U.S. Tanker, a Wisconsin apparatus manufacturer known for stainless steel construction, has two new owners, both former Pierce Manufacturing executives who say they plan to carefully expand the company’s reach.
“We’ve got good people, good products and we’re looking forward to building the business in a very controlled, very deliberate sort of way,” Mark Meaders said in an interview last month.
A Hidden Gem
Meaders, who was Pierce’s chief operating officer from 2003 to 2007, and John Slawson, who was Pierce’s director of dealer development from 2004 to 2006 and then president of Oshkosh Specialty Vehicles until early this year, bought U.S. Tanker in May from former owner Tim Bendle. Meaders, who handles the finances, said the company is being run as a partnership with Slawson holding the title of president, “the voice to the customer.”
Slawson calls U.S. Tanker “a hidden gem” within the fire industry as the premier maker of stainless steel tankers and pumpers. “We’re not trying to put together a new business model,” he said, “just a little stronger marketing, a little stronger distribution and probably a little stronger manufacturing approach.”
Having purchased the company during one of the country’s worst recessions, both men emphasized their strong financial position.
Debt Free
“We’re debt free, and we have the capability to make decisions quickly,” Slawson said. “We’re extremely financially stable, and that’s really what you need when you’re talking to customers and assuring them you’re going to be able to make it through challenging times.”
Meaders recalled advice he received from his grandfather, who started a business during the Great Depression: “He said, ‘If you can make it during the most difficult economic times, you’re going to be able to make it any other time in life.”
He said he and Slawson are determined to be “extremely disciplined” with spending and decision making.
They described their transition from a large corporation to a small company as liberating and personally rewarding.
“I worry about an employee’s family as much as my own,” Slawson said. “When your own personal values and principles are able to be aligned in parallel, which Mark and I can do with this company, it’s just an utter great feeling.”
U.S. Tanker, which targets rural and suburban markets, has about two dozen employees, some of whom have been with the company since it was founded in 1989 by Joseph Lee, who still handles apparatus sales in Wisconsin and northern Illinois.
Taking Care Of Employees
“We really focus on employee communication, employee safety and employee moral,” Meaders said. “We have to take care of our employees and make sure they enjoy what they’re doing.”
The workday at U.S. Tanker begins at 5 a.m. with a production meeting. “We no longer need a production manager,” Meaders said. “We pretty much have a self-directed work force. We’ve given them the freedom to do that, and it’s working well.”
He said one area where the company can increase sales is with its pumpers. “The past ownership really didn’t emphasize this company’s ability to build commercial pumpers,” he said. “We build commercial pumpers, but we really don’t advertise that fact.”
He said he and Slawson are already developing plans to expand the company’s production capacity by doubling the footprint of its facility in Burlington, which is in southeastern Wisconsin, south of Milwaukee. “We think that would position us very well for the next 10 to 15 years,” he said.
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