Note to Editors: Adapted from the Kansas Profile radio series, this column profiles a different Kansan, Kansas community or Kansas-based company every Wednesday, as a regular feature of the K-State Research and Extension News  lineup. A photo of Ron Wilson is available at  http://www.oznet.ksu.edu/news/sty/RonWilson.htm.

Released: February 27, 2008

By Ron Wilson, director of the Huck Boyd National Institute for Rural Development at Kansas State University.

Let’s go around the globe to the Indian Ocean, where a marine survey vessel is engaged in precision exploration. This vessel is using advanced technology to pinpoint its precise location.  And would you believe that the Global Positioning System (GPS) used by this vessel was produced by a company with ties to rural Kansas?

Last week we learned that Rick Heiniger is the immediate past president of the Farm Equipment Manufacturers Association. Among the members of that organization are the companies which he has helped create and build, namely RHS, Bestway, and Hemisphere GPS.

His first company is the business known as RHS, which has become Bestway. It designs, produces and markets Bestway agricultural sprayers. Rick selected Pat Meenen to serve as president of Bestway.

In 1997, Rick expanded his business into GPS technology, designing equipment called the Outback Guidance System that uses GPS to steer and control farm machinery. In 2005, he sold his GPS division to CSI Wireless, which created a new company known as Hemisphere GPS. Rick was asked to serve as president of the newly-created company. Today, Rick Heiniger is vice chair of the board of Hemisphere GPS, which is a world leader in the use of Global Positioning Satellite technology.

Hemisphere GPS has several divisions of which the largest is agriculture, a part of the ground products division. This division is headquartered in Rick’s old hometown of Hiawatha, Kansas, population 3,410 people. Now, that’s rural.

Today, Hemisphere GPS employs 260 people of which 50 are in Hiawatha. Rick says, “We focus on using GPS technology for precision machine automation.”

So what exactly is this GPS technology? Global Positioning System satellites are constantly orbiting the earth, transmitting coded information through ultra-high frequencies down to earth.  Using data from these satellites, a person using a special receiver can pinpoint his or her exact location on the earth’s surface.

Rick Heiniger’s company was a pioneer in using such technology to guide tractor operators in planting or fertilizing operations. Now Hemisphere GPS is using this technology all around the world.

Hemisphere GPS has three divisions: the Ground Products Division, the Air Products Division, and the Precision Products Division. Ground Products includes the agriculture products and is based in Hiawatha. The air products division includes GPS systems used in aerial spraying, forestry, and firefighting. Precision products are dominated by the marine group, meaning boats which use the GPS technology.

Rick says, “We get involved when there is a need for precise knowledge and control of the vessel’s location. If your ship needs to go from New York to London or Amsterdam and the accuracy of your route to get there doesn’t matter, then you don’t really need GPS. But if you are dredging a canal, for example, and you need a heading that is accurate within six inches, then our system can do the job.” Wow.

For example, the Volvo company sponsors a world-wide ocean race, which is described as the world’s premier offshore yachting event. Of the seven ships which competed in the most recent event, the winner and three of the others used Hemisphere’s GPS technology to guide them. This reflects the fact that Hemisphere GPS is a world leader in this technology.

While this niche market is impressive, the bread and butter of the applications is in agriculture, where Hemisphere also dominates and the Outback Guidance systems are the aftermarket component. Rick says, “There are increasing demands for more precision in seeding crops, for example. Producers need to maximize production and equipment needs to do more with extreme accuracy.”

For more information, go to www.hemispheregps.com.

It’s time to leave the Indian Ocean, where a marine survey vessel is using GPS technology connected to a company in rural Kansas. We salute Rick Heiniger, Pat Meenen of Bestway, and all the fine people of Hemisphere GPS for making a difference with their innovative application of technology – and bringing it all down to earth.

And there’s more. As we go back to our series on national ag leaders, we’ll learn that a recent president of the National Cattleman’s Beef Association comes from Kansas – and this cattleman is a woman. We’ll learn about that next week.

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The mission of the Huck Boyd National Institute for Rural Development is to enhance rural development by helping rural people help themselves. The Kansas Profile radio series and columns are produced with assistance from the K-State Research and Extension Department of Communications News Unit. Audio and text files of Kansas Profiles are available at http://www.kansasprofile.com. For more information about the Huck Boyd Institute, interested persons can visit http://www.oznet.ksu.edu/huckboyd/.

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K-State Research and Extension is a short name for the Kansas State University Agricultural Experiment Station and Cooperative Extension Service, a program designed to generate and distribute useful knowledge for the well-being of Kansans. Supported by county, state, federal and private funds, the program has county Extension offices, experiment fields, area Extension offices and research centers statewide. Its headquarters is on the K-State campus in Manhattan.

For more information:
The Huck Boyd Institute is at 785-532-7690 or rwilson@ksu.edu

K-State Research and Extension