Spotlight on Industry | The Trussville Tribune | July, 2022

July 2022

SPOTLIGHT ON

INDUSTRY & BUSINESS

presented by

The Trussville Tribune

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Spotlight on Industry | The Trussville Tribune

July, 2022

Industrial Development Authority works hard to bring ‘good jobs’ to Trussville

By Crystal McGough, Sponsored Content

Paine Industrial Park, managed by the Industrial Development Authority, is truly a hidden gem of Trussville.

People traveling Highway 11 drive past the park every day, often not even noticing its existence. Sure, if you mention Amerex, most Trussvillians will know exactly where you are talking about. With its glamourous roadside building and beautiful fountain, it’s surely hard to miss. But what about the other 34 businesses taking up roughly 500 acres of the industrial park?

From high-tech companies, fabrication, engineering and welding to major business headquarters, warehousing and distribution, and contractors, the Paine Industrial Park is a hub, not only for high-quality products and services, but high-quality jobs.

Behind it all, is Trussville’s Industrial Development Authority, a group of seven individuals who have teamed up to help industry in their city grow.

“Our main function is to bring jobs to Trussville,” IDA Chair David Fuller said.

“Good jobs, skilled jobs in a lot of cases. The businesses in there provide services and products that everyone uses: car parts, switch gear for railroads. Under construction right now is a medical supply company that will distribute out of the park. Those are just examples, but it’s pretty diverse in what they do.”

The IDA’s goal is to develop “light industrial” jobs, which are typically smaller in-house and more focused on high quality products and services.

“Our businesses, other than Amerex and G. R. Manufacturing, average probably between a low of six and a high of about 45-50 employees,” Fuller said. “That’s the kind of the range we’re looking at. We want clean, hightech industry, and I think that’s what we have in there now. Amerex, by far, is the

largest, and G. R. Manufacturing the second largest with 100 employees.”

The IDA not only brings businesses into the Paine Industrial Park, but the Authority also helps to facilitate a community-type atmosphere between the businesses.

“We are attempting to develop and then support the business owners in the park,” Fuller said.

“We do a lot of things to support the business owners any way that we can: communications, we have luncheons for the business owners to keep them informed of what’s going on around them and so that they can meet each other and know each other better.”

Even with the wide diversity of businesses within the park, Fuller said that it is important that the business owners know one another and have that professional rela-

tionship.

“They help each other; they bounce ideas off each other,” he said. “It gives them the opportunity to talk about a lot of things and share ideas.”

The IDA originally began as the Industrial Development Board, which was an official board under the City of Trussville.

By the end of 2021, h o w e v e r, the board became what is now known as the Industrial Development Authority.

“We made the change for future development,” Fuller said. “It gives the Authority the ability to possibly come outside of the industrial park or do some other things down the road. It gives us the ability to do things that we could not do when we were just a board under the city.”

Despite now being its own entity, the Authority continues to work very closely with

the city. Trussville City Councilor Lisa Bright is the liaison between the Authority and the city council, and she attends every IDA meeting.

“She probably does as much day-to-day work as any of the members of the Authority and helps us a lot,” Fuller said. “She is our voice between the city council and the Authority.”

Trussville Mayor Buddy Choat also attends all of the IDA’s meetings, Fuller said.

“The mayor and city council support us very well,” he said. “That support is very much appreciated.”

With Fuller serving as the Chair of the Authority, other members include Vice Chair Dwight Turnipseed, Treasurer David Livingston, Alan Friday, Chase Wright, Chase McMaster and Jerry Little.

Chase McMaster is also the owner of Chase Bay, a

distributor and manufacturer for high-performance auto parts in the industrial park.

“He’s the only one on the Authority that is also an owner in the park,” Fuller said.

New to the park, and currently under construction, is McKesson Corporation, a medical supply and pharmaceutical company.

Two other businesses, Smith Roofing and DE General Contractors, have also recently purchased space in the park and will be under construction by the end of this year, Fuller said.

“We’re a little tight (on space) right now,” Fuller said.

“There are seven vacant sites that are owned by individuals and not by the city. I think all of those will develop over time. We probably have four or five existing sites that need some site work that are available at this time.”

With the majority of the lots in the industrial park already occupied, Fuller said that the IDA has future hopes to expand onto 70 acres that formerly housed a Gold Kist chicken plant.

“The next project that we really need to be working on – we don’t have funding yet – but there’s an old Gold Kist chicken plant (which closed more than 20 years ago) in the back side of the park that was there before the park was there. The old chicken plant has not been demolished yet, but when it is, we can develop probably six to eight sites back there.”

The IDA meets on the last Thursday of every month at Trussville City Hall, beginning at 6 p.m.

“Everything is focused on what we can do to expand the industry in there,” Fuller said.

“That’s the major focus of our meetings.”

The businesses of the Paine Industrial Park currently include: Alabama Fire College, State Farm, Emergency Pet Care, Blalock Building Company Inc., Iron City Machine - Engine Rebuilders, Dorsett Construction Inc., The Mercedes Doctor, Alabama Glass Crafters Inc., Net Connection Inc., SPOC Automation, McCullough Oil Company, AMEREX Corporation, Gerber Collision & Glass, H & E Equipment Services, KT Pacer (a Kentucky Trailer company), Robinson Fans Service & Equipment Company, G. R. Manufacturing Inc., Laempe Reich Corporation, Russo Corporation, Elkanah Contractors Inc., Universal Limited Inc., Acuren Inspection Inc., Chase Bays Inc., Jefferson County (sewer station), System Controls Inc., Smith Roofing LLC, Lighting Concepts, Empowering Technologies, Prestige Alarm & Specialty Products Inc., Anschutz North America LLC, DE General Contractors, The Dobbins Company, McKesson Corporation and New Generation Building & Design Inc.

