LeRoy G. Hagenbuch

Co-founder & President / Phillippi-Hagenbuch Inc. / 1944 / Inducted 2008

Hagenbuch's patent for the first commercially available tailgate designed for off-highway haul trucks was only the beginning. He is now credited with 89 patents, 51 in the United States and 38 in other countries. The most recent patent refines rear-ejection technology, allowing operators to push the load from the back of a haul truck instead of raising the bed. To advance the process of mine reclamation, he developed many products to efficiently haul overburden and other materials.

Hagenbuch has made outreach and industry progress a mainstay of his career. He has written white papers on vital industry topics, spoken at conferences and trade shows worldwide, and been active with many associations on behalf of the industry. His operating philosophy has been to extend the safety focus beyond training and awareness; each Philippi-Hagenbuch engineer is challenged on the safety of their product designs. In addition, each staff and production meeting at the company starts with a discussion of a critical safety topic.

Hagenbuch is a member of many state and national business and industry associations, including the Association of Iron and Steel Technologies (AIST), the Master Mechanics, and the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE).

Transporation Builder Magazine featured the following article on Hagenbuch in May 2012: Machinery Innovation for Quality of Life