CALCULATING SUCCESS: JACK MEHNER'S SUMMER JOB IN 1952 BECAME HIS BUSINESS

Advanced Business Systems, 2845 Independence, was built in 1977 and expanded in 1986.

John G. Adams, computer technician, worked on a computer bus board in the service department.

Jack Mehner never calculated a career in calculators, it just added up that way.

Fresh out of a St. Louis area high school in 1952, Mehner found a summer job repairing calculators. He was 17 and intended to make a little money for college.

But he liked the job so much, he decided to postpone college for a year. A short time later, he got a job with Office Machines Inc. in St. Louis and shelved college forever.

Armed with on-the-job training, he has never looked back.

In 1963, Mehner and his family moved to Cape Girardeau. He borrowed $900 from his grandfather and founded Advanced Business Systems to sell and repair Olivetti calculators.

"It was a good investment," he said.

Over the past 32 years, the company has expanded its operations to include typewriters, business telephone systems, fax machines, dictation equipment and even computers.

The Chamber of Commerce honored the company with the 1991 Small Business of the Year Award.

Today, as president and CEO, Mehner oversees a company with 15 employees.

But he still gets out from behind his desk. Last week, he spent two days installing telephone drops at a doctor's office because his service employees were tied up with other work.

In many ways, it is a family affair. Mehner's brother, Mark; wife, Sherri, and daughter, Cathy Waltz, work for the firm.

Mehner's son, John, serves as president of the Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce, but previously worked for the firm.

The company's main office is a modern, two-story building at 2845 Independence. Advanced Business Systems opened a branch office in Dexter in 1979.

The company serves customers in a wide area, from Ste. Genevieve and Farmington south to the Arkansas line, and from as far west as Poplar Bluff to as far east as Southern Illinois.

The company's customers include a variety of businesses ranging from banks to Southeast Missouri State University.

Mounted on a wall in Mehner's office is a message stitched by his wife. The message: "What would Jesus do?"

In recent years, Mehner has tried to operate the company by biblical principles.

Its mission statement begins with the goal of striving to glorify God.

"We have made a number of changes in our business because of this," he said. "Our collection procedures are different. Our employee relations are different."

Mehner credits the changes to attending a Bible-based business seminar in Chicago.

"It is based more on a caring situation rather than a legal system," he said.

When Mehner founded the business in 1963, it was a one-man job.

His first office was a desk in a Sikeston real estate office. An employee of the real estate office answered his calls.

Back then, calculators operated entirely with mechanical parts. "They had thousands of moving parts in them," Mehner recalled.

They were expensive, too. They sold for $625.

Mehner recalled spending three months at a calculator training school in Pittsburgh to learn how to work on the complex office machines, saying: "I got real good at it."

Mehner proved an able salesman, too, winning a trip to Italy.

He soon hired a salesman but continued to do the service work himself. In August 1964, he hired a service technician, who has remained with the company and today is the service manager.

Mehner's first Cape Girardeau office was at 430 Broadway.

The current office on Independence was built in 1977 and expanded in 1986. Mehner patterned the entryway, which includes floor-to-ceiling windows at one corner, after a building he saw in Italy.

Over the years, sales grew and became the company's "bread and butter," Mehner said. But with today's increased competition in the office-equipment arena, service has become an important selling point.

"Our philosophy is basically taking care of our customers," Mehner said.