Spotlight on Industry | The Trussville Tribune

July, 2022

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Trussville Industrial Park

INDUSTRIAL PARK BUSINESS DIRECTORY 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13A 13B 14 15 16 17 18 19

AVAILABLE AVAILABLE Closed Goldkist Plant AVAILABLE AVAILABLE AVAILABLE AVAILABLE AVAILABLE Jefferson Co AVAILABLE System Controls Inc (Story on pg 8B) Chase Bays (Story on pg 4B) Smith Roofing – not located AVAILABLE AVAILABLE AVAILABLE G.R. Manufacturing, Inc. (Story on pg 9B) Acuren Dobbins Company Lighting Solutions

20A 20B 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38

Empowering Technologies McKesson Corporation Prestige Alarm & Specialty Products SPOC Automation (Story on pg 10B) New Generation Building & Design, Inc (Story on pg 5B) AVAILABLE Anschutz North America DE General Universal Limited Inc Elkanah Contractors Inc Russo Corporation Russo Corporation Privately Owned Privately Owned Privately Owned Gerber Collision & Glass Laempereich Robinson Fan Service KT Pacer KT Pacer

39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55

H & E Equipment Services Privately Owned Privately Owned McCullough Oil Co McCullough Oil Co SPOC Automation (Story on pg 10B) SPOC Automation (Story on pg 10B) Net Connections The Mercedes Doctor Alabama Glass Crafters AVAILABLE AVAILABLE Dorsett Construction Engine Rebuilders (Iron City Machines) Blalock Building Company Blalock Building Company State Farm Insurance Trussville Emergency Pet American Fire College Amerex Corporation (Story on pg 6B)

INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY

Lisa Bright

Trussville Councilor and liaison for the IDA

Alan Friday

Chase McMaster

David Fuller IDA Chair

David Livingston

Dwight Turnipseed IDA Vice Chair

Chase Wright

Jerry Little

Spotlight on Industry | The Trussville Tribune

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July, 2022

Chase Bays: A business that builds better performance

By Hannah Curran, Sponsored Content

Chase Bays designs and manufactures High-End Fluid Transfer Products for the aftermarket automotive industry, and allows employees to be creative and think outside the box to build performing product.

Chase McMaster started Chase Bays, INC in 2005 when McMaster was working under the hood of a 1988 Honda.

“There was so much clutter and things in the way, it felt like a messy desk. One by one I cleaned things up,” McMaster said. “First the engine bay wiring, then the fuel lines, brake lines, power steering, radiator, and so on.”

From there he posted the work on internet forums and people wanted the same thing on their cars and were willing to pay for it. The end result was a very clutter-free engine bay that was aesthetically pleasing and easy to work on.

“It practically looked like a floating engine,” McMaster said.

However, McMaster wanted to find a way to help everyone, so he set out to create a business that benefits more people.

“It didn’t take long to find more weak points in the original components I’d become so familiar with, ones I could solve with new products,” McMaster said. “Once more uses of these products were uncovered, it slowly snowballed into what it is today.”

The products they make are mostly for 80s and 90s imports, meaning Porsche, Subaru, Nissan, Honda, and Toyota.

“It's a huge, huge market, usually won't see cars driving around on the street, that

would be our customers,” McMaster said. “They're mostly race cars, drift cars, rally cars. A lot of the stuff that you'd see on the street is not really our market, but it's, it's a quite a large industry.”

Chase Bays also have products in Formula Drift, WRC rally, ChampCar, etc.

“While we don't have a lot of customers in Trussville this industry provides good jobs, good-paying jobs that we can provide for the city,” McMaster said. “We recently got a few interns who were in the engineering program at Hewitt-Trussville High School during the summer.

Some of them are going into 12th grade, and some of them

have already graduated.”

McMaster said he believes Chase Bays is good for the community and they want more Trussville residents to be employed by Chase Bays.

“I think a lot of times people look elsewhere for jobs rather than Trussville, either out of state and there are some amazing in Trussville and we want people to see that,” McMaster said.

Chase Bays products are designed to increase performance and aesthetics while saving weight and space.

They’re focused on the Braking, Cooling, Power Steering, Clutch, and Fuel Delivery components of the car. Chase Bays always strives to be the

best and offer the best customer experience.

“If there is a better component or method, we’re going to use it,” McMaster said.

McMaster said they give people creative freedom.

“I listen to my staff, and their input and output to a really high regard because generally the people that do the job every day are gonna know better than I do what might work better,” McMaster said. “So I listened to my staff, I want a comfortable environment.”

Chase Bays puts their employees first and McMaster said they do by providing them with a comfortable workspace.

“We have very large fans to try to keep the warehouse cool,” McMaster said. “Provide snacks and drinks that we offer to everybody. We do really cool stuff in here, and we get to have fun get to go to the track, we get to watch insane cars come through or do a really cool demo day with various motorsport activities.”

McMaster said that one of the best parts of working in this industry is watching a product get developed, go into market, and then go on thousands of cars. He said it’s something to be proud of, to even work at Chase Bays.

“We develop everything in-house, we have 20 dif-

ferent cars here,” McMaster said. “It's pretty standard, you come up with the concept, you design it, you 3D print it, and then you have it machined or whatever the manufacturing process may be. Then you install it on the car, and our products are very aesthetically pleasing, very high function-oriented.”

Chase Bays creates products that not only increase the performance of the car, but they create something that won’t collect dust sitting on a shelf. However, it’s not the products that McMaster is proud of it’s the team that keeps Chase Bays alive.

“I'm most proud of just how happy everybody is; I talk to other business owners, and they have problems that I don't in terms of their team,” McMaster said. “I think the internal work culture that we have here, and the growth that we've experienced since I sort of put that team together for the last three or four years.

I think that's what I'm most proud of.”

The future of chase Bays is bright and McMaster wants to keep growing. He explained he would like to keep growing the way they have been pretty much 25% or 30% a year and offer more solutions to different car types.

The growth of Chase Bays is powered by their customers who trust in their work and support them through every twist and turn.

“We just want your service and products from Chase Bays to be incredible,” McMaster said. “With your support; we aren't going anywhere, and we will continue bringing innovative products to your doors for decades to come.

July, 2022

Spotlight on Industry | The Trussville Tribune

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New Generation Building & Design, Village Square Properties, and Smokology: The Science of Bar-B-Que make for a triple threat of quality business in Trussville

By Crystal McGough, Sponsored Content

Peppertree and Carrington may very well be two of the most well-known neighborhoods in the Trussville community, boasting beautiful custom-designed homes. In fact, hundreds of people, not only from Trussville but all around the Birmingham and Jefferson County areas, visit Peppertree at Christmastime to enjoy the fabulous light display at the home of Donnie and Susan Jones.

Most, however, may not be aware that Donnie and Susan designed and built many of the homes in the Peppertree subdivision, as well as Carrington, Hunters Creek, and other subdivisions stretching all the way out into Vestavia, through their company, New Generation Building & Design Inc. New Generation specializes in new construction residential, with custom-designed homes ranging from 3,000-7,000 square feet.

“We focus on a custom approach,” Donnie Jones said.

“No cookie-cutter houses; all custom and big lots.”

Susan became the third generation of builders in her family when she graduated from Auburn University in 1992 with a degree in Interior Design and founded New Generation Building & Design Inc. in 1999.

“My wife actually started the business, and I came on board several years later,” Donnie said. “Our son, Hunter Stewart, graduates from Auburn University in August with a Building Science degree, and he’ll be the fourth generation.”

With Susan’s lineage and degree, New Generation Building has competed in and won many awards from the Greater Birmingham Association of Home Builders (GBAHB) annual Parade of Homes.

“Susan’s degree helped because she was able to design custom,” Donnie said.

