BRAT CELE ING
75
ANNIVERSARIES
Welsco
NORTH LITTLE ROCK, AR
In the past decade, Welsco has invested heavily in updating its stores, giving them a uniform appearance. The company has also closed two stores, opened a new one in Hot Springs, Arkansas and moved another within Springdale, Arkansas. CEO Angela Harrison says Welsco also updated its fill plant, which is now palletized and automated, and updated its specialty gas laboratory. But the biggest investment was in reclaiming five acres of land that had been largely covered by three lime ponds. The ponds, left from the days when lime slurry was a byproduct of acetylene production, were something that her father wanted to reclaim for many years. She surprised him with the completed project at a board meeting, she says. These investments were made possible by growth and business improvements, including improvements in credit monitoring that brought a 90 percent decrease in bad debt write-offs, Harrison says. But Harrison credits the company’s doubling of sales (from $20 million to $40 million) in the past decade to high morale among employees. “Everybody enjoys their job,” she says.
YEARS
“If you come to work for us, or if you work for us, there are two books you have to read,” she explains. One of them is ‘Whale Done’ and the other is ‘Raving Fans.” The books, by business author Ken Blanchard, stress positive relations among workers and bosses and customers. “It’s kind of our philosophy of how we do business, and just having fun,” says Harrison. A decade ago, Welsco’s site included three lime ponds left from past processes.
During the past decade, Welsco has drained and filled those ponds, reclaiming the space for operations.
Welsco’s annual Arkansas Welding Expo is a regular feature for the company and one reason sales have doubled in the past decade. Summer 2016
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