAQ. Revenue is generated across six service streams — equipment sales (Cimbria, Concetti, BoMill, OMAS, Schule hardware), design and engineering services, construction and fabrication, equipment installation and training, maintenance and repair, and parts and screens — all priced through custom project-based quotes rather than published tiers, with multi-year contract structures typical of capital equipment integrators. Notable recent flagship projects include a 42,000 lbs/hour popcorn processing facility for Preferred Popcorn (achieving 99.9% product quality vs. industry standard of 1-2% foreign material) and the Utah Flour Milling LLC greenfield joint venture with PHM Brands' Panhandle Milling, representing OMAS's largest North American mill to date. The company is headquartered in Des Moines, Iowa, with additional offices in Boise, Idaho, and operations in Argentina, and remains entirely privately held under the Bratney family with no disclosed institutional investment or M&A activity.

Name

Bratney Companies

Legal name

Bratney Equipment Co.

Website

https://bratney.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1964

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

101–250 employees

Short description

Bratney Companies is a family-owned design-build engineering and equipment supplier founded in 1964, serving agricultural processors in seed, grain, food, feed, and milling industries across the United States and South America through turnkey facility services and exclusive equipment partnerships.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Des Moines

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices4 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Supply Chain, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Equipment Sales: Sale of processing, packaging, and material handling equipment from manufacturer partners including Cimbria, Concetti, BoMill, OMAS, and Schule
2. Design and Engineering Services: Process design, engineering, and project development services for facility construction
3. Construction and Fabrication: Custom construction, fabrication, and millwright services for processing facilities
4. Equipment Installation and Training: Installation, startup, commissioning, and operator training services
5. Maintenance and Repair: Preventive maintenance programs and repair services by factory-certified technicians
6. Parts and Screens: Parts inventory and custom manufactured screens for equipment

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels9 records

Core offering

Bratney Companies is a design-build engineering and equipment supplier for agricultural processing facilities. It provides turnkey plant design, process engineering, construction, fabrication, equipment installation, operator training, preventive maintenance, and parts support across seed, grain, food, feed, milling, malting/brewing, coffee, and mineral/chemical processing industries, distributing equipment from exclusive manufacturer partners (Cimbria, Concetti, BoMill, OMAS, Schule, GSI).

Product overview

Bratney Companies is a design-build, engineering, and equipment provider serving agricultural processors. Its offering combines six core service lines (Process Design & Engineering, Sample Testing & Process Flow Validation, Construction & Fabrication, Equipment Selection/Installation/Training, Maintenance & Repair, and Parts & Screens) with a portfolio of proprietary patents and exclusive distribution relationships with world-class equipment manufacturers. Equipment categories span Cleaning/Sizing/Sorting, Seed Treating/Coating/Drying, Material Handling, Packaging (Concetti), Flour Milling (Cimbria, OMAS), and Oat/Rice/Specialty Milling (Schule). The company also holds four U.S. patents related to sorting and shelling technology. Services are offered across a network of U.S. regional offices and international operations in Argentina.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Process Design & Engineering

Quantifiable outcome

• 99.9% product quality achieved in popcorn processing (vs industry standard of 1-2% foreign material)
• +1 more outcomes

Named customers4 records

Segments8 records

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability4 records

Feature3 records

Partnerships

Eight partnerships are on record, tiered core, flagship and minor.

• Grupo DAQcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 24 April 2024Joint partner for Central and South America operations. DAQ is based in Argentina and Brazil with engineering capabilities in design, administration, improvement and process innovation projects across diverse industries including cement, automotive, nuclear, and space. DAQ supports Bratney's regional growth in South American markets.
• PHM Brands (Panhandle Milling)flagshipStrategic or Co-development Partner · 4 January 2024Joint venture partner for Utah Flour Milling LLC project - greenfield flour mill development adjacent to Panhandle Milling's ready-to-eat snack food bakery facility in Richmond, Utah. Bratney serves as design-build general contractor providing equipment supply, engineering and construction.
• OMAS IndustriescoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ Distributor · 1 January 2016Partnership with Italian manufacturer OMAS for cereal milling equipment. OMAS contributing to milling system design, startup and calibration. Omas equipment featured in Utah Flour Milling project - Omas' largest mill to date in North America.
• ConcetticoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ Distributor · 30 November 2015Exclusive distribution partnership for Concetti packaging systems including bagging scales, automatic baggers, palletizers, bulk bag fillers, wrappers, and complete packaging lines. Partnership covers USA and Argentina markets.
• CimbriacoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorExclusive distribution partnership for Cimbria processing and cleaning equipment including color sorters, pre-cleaners, precision cleaners, gravity tables, indented cylinders, and material handling equipment. Partnership spans over 30 years. Cimbria is part of AGCO Corporation.
• BoMillcoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorExclusive US distributor for BoMill grain sorting technology including BoMill InSight and BoMill TriQ 30 systems. Facilitated first US installation of BoMill InSight technology for grain protein separation and quality sorting.
• F.H. Schule Mühlenbau (Kahl Group)coreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorStrategic partnership for Schule milling equipment serving oat, rice, and specialty grain processing markets. Schule has provided quality milling equipment since 1892.
• GSI (AGCO)minorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorEquipment supplier for high-capacity storage bins included in flour milling projects. GSI is under the AGCO Corporation umbrella, same as Cimbria.

Scale indicators7 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Sukup Manufacturing: Iowa-based manufacturer of grain bins, drying, handling, and milling equipment. Comparable as a regional competitor in grain handling and material handling equipment for agricultural processors.
• PETKUS Technologie: German-headquartered designer and builder of seed and grain processing facilities. Comparable as a turnkey design-build contractor for seed conditioning, cleaning, and grain handling installations.
• Lewis M. Carter Manufacturing: US manufacturer of rice milling and grain processing equipment. Comparable in milling equipment supply and process engineering, particularly for rice and specialty grain processing.
• Lambton Conveyor: Canadian manufacturer of material handling equipment for grain, seed, and food processing facilities. Comparable in elevator, conveyor, and bulk material handling equipment sold to similar agricultural processor customers.
• CPM/Roskamp Champion: US manufacturer of grinding, milling, and particle reduction equipment for grain processing, animal feed, and food industries. Comparable in milling equipment supply within the same US agricultural processing customer base.

Broad incumbents

• Satake Corporation: Japanese manufacturer of rice milling, grain processing, and optical sorting equipment. Comparable in milling and color sorting product lines, with strong global presence in rice and grain processing facilities.
• Bühler Group: Swiss global leader in grain processing, food processing, and material handling equipment. Directly comparable as a full-scope design-build supplier for flour milling, grain handling, and food processing facilities, but at significantly larger scale and broader geographic reach.
• AGCO Grain & Protein (Cimbria/GSI): Ag equipment conglomerate that owns both Cimbria and GSI, two of Bratney's key distribution partners. Compares as a competitor that could bypass Bratney via direct distribution, while also offering grain bins, dryers, and material handling that overlap with Bratney's portfolio.

Others

• Sweet Manufacturing Company: US manufacturer of bulk material handling equipment for grain, seed, and fertilizer industries. Comparable as an equipment supplier in the same material handling category, though primarily a component manufacturer rather than a turnkey design-build firm.

Emerging players

• Forsberg (gravity separation): US manufacturer of gravity separators, destoners, and processing equipment. Comparable in density separation and associated cleaning equipment for seed and grain processing customers.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/bratneycompany
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• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/bratney-companies

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles19 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Bratney Companies