“We typically won the gold on all the Parade of Homes we entered.”

After the recession in 2008-09, the demand for custom-designed homes declined, and the Jones’ began expanding their company into commercial development, as well.

One of New Generation’s most well-known commercial developments in the Trussville area is Sheepdog Firearms, but the Jones’ are also expanding into tenant build-outs under four stories, that are owned by a landlord and leased out to business owners.

“Once New Generation

Building completes the build, we sell the building to our sister company Village Square Properties to manage the lease,” Donnie said.

Within Trussville’s Paine Industrial Park, where New Generation Building is located, Village Square Properties currently leases to McKesson pharmaceutical company.

Along with having other leasing opportunities available, VSP also owns Trussville Boat and RV Storage.

This hidden gem provides both covered and uncovered storage, offering not only locals, but anyone traveling through the area a safe place to house their RVs or boats.

The demand, however, is high, and there is a waiting list, Donnie said.

“We probably have the only covered storage here on this side of Jefferson County,” he said. “It’s a good location, because it’s kind of outof-sight, out-of-mind.”

In addition to New Generation Building and Village Square Properties, Donnie Jones has a third business, which he speaks of with a love and passion strong enough to wet anyone’s appetite. “‘Smokology: The Science of Bar-B-Que’ … I love it!” he said.

Sitting in New Generation Building’s parking lot are three Smokology barbecue trailers where Donnie and his partner Rodney Meeks prepare competition barbecue and also provide catering and fundraising services.

“We are Smokology,” Donnie said. “We do barbe-

cue fundraising. We do catering. We do the Trussville Shrimp Boil; we’ve done that for several years.”

Donnie began his competitive barbecue career cooking and competing for Southern Living in the Kansas City Barbecue Society (KCBS) professional barbecue circuit. He started Smokology in 2007, and Meeks partnered up with him in 2012.

Smokology provides catering services that range from weddings to larger

events like the Church of the Highlands Motion Conference, and fundraisers that help support many organizations including athletics and fine arts programs at many local schools.

“We do a huge fundraiser deal at Thanksgiving,” Donnie said. “This past year, we did over 1,600 hams, turkeys and butts for Thanksgiving.”

Proceeds from the annual Thanksgiving fundraiser have benefitted Clay-Chalkville High School’s baseball team, Hewitt Trussville High School’s band, Moody High School’s drama club, Southeastern School in Remlap, Palmerdale United Methodist Church, and individuals from all over the surrounding cities.

“It’s a pretty big event we do, and it’s grown every year, as far as quantities,” Donnie said. “It’s a huge revenue maker for all the schools.”

If you’re still wondering what makes Smokology stand out among the competition, it might help to know that Smokology qualified for the Jack Daniel’s World Championship Invitational Barbecue in 2012, making them one of the select few to boast the privilege of cooking Jack Daniel’s barbecue.

“Jack Daniel’s is probably the most prestigious barbecue deal in the country,” Donnie said. “Only one state champion team can represent each state in the Jack Daniel’s Competition.”

Donnie said that Smokology does not do much competing anymore, but he and Meeks spend most of their energy focusing on the catering and fundraising side of the business. Preparing for these larger events can be a sleepless endeavor, but their hearts and passion for the service they provide make it a labor of love.

“It’s just how we are,” Donnie said. “We want to make sure everybody gets a very good product and has a good experience with us.”

Anyone who is interested in Smokology’s catering or fundraising services can contact Donnie Jones at (205)789-9336, or Rodney Meeks at (205)365-2465.

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Spotlight on Industry | The Trussville Tribune

July, 2022

Amerex Corporation is a ‘mainstay’ in the Trussville community Amerex Corporation is the world leader in the manufacturing of portable fire extinguishers, and they are located right here in Trussville. Founded in 1971 by Ned Paine, Amerex has had a multi-generational impact when it comes to employment, with nearly 500 people working at the Trussville plant.

“It’s not uncommon to run across people that are celebrating and recognizing their 15th, 20th, 25th, 30th, and even 40th anniversary,” Director of Training and Continuing Education David Rice said. Rice has been with the company for 12 years. “It’s a place where people come and stay for a length of time.

It’s also not uncommon to see multiple generations of people of the same family all working there. So, it really is huge when it comes to not just an employer, but also a kind of family employer. Of

said. “That’s because (Ned Paine) was where the land and a large portion of the cash came from for the construction of the schools. That’s just one example of where the Paine family did give back in large part to the community. There are so many different things that were done throughout the era where Ned Paine owned Amerex that just really were extremely supportive and really created and fostered that kind of family atmosphere.”

While Amerex fire extinguishers are used throughout the world, the company only manufactures product from its Trussville plant.

“This is not just me speaking, but also many attendees I have in my classes will attest to the same thing, that it is without a doubt the best unit, and it is made in Trussville,” Rice said. “It’s manufactured right there; it’s not just a U.S. thing, but an Alabama thing.

There’s a lot of pride wrapped up in that.”

course, that goes both directions. Not only do we get the benefit of a real strong employment base, but we also are able to provide jobs. We do have a very reciprocal relationship there.”

Rice said it is no coincidence that the Amerex factory is located across the street from Paine Elementary and Paine Intermediate School.

“The elementary school and the middle school both have the name Paine on them.

Well, there’s a reason,” he

Amerex is not only a world leader in the supply of fire extinguishers, but they also develop fire suppression systems for vehicles, such as transit busses, and restaurant systems for commercial kitchens and industrial applications. They even have a military division that produces fire suppression systems for military vehicles.

Like many businesses, Amerex faced challenges from the COVID-19 pandemic, but they rose to the chal-

By Crystal McGough, Sponsored Content

Rice said that he was surprised at how well the virtual classes have been received, especially due to the tactile nature of the lessons.

“Largely, the people that are attending my classes are very tactile learners and a

lenge. The company developed new digital services and launched a new web store, making it easy for Amerex to continue meeting their customer’s needs.

“Like other businesses, the pandemic has made it difficult to visit customers,” Marketing Manager Susan Ray said.

“The web store puts information conveniently at their fingertips. It also allows them to order at their convenience.”

Additionally, Rice was able to make his training classes completely virtual.

“We had done very little online or virtual training prior to March of this year,” he said. “When I say very little, there were a couple of occasions where I would do an international class by way of the internet. Sometimes, if we did a product rollout that needed to have a training component with it also, then, in a lot of cases that would be done virtually, but it was just one of those things that we did to augment the in-person classes.

Until March, Rice taught in-person classes internationally almost weekly. Little did he know that his travels would come to an abrupt stop.

“The last class that we did for this year was in Las Vegas, in conjunction with a trade show,” he said. “I did not know at the time that would be the last one we would do

for the year, but within about 10 days, I was able to transition to completely a virtually-delivered class. The curriculum is virtually the same. It really changed very little. The only thing that really changed was now people are watching me on a computer screen rather than sitting six tables back on the right, or wherever they happen to be.”

