Face Behind the Fertilizer: Colton Doud

Colton Doud was very familiar with the Koch Fertilizer plant in Fort Dodge, Iowa long before he became an employee there.

Following high school, Colton got a job with a Fort Dodge-based contracting group that regularly did maintenance work at the plant. On top of that, his dad spent 20 years at Koch Fertilizer as an instrumentation and electrical technician.

As a maintenance contractor, Colton traveled to manufacturing facilities all over Iowa and the surrounding area. In his experience, the contrast between Koch’s safety culture compared to other facilities was striking.

Working on jobs at the Koch plant, Colton saw the difference in safety firsthand.

“At Koch, the operators were always very in depth with every lockout and every drain,” Colton said. “They walked you through it and showed you what you needed to see to know you were safe to work. That’s how it was done there — and still is.”

The combination of constant travel and near safety misses finally caught up with Colton. With a second child on the way, he decided it was time to settle down somewhere close to home. He knew exactly where he wanted to be, but there was just one problem: there weren’t any maintenance roles open at Koch Fertilizer.

There was, however, an opening in operations. A maintenance employee Colton worked with when he was on site as a contractor encouraged him to apply for it. The plan was to learn operations and then move to maintenance later when a position became available.

“He told me, ‘Get your foot in the door. You’ll learn a whole bunch about the plant,’” Colton said. “So, I applied, got hired as an operator and ended up staying in that position. It’s been eight years. I just really like what I do.”

Colton started outside in loading and storage, like all new operators, helping truck drivers load product and working with the storage tanks. Being out in the plant and performing hands-on work were things that appealed greatly to him at the time.

As an operator, you can get qualified in specific areas of the plant, meaning you’re tested on your knowledge and ability to safely operate equipment, understand process flows and take the proper actions when needed.

After Colton earned his loading and storage qualification, he was eager to continue his development and obtained the three remaining outside qualifications an operator can receive: water treatment, the UAN plant and the ammonia plant.

With all four outside qualifications completed, Colton moved inside to learn the distributed control system (DCS) console. He was qualified in 2024 and now spends most of his day in the control room using the DCS console to operate the plant.

At this point in his career, Colton prefers the temperature-controlled environment of the control room. He jokingly refers to himself as a “fair weather operator,” but he still goes out in the plant on a regular basis.

Whether Colton is working inside or outside, he stresses that fundamentals still matter, no matter how much experience you have. For him, it all goes back to safety and doing things the right way.

“Integrity means complete honesty, even if you make a mistake,” Colton said. “You use it as a learning opportunity, and that’s how you keep improving and build trust as a team.”

Colton’s original plan to get hired as an operator and move to maintenance didn’t happen, but he wouldn’t change anything. During his eight years as an operator, he’s sought opportunities to learn and grow, and his role has continued to evolve because of it.

“I like that every day is different,” Colton said. “There’s always something new going on, and if you work hard and follow our principles, you will excel no matter what role you’re in.”

His title may be the same as when he started, but Colton’s role at Koch Fertilizer is anything but stagnant.

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