Pieper Automation says goodbye to inefficiency

Rich Palzewic

Staff

August 10, 2023

WRIGHTSTOWN – Spurred by a need to consolidate its forces under one roof and prepare for the future, Pieper (PEE-PER) Automation recently moved into a new 60,000-square-foot space in Wrightstown – a move that brings the company’s Green Bay and Neenah operations together.

Pieper Automation’s – a subsidiary of Pieper Electric, Inc. – facilities in Green Bay and Neenah had been around for about 30 years, so Branch Manager Katie Tesch said it “made sense to move to a new location and put everything under one roof.”

“We’ve been operating as one branch in two facilities for a long time,” she said. “This move brings everyone together – we think we can be more effective with collaboration when we’re all in one place.”

A bit more on Pieper
Pieper provides complete industrial automation solutions to manufacturers throughout North America.

“We have custom machine/panel shops,” Tesch said. “We do integration with customers – things like control upgrades, come up with solutions for improving product productivity and safety automation.”

Tesch said Pieper’s staff engineers have different areas of expertise supporting a variety of service options.

“A customer might come to us with a problem and say, ‘We’d like to improve our productivity, our equipment is aging,’ or ‘I’m having trouble with workforce and need to make things easier,’” she said. “We would design the solutions. We can develop the solutions because we have a full design and engineering team.”

Tesch said Pieper also has a “distinct advantage” compared to other automation companies.

“Pieper Electric does the electrical installation – that’s a big difference-maker for us,” she said. “Most companies that do automation can’t do the electrical side of things, so they have to bring in another company. We can build our own panels and equipment for those solutions and install them.”

Pieper Automation provides complete industrial automation solutions to manufacturers throughout North America. Photo Courtesy of Pieper Automation

Tesch said each job requires different strategies.

“Sometimes, Pieper might build an entire panel in-house and then install it on-site for a customer,” she said. “Other times, we’re making changes or edits, building panels and installing things at the customer’s location.”

Additionally, Tesch said Pieper offers long-term support.

“Many manufacturers don’t have a maintenance team or have only a small team,” she said. “If something goes wrong, what do they do? We have a team that will go to them and support that.”

Though Pieper has specific sectors they are more versed in, Tesch said Pieper is always looking to grow and expand.

“Our tagline is, ‘We always find a way,’” she said. “Yes, there are areas we do more work in such as dairy and pulp/paper. Our branch in New Berlin deals a lot in mining and heavy equipment. Though we are open to looking at anything, we are careful to stay in our lane – we won’t do something we have no experience in. We have a diverse team of engineers and try to utilize that for our customers.”

More on the move
Before the move, Tesch said Pieper had its panel shop located in the Neenah facility, while the machine shop was in the Green Bay location.

“I drove back and forth daily to one of the offices,” she said. “When you try to build a team and be effective, it’s hard to do that in separate facilities. Additionally, we were outgrowing our space – we needed more manufacturing and office space.”

Tesch said it’s not always easy finding enough space.

“When we signed the lease (in Wrightstown), the building (located at 731 County Rd. DDD Suite 100) was underway,” she said. “It’s a 100,000-square-foot warehouse, so we took 40,000 square feet, John’s Refrigeration has 40,000 and (our parent company) Pieper Electric is taking the 20,000 square feet in the middle.”

Besides the added space, Tesch said a new building also helps retain new talent.

“Our (Green Bay and Neenah) facilities were some of the older buildings (in the Pieper network),” she said. “Thirty-year-old buildings with two-color carpet (wasn’t cutting) it.”

Tesch said the team specifically looked in Wrightstown because geographically, it’s about halfway between the company’s Green Bay and Neenah facilities.

“We wanted to avoid as much upheaval as possible,” she said. “The goal was not to lose any employees. We analyzed where everyone lived, what their previous commute was and what their new commute would be – we want people to come into the office.”

Tesch said the results of the commute times survey showed six employees were affected more than others.

Katie Tesch

“We have about 50 employees, and less than 10% of them had a more than 10-minute commute change,” she said. “It wasn’t necessarily a lot of people, but we wanted to make sure with everyone.”

A month into the new building, Tesch said “attendance has been great.”

“We have a flexible work policy, but our attendance is better than ever,” she said. “A new building is cool, but it has to have more. Our customers can come in and see how we can do these things. We have spots by the windows – a more people-focused environment. I’ve been checking in quite often with (the employees) to see how things are going.”

‘We’re hiring’
Tesch said like many other businesses, Pieper is hiring.

“We’re at a place where we are very functional doing what we are today,” she said. “We have a lot of business booked out, so we’re looking to grow.”

However, Tesch said it’s more than simply hiring new employees.

“We want the right person for Pieper who will fit in with the existing team,” she said. “Our values are primary to us, so if we can find the right people, we’ll expand. We’re not in any type of desperate state – we don’t hire anybody who won’t fit our culture. We’re typically growing in our manufacturing space and engineering sectors.”

For more information on Pieper Automation, visit pieperautomation.com or find them on Facebook.