The new slip-form elevator anchors Scranton Equity Exchange’s broader expansion in southwestern North Dakota, designed to position the cooperative for decades of growth.
Credit: Scranton Equity Exchange
In early December 2025, Scranton Equity Exchange reached a defining milestone in its $23 million expansion project. Over eight consecutive days and nights, the concrete structure for a 630,000-bushel, four-pack slip elevator rose from the ground, jacked upward 1 inch at a time, 24 hours a day, without pause.
By Dec. 8, the concrete silos stood complete, marking a critical phase in what has become a transformational expansion for the cooperative.
Slip-form construction, a method with roots stretching back to the Peavey-Haglin Experimental Concrete Grain Elevator in Minnesota in 1899, is one of the most demanding processes in agricultural construction. Unlike conventional formwork that advances in steps, slip forming is a continuous operation: Once the pour begins, forms rise steadily while concrete is placed continuously until the structure reaches its full height. Because the process cannot simply be paused and restarted, maintaining consistent concrete performance and precise coordination among crews is critical throughout the pour, particularly as weather conditions change.
“When this thing gets going, it’s the most amazing thing you’ll ever see,” says Jim Gales of Gales Design & Consulting, an ag EPCM and owner’s representative firm that has overseen more than 25 slip elevator projects.
The precision required is relentless. Concrete must set at a controlled, predictable rate throughout the pour. In early December in North Dakota, with temperatures dropping and conditions shifting overnight, maintaining that consistency demands experienced judgment at every hour of the operation.
The Vision
When Ben Hetzel joined Scranton Equity Exchange as general manager three years ago, the board was ready to invest in the cooperative’s future. Together, they have undertaken a strategic transformation: updating bylaws, engaging members through town hall meetings and now completing a major facility expansion that positions the co-op for decades of growth.
The expansion had been discussed for more than a decade before the board moved forward.
“The board and I had been talking about an expansion project that would be a game changer for us,” Hetzel recalls. The expansion wasn’t just about adding storage capacity. The board weighed every decision against three questions: How does this improve service to member-owners? How does it affect employees? How does it position the cooperative for the next 50 years?
Designing For People, Not Just Capacity
Designed as a fully integrated system, the expansion addresses immediate operational needs while building in flexibility for growth.
Project Includes:
- One new 630,000-bushel, four-pack concrete slip elevator with additional cleaning bin capacity and a storage reclaim system
- Dual receiving pits handling 25,000 bushels per hour, with a new receiving building, upgraded fill drags and manlift access to the top of the legs
- One new bulkweigher handling 100,000 bushels per hour, with dual process legs and high-capacity screeners
- One high-speed rail loadout facility for faster unit train loading
- Enhanced conveyor systems connecting new and existing facilities, including replacement equipment on existing structures
- Electrical and automation systems with provisions for a future grain dryer and additional storage capacity
The most meaningful improvement for the overnight crew is what happens at the loadout. The new high-speed loadout system will cut unit train loading from about 11.5 hours to less than seven. It will also reduce the overnight crew from as many as nine people to three or four, easing pressure on employees facing tight railroad timelines.
“We’re asking a lot of these employees to get up in the middle of the night, go load train, and try to meet that time limit that the railroad has on them,” Hetzel explains. “By putting in a new loadout, you can eliminate a lot of that angst and constraint on your manpower. Every decision we make is weighed against how good of service are we going to provide and how does it change the way we transact business with our member ownership, but also how does it affect our employees.”
Planning For What Comes Next
The facility wasn’t designed solely to meet today’s needs. From the outset, the layout included provisions for future corn handling and a grain dryer. Additional storage bins can be added without modifying the main facility.
“They can put up another 2.6 million bushels of storage without doing anything,” Gales explains. “It’s all plug and play.”
As construction progressed, Hetzel walked members through the site to show them what was taking shape.
“All the different patrons that I took up and showed them what we were doing, they’ve all come down and said, ‘Well, this is a once in a lifetime,’” he recalls. “And I just look at them, I’m like, I hope not. Because if I’m going to spend a fair amount of my career here, I don’t think this is the end of it.”