The virtual classes turned out to be a blessing in disguise, not only for Rice and Amerex, but for those attending his classes, as well.

“One of the things that I have found from a delivery and educational standpoint that I like a lot is exactly what I just mentioned,” he said.

“Now everybody has a front row seat. It’s been really kind of a boom from that perspective, just simply because I’m able to deliver the content more clearly. It was met with more of a positive response than I would have ever imagined. It has had so many positives on the complexion of the training aspect just simply because of things that I can do now that we couldn’t do before. It’s fantastic.”

www.amerex-fire.com

certain amount of hands-on is necessary for them,” he said.

“Well, we’ve been able to duplicate that with the efforts of another couple of colleagues at Amerex. We’ve been able to get parts and pieces in the hands of the people that are at the various different remote locations so they can kind of follow along with the actual parts that I would normally be showing them on a computer.

They actually have one there in their hand. That part was logistically interesting to get worked out, but with a couple of the support people that we have in Trussville, as well as our product managers that we have in Trussville, we have all pulled together and made that really kind of a seamless transition.”

While originally founded

by Paine, Amerex was later acquired by McWane, Inc. During that time, Ned Paine remained on board to make the transition as seamless as possible. Rice said that under the ownership of McWane, Amerex has maintained its close, family-like quality.

“I hesitate to use that term because it does get overused

a lot, but truthfully, there is a very nice, cozy feeling to being part of the family,” he said. “That has been maintained, in large part, even after we transitioned to part of the McWane group.”

Over the years, Amerex has received many awards, recognitions and accolades, including ISO and OSHA approvals, and while the Trussville location is the main manufacturing facility, they also have distribution centers in New Jersey, Chicago and Los Angeles.

Despite its global outreach, however, what truly makes Amerex special is its roots in the Trussville community.

“Amerex has been a mainstay of the community for years,” Rice said. “Even before I knew what Amerex was – I had never heard of the company before I was offered a job there, which I know sounds kind of weird – people used to wait for openings to come up so they could work there.

It used to be said that people don’t really ever leave Amerex – they just eventually die and then somebody else moves in – because people came and stayed forever. It was just because of the company, itself.

“Having said that, I don’t see that changing. I fully expect Amerex to remain a mainstay of the community for years into the future, just simply because business is still great. We’re still going ahead, full steam. So, most definitely, it’s going to be an entity that is going to become part of an icon of the community. It already is to a large degree, but certainly that’s not going to change.”

Amerex is located at 7595 Gadsden Hwy, Trussville, AL 35173. They can be contacted at (205) 655-3271 or online at amerex-fire.com.

July, 2022

Spotlight on Industry | The Trussville Tribune

Page 7-B

Bryant Bank: Working to see Alabamians through a pandemic Community Statement

The team at Trussville – can’t say enough wonderful things! They worked 20 hour day were so informative, hardworking, and so caring of their community. I know they have worked so hard for all of their businesses!

WE RISE BY LIFTING OTHERS

A lot to beand learned through this crisis, and f At Bryant Bank, our caring our willme it’s the invaluable relationships with you ingness to lend a hand isbankers whatand makes a dif- Bravo, Bryan your accountant.

Bank Trussville! ference for others. Our entire team is committed to making a lasting impact and strives Barnett Furniture, Trussville to provide stability for fellow Alabamians.

This commitment to service begins at the topBANKER and works CONTACT A BRYANT TODAY! its way down. Our commuBRYANTBANK.C 205-661-5900 nity support comes in a variety of forms and includes volunteer work, philanthropic giving, corporate programs, and both financial and non-financial educational events with a focus on the underserved, underprivileged, one that can push some of child welfare, and child education. that fear aside and get down to what really matters, and We are proud to be servant leaders on what really matters is family whom you can depend. and making sure that your

PERSONAL | BUSINESS | MORTGAGE BANKING SER

Member FDIC. Equal Housing Lender. NLM

A world that we once knew literally changed overnight.

As mid-March approached, we began to hear about the Coronavirus pandemic a bit more frequently, but it hadn’t hit home just yet. Looking back seven months now, we could have never anticipated the impact and toll that this global pandemic would take, and has continued to take, around the world and at home in Alabama.

When our economy came to a screeching halt, lives were upended and businesses were forced to shut down.

Like many, the bankers at Bryant Bank were nervous about the unknowns ahead, but quickly knew that every customer would be impacted in some way.

Fortunately, the Government recognized that finan-

cial assistance would be vital to keeping our economy alive and the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) was born.

As the team at Bryant Bank worked relentlessly to understand the intricate details of the program, they began to communicate with customers about the financial relief.

Living out their mission to put care into action to help Alabamians invest in their full potential was never more important than it has been during these unchartered moments.

Like every bank, Bryant Bank had to navigate the constant changes and unknowns of the PPP but remained calm as they began to help customers one phone call, text, and email at a time. But one thing was different in regards to how Bryant Bank approached

the PPP process – they did not waiver on their expectations for a standard of excellence when delivering a very personal level of customer service that is filled with care, compassion, and empathy for others.

You see, at Bryant Bank, every customer is someone.

They know their name and know their story. Customers have local bankers that they can call upon at any time and it was paramount for the bankers to provide this level of service throughout this unprecedented time. To put this into perspective, this is what one banker had to say in early March when this [COVID-19] began.

“We can be that shoulder that you need to cry on, we can be that person that you need to talk to, we can be the

business is on sound financial footing, and it is at Bryant Bank.”

At the bank, it was all hands-on deck as the PPP applications began to roll in.

It was important for customers to have a human to talk to rather than a computer system to work with. Team members helped in any way.

Administrative staff from different departments put their jobs on hold to jump in so that bankers could support each customer personally. As it became time to submit the applications to the SBA, bankers spent nearly 24 hours submitting to the portal. During this time, it was

a beautiful testament to the dedication of the bankers as they worked tirelessly to provide customers a lifeline that was essential to keeping their employees paid and business doors open.

All-in-all, Bryant Bankers worked alongside 1,300 Alabama small businesses and reinvested $150 million back into our economy. It is not an exaggeration to say that bankers worked night and day to help customers survive.

Now as bankers and small businesses across the country prepare for loan forgiveness, it will be important again for

borrowers to work collaboratively with their banker. Just as Bryant Bank did at the beginning, they will continue to passionately serve their customers throughout the entirety of this process and beyond.

Bryant Bank recognizes that the road ahead will have its challenges, but time-aftertime we see the resilience of Alabamians. Together, we truly are Alabama strong.

And as time carries on, the Bryant Bank vision to see every Alabamian experience a financially stable future and live in a thriving community will always remain.

