Addition makes way for new growth at Millwork Distributors

Judith Munson

Contributor

December 1, 2025

OSHKOSH – Millwork Distributors, Inc. (MDI) in Oshkosh has broken ground on a 23,000-square-foot expansion – which President Scott Ryback said is designed to support the company’s growing warehousing and operational needs.

“The primary driver for the addition is additional warehouse space, but there are also so many other things the new space addresses,” he said. “We’re doing 23,000 square feet, because that’s all we can handle in the lot – we’re basically utilizing all the land space that we can.”

Ryback said the addition will not only expand the company’s warehousing and operational capabilities but also double its meeting space.

“When we have our quarterly employee meetings, we have up to 80 people in that space right now and visibility for everyone is limited, so we want to improve that,” he said. “So, it’s not only adding to our breakroom, but it’s making it into more of a multi-purpose room and a training room for our customers.”

Ryback said the expansion also includes updates to the building’s restrooms, facade and other consumer-facing elements.

“The original building was built in the early ’90s, so we’re replacing the entire exterior and creating a larger front entryway for our customers,” he said. “This will allow us to highlight our products in a more eye-catching way.”

Other improvements, Ryback said, include the creation of a will-call area at the back of the facility for customers, expanded parking and updated landscaping. 

The warehouse space, he said, is scheduled for completion in February, with the remainder of the work expected by the end of May.

Ryback said the addition is truly a future-focused project, reflecting MDI’s business model, which involves a constant flow of product.

“I’m hoping this is going to last us another 20 years,” he said. “Adding inventory is really important to us. In our industry, there are a lot of people who want something right now, and if you have it in stock, then they’re going to order from you, and if you don’t, you miss out. So, we’re very much a just-in-time business. The extra space will let us bring in a little more inventory to help us take care of them.”

With the new space, Ryback said MDI will add five to seven new warehouse and millwork employees.

“Inventory demand continues to grow, so that’s another reason why we want to add a little more space so we can continue to inventory more product,” he said. “The pre-finished side of our business drives a lot of that growth.”

Ryback said the company purchased a nearby pre-finish facility to meet growing demand for prefinished products – whether painted or stained – allowing staff to handle the pre-finishing in-house.

“We want to control the timing,” he said. “We want to control the quality. This was a huge step for us.”

Ryback said the company has also expanded its product offerings recently to include a closet system and porch system.

These changes, he said, reflect MDI customers’ growing preference for pre-fabricated items to speed up the build process.

“We also apply a product called aluminum cladding,” he said. “It’s a no-maintenance product that goes on the exterior of our frames. It’s huge in the Fox Valley, but now it’s growing more in Milwaukee and Madison. People want to set it and forget it instead of having to paint every few years.”

Company history, ESOP transition

Founded in 1987 by Kenneth and Stephanie Huszar, Ryback said MDI operated as a family-run business until about five years ago, when their sons, Mike and Steve, chose to retire.

In planning for the company’s future, Ryback said the Huszar brothers transitioned ownership of MDI to its employees through an employee stock ownership plan (ESOP).

Ryback, who has been with MDI since 1997, said the Huszar brothers had the best interests of the business and the employees in mind with this decision.

“If they had sold outright, who knows what would have happened,” he said. “But our owners believed in us. We’ve always been a family within this organization. So, they sold the organization to us, and we’ve been a 100% ESOP for five years now.”

Ryback said the Huszar brothers were engaged throughout the ESOP transition, which took a couple of years and helped employees learn all aspects of running a business.

The transition, he said, has energized everyone involved – noting that for it to succeed,  “everyone must think and act like an owner.”

“Everything good and bad affects the bottom line, and our stock in the company is directly affected by this,” he said. “All the owners own the path to success or failure. We do it together, not alone. We all need to have the same goals and same expectations to be successful.”

As MDI approaches its 40th year in business, Ryback said the company continues to uphold its long-standing role as a key supplier to the construction industry, providing interior and exterior doors, stairs, railings, columns, windows, moldings, jambs and interior and exterior prefinishing services – with a service area spanning the entire State of Wisconsin and into Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.

Leadership, employee growth

Ryback, who became president three years ago, said he started with MDI in customer service before transitioning to the production side of the company. 

Over the years, he said he has held roles in quality control and served as a production supervisor, eventually advancing to vice president of production and, later, executive vice president of operations.

Ryback said he’s joined by several colleagues who have also spent decades at MDI, including Kathy Rennert (senior vice president of product management) and John Bauernfeind (vice president of sales).

“Kathy has been with us for more than 30 years,” he said. “She started as an office intern when she was 16. She went into marketing and was then in charge of purchasing. She’s definitely grown, much like me, in the organization.”

Ryback said having so many people, who in many ways grew up with the company, supported the success of transitioning from family ownership to an ESOP. 

“Honestly, ESOP has been great for us,” he said. “It’s a different outlook, very different. We can be a lot more aggressive. Our first move focused on upgrading our machinery. We invested a lot of money in machinery upgrades in the past two years for our shop.”

Ryback said for him and the others in leadership who worked for the Huszar brothers for many years, the opportunities of employee ownership are especially meaningful.

“[The fact] that they had the trust and faith in us to carry on their parents’ work – it means a lot to me,” he said. “It’s great when we see them, because they’re happy for us, happy that the company is growing. It makes me very proud to continue their legacy.”

To learn more, visit mdi-oshkosh.com.