Stretching and weaving huge spools of wire requires a lot of space. Wires need to be spread out to draw them into thinner diameters, then measured and laid out for weaving.
That’s why C.I. Banker Wire and Iron Works Inc. invested $1.7 million in a 50,000-square-foot addition to its Mukwonago facility, completed early this year, to increase its facility to 160,000 square feet. It also added about $800,000 in equipment.
The space is much more efficient than the three-building operation the company, which makes woven and welded wire mesh, had in Muskego prior to its move to the current facility in 2009. In Muskego, employees staged the materials for the next 24 hours of production, bringing them from the nearby warehouse ahead of the day.
But often an employee would have to go back to the warehouse for additional materials, which wasted time. Now, materials and production are in one large building.
“Our manufacturing process requires a lot of room for our weaving,” said Tim Frank, director of sales. “This building has a lot of open space. It’s not just pieces.”
David Stout has been busy since he joined the company as chief financial officer in 2006, helping owners George Boxhorn Jr. and John Boxhorn establish a pattern of hiring the right employees and recreating the company culture. Stout became president in 2009.
“By putting in place a better management team, I hope we have a culture where people make decisions quickly,” Stout said.
Weaving wire is an artisan skill that must be taught on-site, so Stout takes care in selecting employees who will be a good fit long-term. New employees aren’t valuable to Banker Wire until they have completed six months of training and can take as long as two years to become self-sufficient.
But as a result, Banker Wire hasn’t been affected by the “skills gap” in manufacturing.
“The advantage that we have is we’re not out looking for a welder,” Stout said. “It’s woven wire. There is nobody out there that does it. It’s a highly skilled trade.”
Stout has grown the company from 40 to 100 employees since 2006 and sales have increased from $10 million to $23 million.
He now aims to begin acquiring other companies to continue the growth pattern.
“We have a core philosophy that if you’re not growing, you’re dying,” Frank said.
The Great Recession took a toll on the growing company, Stout said. It took a hit on the sale of the two Muskego facilities it owned, unloading them in 2009 for less than half of the original investment.
“The month we moved in here, our sales were down 60 percent,” he said.
Banker Wire was able to turn things around by diversifying its product offering. While it previously focused on woven wire, the company added welded wire production and integrated a whole new production step—drawing steel rod into wire before it is crimped and woven or welded.
In woven wire production, crimped wire is alternated one over the other to make a variety of sizes of mesh openings. Welded wire mesh production allows more freedom to make alternating patterns that are less uniform, and are melted together at intersections.
Between 50 and 60 percent of Banker Wire’s customers are distributors. Its products are used for both decorative and functional architectural pieces and industrial filtering applications. For example, its mesh has been used to prevent people from falling onto subway tracks and filtering particles out of wastewater.