The team at Trussville – can’t say enough wonderful things! They worked 20 hour days, were so informative, hardworking, and so caring of their community. I know they have worked so hard for all of their businesses!

A lot to be learned through this crisis, and for me it’s the invaluable relationships with your bankers and your accountant. Bravo, Bryant Bank Trussville!

Barnett Furniture, Trussville

CONTACT A BRYANT BANKER TODAY!

205-661-5900

PERSONAL | BUSINESS | MORTGAGE BANKING SERVICES

BRYANTBANK.COM Member FDIC. Equal Housing Lender. NLMS 582857.

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Spotlight on Industry | The Trussville Tribune

July, 2022

System Controls/EMC: Bright future that continues to grow

By Hannah Curran, Sponsored Content

When System Controls, Inc. and Electric Machine Control, Inc. (SCI/EMC) decided in 2012 to move from their Avondale location owner William “Bill” Reed and President Shane Heath looked at available greenfield commercial property in a 25mile radius of their current location. After an exhaustive review the clear choice was the current location of 7015 Haisten Drive, located in the Trussville Industrial Park.

After the construction of a state-of-the-art 32,000 square foot facility, the combined efforts of 45 dedicated employees are displayed every day in the quality of the products and services they provide to new and, often times, repeat customers.

System Controls, founded in 1964 by John Ramsay, began by providing motor controls for the underground mining conveyor industry.

Today, many of those same customers continue to purchase electrical control systems for all types of mining applications. SCI provides control systems for many other Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs).

These OEMs offer the SCI equipment as a part of their product. This requires many of the SCI products to be assembled, wired, and tested to extreme regulations and specifications, then shipped to destinations across the globe.

Ed Carter founded EMC in 1975 as a manufacturer of high-end DC motor controllers for rolling applications in the paper and steel industries.

Today, EMC is a leader in electric controls and automation in the Water/Wastewater

industry, as well as, in Power Utilities, Pulp and Paper, Metals, Material Handling, and General Industrial Applications. These two diverse backgrounds were melded together when the two companies were joined in 2001 by the common ownership resulting from the purchase of SCI in 1997 and EMC in 1999.

As is common in a family-owned business the torch passes to Bill Reed’s son, Scott Reed, the two companies continue to grow and provide an excellent workplace.

“In terms of interactions with employees, the family-owned business tends to be more relational, while the larger corporation is transactional.

This more nurturing culture can permeate the business and have a profound impact on relationships with customers, vendors and fellow employees. I would much rather build a relationship than be part of an equation.” Besides the standard benefits provided by most employers SCI/EMC provides their employees with many additional benefits like profit sharing, 401k matching, family healthcare options, flexible and remote working schedules, in-house training programs, and college tuition reimbursement

for those studying in qualifying degree paths.

“We offer an education assistance program to our employees that reimburses them for any out-of-pocket cost in pursuit of an industry applicable degree either two or four years.” Heath said. “We have had some employees hire in

With the diverse background of its employees and project history, SCI/EMC continues to find new markets and customers where the quality and robustness of the products and services are required. “We have made a concerted effort to diversify the industries in which we

as an entry level shop technician and utilizing the education assistance program, attain their engineering degree and become a member of our engineering staff. We find that when the organization invests in its employees it benefits all parties involved.”

work.,” Heath said. “That diversification allows us to maintain a steadier growth and minimizes the market volatility associated with being vertically integrated in only one industry.”

The SCI/EMC Management Team is responsible

for goals and objectives, the workplace environment, risk management, and the overall quality of the products and services. One of the tools they have implemented is the Quality Management System, or QMS. The QMS covers all aspects of the organized operations of the employees and carries certification to meet the requirements of ISO9001. This system is used to determine potential problems and quality issues to implement corrective actions for any current or future event.

This system is also responsible for a number of continued improvements for the overall process.

SCI/EMC employs electrical engineers and designers, project managers, field service engineers and technicians, and production technicians along with quality, sales, and administrative positions to manage the workflow associated with the design and production of electrical control systems. Projects may include a detailed request for quotation with design drawings and specifications or a simple request for a standard product ranging from hundreds of dollars to several million dollars.

Many of the projects rely on highly-skilled employees

to understand the customer’s need, design safe and efficient control systems, and produce high quality work. All employees are encouraged to participate in in-house or online training to improve their current skills or expand their skill set to a new area. The company prides itself on being small and treats everyone like family. “You’re not just a number here, you are part of a team that wants everyone to succeed and we make every effort to ensure that happens.,” Heath said.

“We feel the future’s bright, and we’re going to continue to grow,” Heath said.

“We’ve seen a large increase in revenue this past couple of years, and we have no indications that trend won’t continue long into the future.”

Heath emphasized that people in the area like living in Trussville and want to stay in Trussville; they have opportunities for engineers or technicians for production people to work right here in their backyard. The company also offers summer internships to college students studying engineering.

“We’ve had great success with our summer engineering intern program,” Heath said.

“That program really expands our engineering capabilities with people we know and trust. Once they have completed their degree, they are able to come on board as a full-time team member and contribute to the organization at an accelerated pace due to their working knowledge of our procedural processes.”

To learn more about the opportunities that System Controls/EMC offers, you can visit their website at emcinc. com or www.system-controls. net or call the office at (205) 661-3999.

July, 2022

Spotlight on Industry | The Trussville Tribune

Page 9-B

G.R. Manufacturing, Inc.: Special Machinery for Special Jobs

By Hannah Curran, Sponsored Content

G.R. Manufacturing, Inc. has been a supplier and partner with John Deere for over 30 years and is a John Deere approved custom job facility.

“G.R. is driven to protect the people who step out in harsh conditions. We protect the operator in a couple of ways; first, by protecting him from slapping tree limbs and falling branches and also by protecting his machine from similar and other varied hazards. In a hazardous situation, the man in the machine depends upon it continuing to function properly, if it gets damaged, that can put the operator in danger.”

Owner and president of G.R. Manufacturing, Bill Fyfe, started the company in 1990 after working for another company which manufactured mining equipment and did custom work for John Deere. In 1990 the company was sold, and the new owner wasn’t that interested in doing Deere custom work. Fyfe left four months after the buyout and started G.R. There were no contracts or agreements with Deere at that time, but Fyfe predicted that Deere and the new owner would not get along. The first year, G.R. managed to stay afloat by getting whatever fabrication work could be found. The biggest was producing over 200 “water knockouts,” a simple weldment used in the methane gas fields in west Alabama.

A year and a half after starting G.R., Deere began asking G.R. to outfit their machines for special applications. Of course, Fyfe knew what

needed to be done, how to do it, and what would be a fair price.

