Top 10 Business Award
Download the full article as a PDF
Business was slow in the early days of Anderson Seal Inc., a New Berlin-based rubber seal and kit assembly distributor that Philip Anderson founded in 1990.
To stay in business during those lean times, the company washed returnable containers for Harley-Davidson Inc. Every day, 10 large containers were washed in a swimming pool and returned to Harley-Davidson in the Anderson Family station wagon.
Anderson Seal’s fortunes have improved significantly since then.
Under the leadership of Anderson’s daughter, Jennifer Hanson, Anderson Seal has grown from having just four employees in a 1,200 square-foot facility to employing 57 workers today in three facilities, the largest being a 30,000 square-foot building in New Berlin.
Yes, the company still washes containers for Harley, now at a rate of 70,000 per month. Due to its size, Hanson split the container washing business off to from Anderson Resource Management Inc., leaving Anderson Seal to handle the growing number of customers for industrial rubber products.
Together, Anderson Seal and Anderson Resource Management make up the Anderson Group.
Despite the company’s revenue growth of 42 percent in 2003 and 41 percent in 2004, Hanson says Anderson Seal is “still a humble company.”
Anderson said, “Every day we want to come here and do everything we can for our customers. Our strategy is to identify what a customer wants and then strive to get 100 percent of each customer’s business.”
The company does that by providing customers with value-added services, Hanson said.
“Instead of having to deal with six different suppliers for a complicated assembly, we will get all of the components and supply it to the customer completely assembled,” Hanson said.
The company will go the extra mile “to make customers’ business operations easier and their experience with us better,” Hanson said.
Hanson expects continued growth for the company and says a third firm could be formed to join the Anderson Group.
“We have a lot of diversification that could carry a business of its own, segregated from the distribution (that Anderson Seal provides),” she said.
Hanson said her focus will be to “continue to exceed our customers’ needs and expand our value-added services in order to secure our long-term viability.”
SOURCE: Small Business Times - June 24, 2005