Posted on June 13, 2022
By Peter Bowe, Publisher
Jim was my partner for well over a decade until he retired in 2015.
How that came to be is an interesting story.
In the 1990s I read about Jim and IMS Dredges in a front page story in the Wall Street Journal! Jim was savvy enough to get the US government to support and highlight a project in Thailand showing the benefits of an IMS Versi-Dredge operating in a swampy jungle, and the WSJ wrote an article about it. I was impressed! A a bit jealous even.
I called him to talk about it. We shared some war stories and promised to stay in touch.
A decade or so later, in 2003 IMS ran into some financial difficulties arising from the fundamental small business issue of trying to balance an unpredictable and uneven order flow with the factory’s need for steady volume. At the time their factory was in Olathe KS.
We had a challenging but constructive negotiation which ultimately led to Ellicott buying IMS, closing their plant, moving the manufacturing to Wisconsin where we already had a small plant in Somerset, and keeping the sales office and administrative support in Kansas City.
Over the years, what a resounding success this became for everybody!
Relieved of the burden of feeding a hungry factory, Jim focused on what he did best, sales and marketing, and orders for IMS Versi-Dredges exploded to double and triple previous levels. He continued to pioneer engineering improvements, with new patents, and he literally left no stone unturned in his globetrotting in search of new markets. His energy knew no bounds.
His successes were sufficient to justify our building a brand new greenfield dredge factory in New Richmond, WI. That facility may be the only such US factory in the last 30 years. Many employees there today owe their jobs to Jim.
I was also impressed at Jim’s personal commitment to pay back creditors from the 2003 transition even when he didn’t have to. That was the strength of his moral character.
Longtime former Ellicott Board member Mead Treadwell reminded me, “You could count on Jim for his omnipresent smile and limitless optimism, and constant quest for improved business organization, strategy and tactics. Together we built something bigger than we could have on our own.”
Jim Pflueger, Ellicott’s Wisconsin General Manager during Jim’s tenure, said, “Jim’s passing is a big loss; he always motivated us to do our best. He was a great builder of the IMS brand.”
It was always a pleasure to spend time with his wife Valerie and his son Ryan, who joined IMS. His legacy team, lead by his son Ryan for many years, continues to perform well as I understand.
We will all miss Jim, but his important contributions to the dredging industry will live on for a long time. I can still hear him saying, when speaking of operating IMS dredges in tropical countries, “Just think, with the IMS Starwheel propulsion, we have saved dredge operators from having to get in snake-infested waters to change spuds!” ….and much more.
Link below is to Jim’s family obituary –