Now, the company outfits John Deere equipment for work in harsh and special applications, including: • Forestry • Waste & Trash Handling • Demolition • Military & Government Applications.

• Super Low Ground Pressure (soft ground, swamps, mud) • Wildfire Suppression (Bulldozers); • Forestry Mulching (Skid Steer Loaders & Compact Track Loaders); and • Right Of Way Mowing (Agricultural Tractors).

Fyfe explained that they don’t touch every piece of equipment that John Deere builds.

“If it’s going to push dirt, it doesn’t need to come to us.

Deere builds it to do that,” Fyfe said. “However, if it’s going into wildfire suppression, plowing fire lanes near the fire, then it comes here,

and we will do all sorts of things to it, to prepare it to survive in that harsh application.”

“Those environments can be military or fighting forest fires, commercial forestry, or it can be waste handling or demolition,” Fyfe said.

“If it’s a harsh application, we get the tractors ready for that (you’ve probably figured out already that in our industry, the word ‘tractor’ is used loosely; it could be a bulldozer, a backhoe, a feller-buncher, a skid-steer loader or an agricultural tractor.).” Some of the special applications are not harsh; just special, including low ground pressure, such as cranberry bogs, mica mines, or bombing ranges in swamps. Dozers that run on exceptionally soft ground get track modifications, including longer track frames and wider track shoes (extensive surgery!).

John Deere sends tractors from their factories in Dubuque or Davenport, Iowa, to Trussville for complex

outfitting for special applications. G.R. also sends “kits” for simpler installations to dealers across the country, to be installed on machines there so that they don’t have to be shipped to Trussville.

G.R. designs and manufactures numerous kits available for installation by local John Deere dealers, such as: • Forestry Packages (Bulldozers, 4-Wheel Drive Loaders & Compact Track Loaders); • Waste Handling Packages (Bulldozers & 4-Wheel Drive Loaders); • Demolition Packages (Excavators); G.R also manufactures Deere designed components that become part of the original machines.

“Deere has shipping racks that get repeated use.

We manufacture parts, send them to the Deere factories in Deere shipping racks, they deliver them to the assembly lines and then send the empty racks back to us. So, the racks just make round trips.”

One of the things that keeps G.R.’s work interesting is that the machines that come to them are going to do something unusual.

“It’s not just the everyday things; they’re going into military applications, forest fire suppression or demolition, or maybe waste handling,” Fyfe said. “We may even outfit mini excavators to go into a ship to do some special material handling.

So, the work that we do is for interesting applications.”

Contributing to the safety of people with hazardous jobs is something to be proud of.

“It makes us feel good just to know that we’re a part of getting them safely home at the end of each workday,” Fyfe said. “Starting [G.R. Manufacturing] from scratch makes me feel good, too. It’s been well received, our customers think highly of us, and they look to us for guidance in helping them select the right kind of equipment.

Deere has even recognized

us as their “Supplier of the Year” a couple of times.

G.R. is in the Industrial Park in Trussville, a location where it could grow. “We only bought five acres, to begin with, and we now have 39 acres, and the original 17,000 sf building has grown to 110,000 sf,” Fyfe said.

“The complex was where we could grow; even with being industrial, it’s still a welcoming place.”

The company currently has about 100 employees, and Fyfe said that at current business levels, they should have about 120.

“We have a family atmosphere, respect is a cornerstone of our philosophy, and everybody is treated that way” Fyfe said. “We don’t think of anyone being “the boss,” we’re all just working together to take care of customers. Of course, we must take care of all employees to be able to take care of customers, so we have competitive wages and plenty of benefits, and strive for a pleasant work environment.”

Fyfe said that G.R. Manufacturing has job opportunities for staff, managers, supervisors, engineers, maintenance mechanics, painters, welders, machine operators, assemblers, and warehousemen.

For more information on how to apply to G.R. Manufacturing, Inc., visit www. grtractors.com/careers.

“All you have to do is start by filling out an application,” Fyfe said. “That’s the easiest way, but we also have an online application so people can go to our website and see what we do. We are eager to add to the G.R. family!”

Page 10-B

Spotlight on Industry | The Trussville Tribune

July, 2022

SPOC Automation: Culture Built on Innovation

By Hannah Curran, Sponsored Content

In most of the business world, the relentless drive toward ever-greater efficiency puts overwhelming stress on the workforce; too often, companies put the needs of the product over the welfare of their employees. At SPOC Automation, leadership takes a different approach — by building a culture that lifts both the individual employee and their customers.

At SPOC, they believe the status quo is the enemy.

They have a never-standstill approach to developing products and services for the people they serve. They expect that every member of the SPOC team is an innovator tasked with finding new and better ways to solve their customers’ problems.

Robert “Bobby” L. Mason and his father, Walter E. Mason, founded SPOC 20 years ago. From the first day—having left a toxic work environment — the pair focused on the welfare of their employees.

“I had the blessing and fortune of having a builtin business consultant, my father, along the way that coached me and taught me,” Mason said. “I can’t begin to tell you how much he’s taught me over the years.”

SPOC is a family of three major companies: SPOC Automation, SPOC Grid Inverter Technologies and SPOC SCADA. The first company, SPOC Automation, designs and manufactures automation technology for the oil and gas industry. Their variable frequency drive technology helps producers reduce their production costs while increasing production.

“SPOC SCADA, which SCADA is an acronym for supervisory control and data acquisition,” Mason said, “allows our customers to mon-

itor and control all of their equipment in the field through cellular and satellite communications. So a customer can make production adjustments to an oil well pump in the West Texas desert from the comfort of his home in Houston.”

According to Mason, SPOC Grid Inverter Technologies, founded during the tragedy of the COVID pandemic, ended up being a huge blessing.

“Our newest company is where the future meets today,” Mason said. “SPOC Grid Inverters leverages our existing hardware, the equipment we’ve been deploying for years, in more than 75,000 units across the world’s oil and gas fields. We use the same technology to change the way the world consumes and delivers energy; we can create microgrids — hybrid power-conversation systems that employ multiple power sources — simply by developing new software for our existing hardware platforms.”

SPOC is not only transforming the oil and gas industry, helping the world’s largest producers lower their carbon emissions and reduce their overall energy consumption, but it also is now helping customers achieve those same goals across multiple new industries. By adding industrial energy storage (batteries) and multiple pow-

A culture built on innovation, powering progress through drive and inverter solutions.

SPOCAUTOMATION.COM

er sources, SPOC Grid can create hybrid electrical systems in applications that traditionally have only burned diesel fuel. Instead of running multiple diesel generators, customers can now incorporate stored-energy solutions to reduce diesel or natural gas consumption and operate in a quieter, cleaner way.

So, imagine this technology in use with service vessels on the oceans, generators for on-site power, data centers or any critical power location anywhere.

