The Wagner Companies’ rails are in many of Milwaukee’s buildings
Most Milwaukeeans touch and see things every day made by The Wagner Companies, a manufacturing firm based on the far northwest side of Milwaukee. The company makes handrails, railings, industrial railings and custom tubing and related products – products that many people touch while walking down stairs every day but rarely think about.
“Our catalog has about 8,000 SKUs (stock-keeping unit) in it,” said Richard Kettler, president and chief operating officer of the Wagner Companies. “Of those, we stock about 6,000. The others we drop ship or make to order. We make about 70 percent of what is in our catalog or direct source it. We distribute the rest of it.”
The Wagner Companies’ products are made for commercial and industrial markets. Aside from its handrails and guard rails, the company also makes and sells tubular bike racks, grab rails, and custom-made spiral staircases. The company also makes almost all of the brackets, elbows and end caps that its handrails or guard rails use. Its catalog and warehouse typically feature about 200 different styles of brackets.
Read more in the latest Made in Milwaukee profile.
