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April 13, 2026
STRATFORD – In 1986, Trimpac began as a small woodworking shop in Stratford, with the owners working out of their garage.
Today, Commercial Sales Representative Dan Wenzel said Trimpac has grown into an industry leader in custom wood products.
Wenzel said staying in business for 40 years is impressive in any industry.
“It shows longevity, stability and durability to withstand the ups and downs we see on a local, global or nationwide economic scale,” he said. “Like many business leaders would say, there have been some rough years, especially from 2008-10 with the Great Recession.”
Wenzel – who has been with Trimpac “going on 20 years” – said during the rough times, companies have to make hard decisions with layoffs and other decisions to keep the business afloat.
“It’s not necessarily day to day, but it’s been month to month at times,” he said. “Having said that, I think 40 years shows you’re able to withstand those tough times and continue forward.”
Taylor Moore, Trimpac’s human resources manager, said the company also takes pride in employee longevity, noting that of its 33 employees, 14 have been with Trimpac for more than 10 years.
“As a business, we feel we have great longevity with employees, which is hard for some companies to say,” she said.
Forty years of growth
Wenzel said Trimpac got its start 40 years ago by pre-finishing and staining wood components for a Marshfield-area home builder.
Starting small, he said the company built its reputation and gradually expanded to take on additional projects from other local builders.
“It then turned into a full-time thing for owners, where before, it was basically more of a hobby,” he said. “It started as a ma-and-pa business and evolved to what it is today. I believe in 1991, they built the first portion of the shop, and then it was added onto several times throughout the years.”
With about 49,000 square feet of space at 117521 Forward St., Moore said Trimpac is always looking at ways to expand the business and grow.
Though Trimpac did mostly residential work early in its history, she said the company moved into commercial work in the late 1990s.
At that time, Moore said school districts, doctors’ offices, etc., began utilizing Trimpac’s expertise.
“When you walk into schools and see those cubbies in classrooms, or storage areas in doctors’ offices, that’s all stuff we produce,” she said. “That commercial side is definitely expanding. We also do a lot of work for grocery stores, so the demand for commercial work is definitely there.”
Wenzel said as Trimpac’s residential business grew in its early years, its commercial operations expanded alongside it, serving bars, hospitals, churches and other buildings.
Originally focused in Marshfield, he said Trimpac products are now found across Wisconsin.
“We’re from corner to corner in the state – Madison, Milwaukee and all the way up north to the Superior area,” he said. “We do a lot of work with Festival Foods throughout the state. Recently, Festival Foods was bought out by a company in St. Louis, and now we’re getting requests from that brand to complete some work.”
Aside from a few sourced items like quartz countertops, Wenzel said Trimpac buys raw materials and manufactures nearly everything in-house, keeping the custom side of the business at the forefront – a practice he considers rare in the industry.
“The custom portion of our business is a big part of what we do,” he said. “We don’t simply push a button and pop out a cabinet. Sure, we’re semi-automated – we have CNC machines and other machines that help us in the process – but we are geared more toward custom. There is a lot of hands-on work requiring skill.”
According to Trimpac’s website (trimpac.com), the company has eight areas of service:
- Specialty finishing
- Store fixtures
- Custom woodworking
- Kitchen cabinets
- Residential millwork
- Windows
- Commercial casework
- Commercial millwork
The need for workers
As with other trades-related businesses, Moore said finding employees is a challenge, with one of Trimpac’s main goals being to recruit the younger generation.
Wenzel said though more Baby Boomers are retiring, he’s beginning to see younger workers step into these roles – that progress, however, takes time.
“We’re currently working with Stratford High School,” he said. “Through youth apprenticeships, we’re able to get some junior and senior students in here to take on part-time positions during school hours. It’s a paid position for them, and it gives them direct hands-on experience in manufacturing and fabrication.”
Not only do the youth apprenticeships help out Trimpac, but Wenzel said it gives students a taste of what a full-time job in the trades might look like.
“It’s a benefit for us, a benefit for the kids and a benefit for the communities,” he said. “It’s a win-win for everyone involved.”
Sustainability efforts
Wenzel said Trimpac is “very mindful” of its waste, resource use and materials, noting that all of the company’s finishing, staining and painting products are water-based.
“Obviously, we have to maintain our VOC (volatile organic compounds) in the air levels for the DNR,” he said. “We push the green portion as much as we can.”
According to recent posts on Facebook, Trimpac also participates in regional Adopt-a-Highway cleanup efforts.