“We’re super, super excited to help customers create energy systems that integrate multiple power sources (including) the traditional grid, wind, solar, diesel or natural gas generators and industrial batteries,” Mason said. “Our product acts as an intelligent power gateway device, automatically deciding where to draw power and send power.

“We’re excited about the future because we are the bridge to build hybrid power systems and give our custom-

ers options to utilize the best energy solutions available to their operations. The future of this country is to embrace all energy technologies and not demonize one energy source versus the other because each has a place,” Mason said.

It’s not only the technological advances that make SPOC one of the best places to work, but it’s also the culture.

SPOC defines its culture as “Lift Up” and has been nationally recognized by Inc Magazine as one of the best places to work in America; the company also has received numerous state and local awards.

“To understand SPOC, you have to understand our culture, which we call ‘Lift Up,’” Mason said.

Mason explained: “Every person at SPOC is important. There are no unimportant people, just as our product has no unimportant parts. We are trying to Lift Up each individual, to Lift Up the entire team. And when we do that,

we Lift Up our customers, which in turn lifts our company, our country and the world beyond.”

Mason explained that a stranger who has never heard about SPOC would know what SPOC Automation stood for through the company’s actions and deeds, not the words.

“Not only have our people bought into what we’re doing, but they’re also making a difference in the world,” Mason said. “Everybody here, from the person sweeping (to the) engineers, sales, logistics, production teams to accounting, is rowing in the same direction. That is such a rare and positive thing in today’s business climate. It makes being part of the SPOC team special, and, honestly, our people describe it as gratifying.”

SPOC lists five core values: • Committed • Caring • Passionate • Solutions-focused • Gratifying

Mason said that SPOC always has room for improvement personally and professionally.

We aim to improve every day, Mason said. “We have (reminders of) our corporate enemy written all over the company—from our walls to the website. ‘The Status Quo is our enemy.’” It’s a reminder to me, he said, to be “better today than yesterday in my personal, spiritual and business life.”

With that mantra in mind, SPOC is making a difference in the local community.

Mason said school systems like Trussville City Schools create an environment where students can learn different engineering discipline exposures and gain invaluable knowledge in middle and high school.

These young men and women can use this knowledge to change the trajectory of not only their lives, he said, but also everyone’s lives by being world-changing innovators.

For instance, one of the global megatrends of the day is the push toward electrification. SPOC plays a significant role in bringing electrification solutions using hybrid microgrid technology. “We consider it a competitive advantage to have our community-driving young people to be the future innovators, engineers and technically skilled workforce that will improve everyone’s future,” Mason said.

Spotlight on Industry | The Trussville Tribune

July, 2022

Tom Fisher built Recycle USA on the ‘American Dream’

By Chris Yow, Sponsored Content

Tom Fisher and Recycle USA is the definition of the American Dream. Fisher, who has been the owner-operator of Recycle USA in Pinson for more than 20 years, has worked his way from sweeping floors to his position today by hard work and taking chances.

Recycle USA has become one of the Birmingham metro area’s biggest and most productive metal recyclers since opening in 1995. Fisher is the treasurer of the Alabama Recycling Association, member of the ISRI (Institution of Scrap and Recycling Industries).

“We’re a faith-based business,” Fisher said. “That’s the first and foremost, Recycle USA Inc. is a faith-based business.”

He also works tirelessly to curb the market on stolen scrap metals.

“There was a problem years ago when people would go steal metal,” Fisher said.

“We want to make sure dealers aren’t out there buying stolen material or encouraging the problem of stolen material.”

The industry depends on honest sellers, but Fisher has also found a way to maximize his company’s viability.

“We’re buying from HVAC companies, machine shops, fabrication shops and companies similar to those,” he said. “We take their by-product and we export metals all over the world. Our biggest suppliers are industrial customers, fabricators, and machine shops.

“We process everything in house with American pride.”

That American pride was instilled in him when he was a teenager in Cleveland, OH.

Working with his father to build race cars, he learned about mechanics, among other things. Being a teenager, however, meant he wanted to do things teenagers do — like take his girlfriend on a date.

To do that, he needed money.

“I was working for my father, but he didn’t want to pay me. I was living with him, so he didn’t see any reason to pay me,” Fisher said. “I told him I needed a paying job to pay for fuel, car insurance and to have money to take his then-girlfriend out on dates.

He said we’d get around to it, but we never did.”

To earn money, he took scrap parts from the racecars to a local salvage yard, and it blossomed into his first job in the metal industry.

“We had some spent pistons from the racecars, and I sold them to All Scrap Salvage,” Fisher said. “While I was there I asked if they needed any help, and they told me they’d just gotten out of a meeting and were looking for laborers.

“I filled out an application, they reviewed it and told me to be there at 8 a.m.

I was there at 7 a.m. waiting on them.”

Fisher’s always been a go-getter, and that showed when he started by sweeping floors. It wasn’t long before he was learning to run the equipment in the yard. His first big job was running the balers, and with the paper waste they had he was having to tie the wire — 10 or 11 gauge — with his hands.

“My hands looked like boxing gloves with the callous,” he said.

From there, he learned to use a cutting torch and to shear metals. Eventually, he was allowed to begin buying metals and became a certified weighmaster.

“I was the youngest buyer in Cleveland,” he said.

His boss opened a new yard in nearby Bedford, OH, and after losing money with the management team he’d put in place, he charged Fisher to make it profitable.

“The guy who was running it ran it into the ground, so he took me up there and taught me how to run a metal processing facility. Within six months, we went from the red to the black,” he said. “He made me VP within those six months. I was the overall operation manager of the entire facility.”

Four years later, after asking for a raise and not getting what he thought was fair, Fisher was growing weary of the company. But the last straw was when he showed up to work after a water line burst on a cold night.

“One morning, I came in and we had a water line rupture. It was freezing and everything was covered in 3-4 inches of ice; the whole place was covered,” he said. “Right then I made my decision. After these harsh winters, I’d had enough. I then started looking for another job and found a place seeking for a non-ferrous manager in North Carolina.”

While there, he was the warehouse manager and helped the company install a bailer like the one he ran as a teenager. His eagerness to learn, however, kept him working to find new ways to improve his job security.

“I just wanted to learn, so I would go over and see how the aluminum furnace worked. I’d go over and check that out, see how it worked and what temperatures aluminum would melt to make different alloys. I was taught how to run all of the equipment in the yard,” he said.

Fisher was then tasked with assisting with the installation of an $8 million car shredder, and he learned about the entire process, and after learning every job on the yard he felt he deserved a promotion. When the company couldn’t provide that, he began searching for a job to fit his knowledge.

“That’s when Bob Wilson, who owned Shredders in Birmingham, flew to the Carolinas and interviewed me in the airport,” Fisher recalled.

