Lindquist attracting talent, building careers

Rachel Kroeger

Staff

October 19, 2026

ASHWAUBENON – Lindquist Machine Co. is taking a “people-first” approach to modern manufacturing.

For 80 years, President and CEO Bryan Peters said Lindquist has helped support its customers’ increasingly complex projects with end-to-end design, machining, fabrication and assembly services.

“Lindquist is more than a machining company; we are a turnkey fabrication machine shop,” he said. “We do end-to-end capabilities, meaning we have the engineers to do the design work and we have the manufacturing engineers to do the routing and continuous improvement.”

Though he has only been with Lindquist for roughly one year – brought in following the company’s acquisition by Schneider Resources Holdings (SRH) in September 2025 – Peters said he’s a tenured manufacturing engineer excited about the opportunities ahead of the company with increased automation and workforce investment on the horizon.

“For SRH, it’s important to find a business that [has] incredible capabilities,” he said. “Lindquist has been around for 80 years, [the company] has been known to produce quality work [and] they’re playing in some very important markets.”

Serving industries such as consumer products, food manufacturing, nuclear, medical and defense, Peters said the expertise of Lindquist’s tenured workforce is paramount to the company’s continued success – now more than ever.

“It’s always difficult to find talent, [and] I don’t think we’re unique to anywhere else in the United States,” he said. “I think we all go through this struggle, but more importantly, here, we are building a culture of [putting our] people first.”

Karen Sinette, Lindquist’s director of human resources – with 30 years of HR experience and a background in manufacturing as well – said her position is brand new to the company.

“I’ve only been here since June, but I am attracted to this company because of what Bryan is doing on the initiative of [putting] people first,” she said, “really viewing the human resource function administratively versus at the table and driving some of these initiatives to become the employer of choice in our area. So, he brought me on as that partner to build out our culture and to have a people strategy in place.”

Local company, global outreach

With new ownership and an increased commitment to workforce development, Sinette said Lindquist is tackling both internal and external marketing efforts to advertise its renewed energy.

“There’s a lot of intentional marketing happening, both on the customer side but also for the intention of recruitment: sharing what we do, why we do, how we do and all of the benefits of working here at Lindquist Machine,” she said. “Another big focus has been our marketing internally. We’re doing a lot of different programs and using different tools to drive the employee experience.”

On the shop floor, Peters said additional investment in cutting-edge equipment has been made a priority to support the company’s comprehensive service.

“We’re bringing in a brand-new laser and press brake,” he said. “We have the machining, we have control engineers, we have the electrical assemblers [and] we can build a complete turnkey automated machine from [start to finish].”

The full-scale nature of Lindquist’s service, Peters said, makes the company less of a contractor and more of a partner to its customers.

“[We’re] more of an extension of their team,” he said. “We’ve had recent conversations about strategic partnerships, whether we reserve capacity with them, work on manufacturing cost sharing and come up with unique designs for manufacturing solutions. Then, overall, just building a quality piece of equipment and even doing the factory authorization testing on site with their engineers in that partnership.”

With the wide variety of industries Lindquist serves, Peters said the company’s work is often installed nationwide and beyond.

“And that goes almost for everything we do here, too,” he said.

Partnering with other area manufacturers, Peters said Lindquist’s historic relationships with companies like Foth and Green Bay Machine have greatly extended the impact of its work.

“Our outreach is greater than we probably know,” he said.

‘Take it to the next level’

Lindquist operates in “three verticals,” Peters said: build to print, end-to-end design and assembly and, the newest, nuclear – their largest identified area of growth.

“We just got our NQA-1 (Nuclear Quality Assurance-1) compliance, which means we are now qualified to be on our customers’ approved supplier list [for nuclear equipment components],” he said. “[That] opens so many doors for us to now quote and have a complete solution to meet our customer needs. We’ve identified some pretty large opportunities, and that’s one of the drivers for the significant investment we’re making.”

In the last year alone – SRH’s first year of ownership – Peters said more than $3 million has been invested both into its processes and its people.

“Next year, we’re going to be doing something similar to that,” he said. “We really feel strongly that we can double the size of the business. The work is there. It’s now a matter of getting the people in place. We need the welders, we need the machinists, we need the engineers, etc., to meet the demand.”

That’s where Lindquist’s new, highly intentional recruitment and marketing efforts come into play, Sinette said.

“This year has definitely been a ‘build your foundation’ year,” she said. “We’ve added some pretty significant roles – including a Director of Nuclear Program, a Continuous Improvement Leader, myself, a new Director of Engineering, a new CFO – so there’s been some intentional hiring that’s happened to get us set up for that big growth spurt that we’re expecting.”

Outside of additional leadership positions, Sinette said the company is also actively recruiting to build out its engineering, fabrication and machining teams – timely efforts for Manufacturing Month, which Lindquist is celebrating this year with the Greater Green Bay Chamber.

“We’re also getting a little bit of renewed energy into our youth apprenticeship program,” she said.

On the shop floor, Peters said employees SRH inherited through their acquisition have already reported feeling the ripple effects of the new investments.

“It’s been pretty refreshing here,” he said. “We’ve had people who have left who’ve come back to Lindquist… [after] hearing about the investments and the changes we’re going through, and they’ve brought other people with them as well.”

With several employees who’ve been with the company for more than half of its history, Sinette said innovation and engagement are necessary to balance.

“[We’re] doing a refreshed look at everything that’s been done in the past and [asking], ‘Should it still be [done], and how can we enhance it?’” she said. “People have a renewed sense of energy around that. They’re excited about it. Engagement activities that we do with the employees, too, they’re gravitating towards it. So, it’s good, and the feedback’s been great. Retention’s still really high [and] we have a lot of longevity here.”

Peters said it’s also important to recognize the foundation Lindquist’s previous ownership laid, highlighting how it supports SHR’s renewed investment in the company and its workforce.

“A lot of really good people built this business and its reputation,” he said. “How I see us going forward is just to continue to build on that. We’re not knocking anything in the past; they did a phenomenal job. It’s our job to take it to the next level.”