Just a Minute with Jeffrey Stevens President & CEO, Hans Pedersen Group LLC

Company address: 701 Blackhawk Drive, Burlington, WI 53105
Company Web site: www.hanspedersen.com or www.flowequipment.com
Industry: Design & manufacturing – Process skids/systems, tanks/vessels, custom fabrication, valves, pumps, fittings and compete turn-key systems
Number of employees: 14
Company’s annual revenues: $2.5 million
Education: Fluid Power Mechanics/ GTI, Graduate – Masterbrewing-Siebel Institute of Brewing Studies; student at Concordia College, advanced engineering training/schooling.
Family: Wife, Rebecca Stevens, and children Amanda, Brianna, Ethan
and Abigail.
What was the smartest thing your company did in the past year?
“We diversified our customer base and product offerings to reach across dividing lines between sanitary and non-sanitary processes. We have expanded our engineering capabilities and increased our value-added side to the extent that we have attained exclusivity.”
What’s new at your company?
“I need to mention Mike Burns here. This guy started with our firm this year and brings so much talent to the table that he single-handedly expands the company’s horizons. He has expertise in custom fabrication that place us ahead of the competition in mechanical design and custom manufacturing. We have augmented our engineering capabilities with the latest in Solidworks software. We have also acquired a new CNC press brake. Finally, we have a new product that is going to catch a lot of attention- a heat transfer skid that is completely self-supporting. This skid will heat fluids using only photovoltaics and a UPS. No need for electricity, steam or gas. Imagine the multitude of applications, from commercial to industrial to residential and everywhere in between.”
Do you plan to hire any additional staff or make any significant capital investments in your company in the next year?
“We are interviewing and looking to expand our staff and capabilities in the next year. We are researching numerous options for added capital equipment, such as a waterjet cutting machine, larger roll forming capabilities, etc.”
What will be your company’s main challenges in the next year?
“Growth that does not threaten margins or relationships, overcoming the saturated markets with value added services that place us above the competition, and combating low-cost super centers to win market share.”
What’s the hottest trend in your industry?
“This is a bit of a tough one, because in such a “government monitored” business (FDA, OSHA, etc.) there seems to be an omnipresent resistance to dramatic change. The past couple of decades have seen some wonderful advances in automation and instrumentation. We even have customers that are making high volumes of product, whether it be the latest drug or the latest barbeque sauce, on their laptop remotely from home. Equipment that is innovative in its energy efficiency and recapture is about to gain a high magnitude of interest, in my opinion.”
Do you have a business mantra? “Do what you enjoy, do it with
good humor and do it to the best of your ability.”
From a business standpoint, who do you look up to?
“My partner, Bob Lee Jr. He is a long-time business man who owns Lee Plumbing in Kenosha. He has more integrity than any other business owner I know.”
What was the best advice you ever received?
“There are two types of people. Those who believe that everything is a miracle, and those who believe nothing is. I prescribe to the prior.”
What do you like to do in your free time?
“I love spending time with my family and friends. I enjoy Balvenie with a Montecristo or some other good Scotch and a cigar. I play the drums, guitar and sing at numerous area venues, as well.”
Small Business Times, December 16, 2005, Milwaukee, WI