Growing pains: Advance manufacturing company seeks move to Cape

ADVANCE, Mo.

More than 20 years ago, a shop making enclosures for electrical panels opened here with about 10 employees.

The company's founder, Frank Schaefer, died at age 53 in 1999, shortly after concluding negotiations to sell his company, Schaefer's Power Panels, to a group of Cape Girardeau investors led by John Tlapek. By that time, Schaefer had grown the company to employ 38 people.

In the eight years since taking over the company -- now known as Schaefer's Electrical Enclosures Inc. -- the new ownership group increased output fivefold, increased employment to more than 100 in this town of 1,200 and expanded the plant on Industrial Park Drive seven times, president Mark Diamond said.

Roger Bowman sprayed a powder coating onto a steel piece Friday at Schaefer's Electrical Enclosures in Advance, Mo. (Kit Doyle)

Now, with two shifts working in 60,000 square feet of space, Schaefer's Electrical is poised for a new round of growth that will add another 38 to 40 jobs immediately, Diamond said. And with that growth will come the biggest change of all for the company -- it is planning to move to Cape Girardeau and take over the Dana Corp. building at 2075 Corporate Circle.

"You have to understand we are cramped for space," Diamond said. "The layout is not what we would like it to be. Our business has grown, and we have landed a couple of large accounts that we believe will fuel our business."

The quiet success story of Schaefer's Electrical has been built on modernizing the plant's processes, providing better pay and benefits to keep valued workers and investing in additional space.

"We have spent more money on equipment than we spent to buy the company," Diamond said. "That is how we survived -- by being smart."

All the owners are Cape Girardeau residents. Diamond and Allen Toole, president of Cape Electrical Supply, Adrian Toole and Robert Garrett are part of that group along with Tlapek, who owns the majority stake. Diamond has been in charge of day-to-day operations since the purchase.

The investment in equipment has been accompanied by an investment in the employees. Benefits added in the eight years since the purchase of the company include medical and dental insurance, a 401(k) retirement plan and an increase in wage rates, Diamond said.

"We pay a competitive wage that we believe will be competitive in Cape," Diamond said. "It is a wage that will get reliable people."

A walk through the production floor shows how the growth in output, while impressive, is constrained by inadequate space. Schaefer's Electrical uses computer-directed laser equipment to cut carbon and stainless steel sheets into pieces that are folded into the components of its enclosures. Sheets of steel must be moved from one end of the building to the laser machines using two-wheel dollies, and the cut pieces must be moved from the laser machines to the benders the same way. All that movement is through narrow pathways, with constant stops for people to step aside and make room to pass.

"I hope never to see a two-wheeler in the new building," Diamond said.

Schaefer's Electrical's products are sold to manufacturers of electrically controlled machinery. The items range from small junction boxes to large, closet-sized enclosures that will hold components used to control production in oil fields in Kuwait, Diamond said.

Custom-made components are a big part of the business, Diamond said. "Our claim to fame is quick delivery on specials."

One major change in the production process has been in the way carbon steel products are painted. The company has switched from a wet paint process to a dry powder that is baked onto the steel in large ovens, creating a coating that better withstands the effects of weather.

Diamond credits much of the company's success to the dedication of long-time employees. Mike Birkman, customer service leader, has been with the company 15 years. His first job when he arrived, he said, was to design a database to computerize purchasing and invoicing.

"When I started it was very much a mom and pop place, with intimate relationships that put the term multitasking to the limit," he said.

On the production floor, Charles Young, 45, has been piecing the enclosures together for almost 11 years. "It has changed a bunch," he said. "There is a lot of different equipment and the product has improved a bunch."

The new benefits and pay raises have kept the job attractive, Young said. He's never had a job with insurance and retirement packages before, he said. "Just the work atmosphere is a whole lot better," he said.

Asked where he plans to work when he retires, Young replied: "Right here."

And while he now lives only five minutes from work, Young understands the need for a move to bigger quarters. "I know we need more room. I completely understand."

Another long-time employee, Lorene Cavaner, has been with Schaefer's Electrial for nearly 16 years. Her daughter, Serena Cavaner, has been with the company for five. "I am happy with what I do, and that makes a person stay," Lorene Cavaner said. "Especially when there is a good bunch of people."

The decision to move leaves Diamond with sharply conflicting impulses. He understands that the company is important to Advance, but comparing the price of another addition at the current location and the cost of the Dana Corp. building leaves little choice. For the same costs, all he could build would be a metal building and concrete floor, and he would have many of the same problems with cramped conditions.

At the same time, he said, the company could have moved completely out of the region on very favorable terms.

"We could get very, very lucrative incentives including basically giving us a building," he said. "But we are Cape people, we are committed to our current employees and committed to this community.

"And we will continue to try to find ways to help the Advance community."

rkeller@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 126