Clash of the Generations

Appendix FCASE STUDY ‐ THE ANDERSONS

• Website: www.andersonsinc.com
• Locations: Based in Maumee, Ohio, with other locations in Alabama, California, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Wisconsin. Locations outside the United States include Manitoba (Canada) and Puerto Rico.
• Founded: 1947
• Total employees: 3,315; 75 percent are salaried, 25 percent are hourly, 0.01 percent are located outside the United States
• Employee demographics: 36 percent Traditionalists and Boomers, 30 percent Generation Xers, 34 percent Millennials
• What it does: A diversified agribusiness and retailing firm that operates grain elevators, distributes fertilizer, and manages rail cars
• Interviewee: Sheri Caldwell—Director, Human Resources, Grain Group

BACKGROUND

An operating group of The Andersons Inc., the Grain Group “provides merchandising and services to the grain industry primarily in the Eastern Corn Belt. We operate over 40 grain elevators in eight states that accept corn, soybean, and wheat commodities and have a total storage capacity of more than 160 million bushels,” explains Caldwell, who has been at the company since November 2013. Her division has a wide skill set, thanks to its generationally diverse staff, which ranges from recent college graduates to employees who have been with the company for over four decades. The department taps into this potential by ensuring that ...