A second interview came in Birmingham. This time, Fisher brought along his fiance — the same woman he was earning money to take out as a teenager — for the trip. Al-

though his preconceived notion of Alabama wasn’t positive, the trip turned out great.

“I was very impressed,” he said. “I thought Birmingham was an old run-down steel mill town. I didn’t think it was an advanced town like Cleveland or Charlotte. But Birmingham had a lot going on, and I was impressed.”

He accepted the job, and continued doing exactly what he’d always done — working hard to build something better than what he walked into. The non-ferrous division didn’t exist at Shredders, so Fisher built one. He even built much of the physical structure, along with the business. But the itch to be a business owner began to get to him.

“Everybody in my family has always been an entrepreneur, but now I am one of the only ones left who still owns their own business,” he said.

But quitting the job at Shredder’s was one he had trouble giving up.

“I kept my resignation letter in my pocket so long that I had to print a second copy,” he said. “They were good to me, and there was never going to be a good time to turn it in, but I finally did.”

So, he found his current property on Hwy 79 in Pinson, AL and started building his business. A few years later, though, the zoning commission informed him he was not properly zoned. After two very difficult hearings with the commission, he came back for a final hearing. He brought along his pregnant wife — still the same woman he worked so hard to take out as a teenager — and wore his work clothes. His zoning change request was approved, and the rest is really history.

“I do all the buying and selling. I’m here every day doing the management duties.

Page 11-B

I have a great team,” he said.

“We’re on 22 acres. We have the most state of the art machinery and I’m proud to say to this day, we are debt free.”

Fisher made it through a sudden downturn in the metal industry by working hard, and staying focused.

“Our competitive edge is I study the markets. I live and breathe them. I can make an instant decision. I don’t have to call some corporate headquarters to approve it. I can make the deal happen,” he said.

Fisher is also a member of the C12 Group, which is an architected environment for business, life, and leadership transformation.

“That’s very important,” Fisher said. “I do that with a group of guys that are probably the most influential leaders in the Birmingham area.

There are about 12 or 14 of us that meet once a month.”

“I’m a hard worker; I’m here every day,” he said. “I am dedicated and I’m proud.

I love coming to work every day.”

Building this company on those principles is how he’s continued to make Recycle USA a destination for metal recycling.

“This place was built one pound at a time. If you work hard and do the right thing, good things will come to you,” he said.

He is married to his wife Suzette, of 31 years. They have been together for over 40 years, and they have two precious daughters, Alexa 23 and Taylor Lee 21. Though the Fisher family journey began in Cleveland OH, they’ve grown to love Alabama and call it home.

Fisher concluded, “I absolutely adore my family and I’m living the American dream.”

2021 TRUSSVILLE TRIBUNE

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Best of the Best WINNER

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*Open 1st Saturday of the month 7:30 am to 3 pm www.aplustireandautorepair.com

*Parking is conveniently located behind the Trussville location.

Spotlight on Industry | The Trussville Tribune

Page 12-B

July, 2022

W.C. Wright & Son, Inc.: Helping families since 1946

By Hannah Curran, Sponsored Content

Since 1946, W.C. Wright & Son, Inc. has been a Central Alabama service business and originally Mr. Wheeler Compton Wright Sr. was a roofer by trade and he opened the business as roofing and sheet metal fabrication, but then his son, Wheeler Compton Wright Jr. went to college to be and Engineer and when he returned from college, they expanded the business to cover heating and air conditioning. W.C. Wright & Son, Inc. has been a contractor specializing in heating and air conditioning, since the early 1960s.

This year marks 76 years of service for W.C. Wright & Son, Inc. Kenny and Joy Burke bought the company nearly 10 years ago from the Wright family. Understanding the positive impact that

the Wright family had on the community, they continued to implement the original ideas of the Wrights and strive to keep it a family-oriented business. Kenny and Joy have also been in this industry since college, along with a few other industries, but they each have decades of experience, and share the same ideals.

W.C. Wright & Son has been helping families for generations. It all started with Mr. Wheeler Compton Wright Sr. and his wife, Mrs. Flora Wright opening the business in 1946. Their children, Ms. Brenda and Mr. Wheeler “Dooney” Wright Jr., became involved in the work after graduating from college, and both found a way to continue to make the business flourish. Burke explained that the Wright family’s love for their business was powerful and is something we all hold very

dear to our hearts today. Everything they did, they did for the customers or for others,” Burke said.

Ms. Brenda is retired now and is the last Wright living.

She is a very special lady to us, and we feel so blessed by her. The entire Wright family put their whole lives into this business and it was not an easy decision for Brenda to sell her family’s company, but she knew that the Burke family would treat the business and their company name with the same level of love and respect as they did their own.

W.C. Wright & Son, Inc. wants to continue to provide customers with the most reliable and cost-effective service possible. The original family is remembered and respected daily for the same reasons. Photos line the halls of the Wright family, and coworkers and customers all speak nothing but nice things

about the Wrights and how they were vital in shaping this industry in Central Alabama, which reflects in their work today.

Long-time customer O.L. Vance remembers attending Auburn University with Dooney and said, “He was an absolute gentleman even back then. We were both engineering students and lived beside each other in Magnolia Hall. He was very well-liked and respected by his peers, an excellent student, a man of faith and his word”. After graduation, Vance went on to complete his Ph.D. and work outside of Alabama. Upon return, he found himself in need of an HVAC & plumbing service and remembered Dooney Wright’s family owned one.

He called and has been using them for more than forty years. “I was pleased with the service of W.C Wright & Son from the beginning

and remain pleased to this day. They were just here this month checking my unit and even though we have sadly lost Dooney and the family sold the company, I still receive nothing less than the same quality service I have always received.”

“-W.C. Wright is not a company that will sell you something you don’t need!

Instead, we try to offer customers choices that will benefit them. There are so many four-generation families who are all customers.

We want all of them to know that it means everything to us that they entrust us with the service needs of not just themselves, but also their children, grandchildren, and even great-grandchildren, because they know we will do our best to take great care of all of them. We always strive to take care of each and every customer to the

best of our ability, and we are so proud to be a part of this amazing service industry in this community for so many years. This business is not for the weak though. It is 190 degrees in attics sometimes, and there are snakes and spiders and sewage, and to be honest, there are a lot of heights and just a lot of back-breaking jobs involved.

But, there is a huge sense of satisfaction that comes with being involved in helping people with their household or business repair problems.

And, we plan for this business to continue to be here for many years to come, if that is what the Lord has planned for our futures. So, thank you to all of our customers and community for trusting us and for sending your friends and family members to us.

Those referrals and the trust that goes along with them mean the world to all of us!”

Whether you need HVAC equi pment replacement, an older system serviced, or plumbing

We are the company for you!

Serving Alabama since 1946

205-252-2408