An Investment Backed by the Membership
The $23 million decision wasn’t made in a boardroom alone. Before the board moved forward, Hetzel brought the proposal to the growers who own the cooperative.
Hetzel held town hall meetings in two separate sessions, laying out the full scope of the proposal and asking the members what they thought. The response across both groups was clear.
“There wasn’t one person that said that’s ridiculous, you guys are crazy,” Hetzel recalls. The board basically walked out of there knowing that they had the support of the members. They wanted this and they needed it.”
The Right Team For the Job
The partnership between Hetzel and Gales Design & Consulting stretches back 15 years and across at least five projects together. It started with a contractor. He recognized the complexity of what was needed and pointed Hetzel toward Gales. “Go talk to Jim and come back to me when you’re done,” the contractor said. He did.
Working as the owner’s representative, Gales Design & Consulting managed the design process, coordinated engineering teams, led the bidding process and oversaw construction on Scranton Equity’s behalf. That work included a thorough assessment of what the cooperative needed, from equipment specifications and material flow patterns to future expansion provisions. Establishing realistic budget expectations early, before committing to engineering or design decisions, gave the cooperative the clarity to plan with confidence. It also avoided the costly scope changes and change orders that derail projects mid-construction.
That experience showed up throughout the project, from anticipating board questions to making sure key decisions were vetted before they reached the board.
“I really appreciate Jim being alongside on this because not only have he and I done some projects together, but he’s been down the road,” Hetzel says. “He called me up one meeting before a meeting and he said, ‘Just be prepared because you’re going to get asked about this loadout.’ And so we talked through it and it didn’t take any of us long to see the value in that.”
Building It Right
Gales ran a competitive bid that drew multiple qualified contractors. Scranton Equity Exchange selected Vigen Construction to execute the slip-form pour, Hope Electric to build the electrical and automation systems, and Mulder Engineering to design them. Hetzel had built his first slip with Vigen’s superintendent, Scott, years earlier. Vigen put the same man on Scranton.
“I can’t say enough about Jeff and the leadership with him and Scott,” Hetzel says. “They worked extra weekends and overtime to get us to this point this fast.”
Once construction started, daily management mattered as much as the original design. The cooperative kept handling its normal grain volume, loading trains and taking trucks, while a $23 million build rose alongside it. GDC coordinated the work, so it stayed out of the operation’s way.
Mike Heinen, vice president of construction management at Gales, leads the firm’s construction arm and runs coordination among contractors on Scranton. He came up through ag construction estimating and project management. His job is driving the schedule, scope and budget. A lot of that work happens upstream, where issues get caught and resolved before they reach the owner.
“We have construction calls that GDC keeps very dialed in and running smooth,” Hetzel explains. “It’s not a big-time consumption on my part, which is critical. I don’t have excess time necessarily to be wasting talking on calls that just get long and daunting.”
The Slip and What’s Next
By Dec. 8, the four-pack slip elevator stood complete. For Hetzel, the moment was more than a construction milestone.
“Obviously, the big reward is seeing it standing here today,” Hetzel says. “Sure, that’s a monument out there. But the true reward is the day we get to start dumping trucks through it and watching the joy of the producers seeing this come to fruition.”
That day is still ahead. The broader project has continued through the winter and spring of 2026. Fill equipment installation is underway, including the receiving leg and fill conveyors. Work continues on the high-speed rail loadout spout, the electrical and automation systems, and the programming that will tie it all together.
As of May 2026, Heinen said the project remained on schedule.
“On track to finish before harvest season,” he said.
Future Focused
For the cooperative’s member-owners, the expansion is more than added capacity. It is a build designed to grow with them. Once operational, the new facility will carry Scranton Equity through the next generation of growers, with room to keep growing.
Residents in nearby Bowman have begun calling the structure the “castle on the prairie.”
Michelle Sandstrom is a writer covering the U.S. agricultural industry. She also has written on food and travel and runs a design, marketing and public relations consultancy. She can be reached at michellesandstrom.com, m@michellesandstrom.com or 469-770-3104.