Work force, accessibility bring business to Eldridge

Bawden Printing has been located in Eldridge since 1981, and has made numerous expansions since then.

Without fanfare, these businesses provide employment, pay taxes and can inspire other businesses to follow their path to Eldridge. Some of the brightest stars in Eldridge's constellation of new or expanding manufacturing-related busineses include:

-- Bawden Printing.

When Bawden Printing sought to consolidate three facilities, one in Mt. Joy, one in Iowa City and one in downtown Davenport, the company's representatives, according to president Mark Bawden, looked all over and ended up building a new plant in Eldridge in 1981.

"The land in Eldridge was very attractively priced," said Mr. Bawden. "As a family-owned business, the cost of building from scratch might have been too much, if the land had been more expensive."

Bawden Printing, which is a manufacturer of soft-cover books, now has been operating for 17 years in Eldridge. Over those years, the company has followed a plan for steady long-range growth.

"We review the plan every year," Mr. Bawden said. "The original building was 48,000 square feet, and we've grown now to about 300,000 square feet. Our goal has been to achieve 10 percent to 15 percent growth every year."

The printer has met its goal and more, expanding every year or every year and a half. That's 12 expansions in 17 years, the last one in February 1998.

How is that growth realized?

"The market is huge for soft-bound books. We just want to get a tiny bit more of that market every year," said Mr. Bawden. "We try to keep one-half of our sales growing through existing customers and one-half through new business."

Bawden uses the same type of web press as is used by most newspapers. The web press technology, which prints from large rolls of paper, has been around for more than 100 years.

"The web press is traditionally thought of as a machine for longer printing runs," said Mr. Bawden. "Ours is made for printing books. The web press and its major parts have remained the same over the years, except the newer ones are faster. We use the same line of equipment throughout the plant, so all of our press operators can run any of the presses. We do the same with bindery equipment."

But the equipment and the conservative approach to growth are only part of what has made Bawden Printing so successful.

"We never anticipated that we'd have the success we've had," Mr. Bawden said. "One thing that's been a real bonus to us is that we've found there's a labor pool of people here with a great work ethic who care about quality and what the customers think of the company.

"Customers say they can feel that when they go through the plant."

He said Bawden wants to continue expanding at the same steady rate.

-- Roll & Hold Warehousing and Distribution

Steel mills can produce amazing amounts of steel in a fairly short time, if they need to. And manufacturers and other customers can use amazing amounts of steel to make whatever they make.

But steel mills and manufacturers don't synchronize their watches or their calendars before going about their business.

That means manufacturers may not be ready to use the steel that has been produced.

But that doesn't mean they couldn't be ready next week or next month. They could be ready at almost any time, so they can't just wait to order the steel when they need it. It probably would take months.

And if high quality steel waits unprotected, from theft or from elements, on its way from the producing mill steel to the processor or the end user, it can be damaged.

Roll & Hold Warehousing and Distribution Corp. solves that problem, and, in 1997, Roll & Hold began solving the problem from a new facility in Eldridge.

The solution? A clean warehouse environmentally controlled (for heat and humidity) in which to store the huge coils, sheets or plates of steel. From the warehouse, Roll & Hold then transports the steel to a destination for use by a customer or by customers' customers when they're ready to use it.

A subsidiary of Alternative Distribution Systems Inc. (ADS) of Homewood, Ill, Roll & Hold's Eldridge warehouse comprises 68,000 square feet

"Eldridge and the Quad-Cities is the ideal location to serve the needs of the agricultural equipment and appliance manufacturers, as well as their suppliers, who are similarly drawn to the area," wrote Richard Dickson, president and CEO of ADS.

"Access to a good transportation infrastructure, water, rail and interstate access for trucks is another great advantage," he said.

To maintain a high standard of customer service, Roll & Hold and other ADS locations need proximity to their customers to provide just-in-time delivery to customers.

-- Cascade Manufacturing

After fire destroyed the Cascade Manufacturing plant of Cascade, Iowa, in January 1997, the company arose from the ashes somewhat altered but more prepared to meet the challenges of the new millennium.

Ray Noonan founded Cascade Lumber in 1953. Ten years later, Cascade Manufacturing division was created for the purpose of manufacturing and distributing trusses.

Not long after Cascade turned 50 years old, it burned down, but Mr. Noonan and his son Ray Jr. refused just to let 50 years of work go up in smoke.

"We needed to operate in the interim while we rebuilt the Cascade plant," said Ray Noonan Jr., president and CEO of Cascade.

A truss plant already existed in Eldridge and was available when Cascade needed it, so the operation moved to Eldridge.

Mr. Noonan said plan A was to operate in Eldridge for a year then return home to Cascade.

"At the end of 1997, though, we decided Eldridge would be a good place to remain," he said. "We purchased the real estate, gutted the plant and put in enough equipment to equal the level of a start-up plant."

During February and March, Cascade is putting more new machinery into the Eldridge plant, making its capabilities comparable to the original Cascade manufacturing plant.

Why stay in Eldridge?

Mr. Noonan said several factors influenced the decision.

First, during that interim year, Cascade discovered that Eldridge offered a capable, plentiful work force.

Second, the company already was doing business in the Quad-Cities, anyway. A plant located in Eldridge would make it easier and more convenient to expand Cascade's customer base.

"We're on the verge of moving more into the northwest Illinois market. Eldridge gives us more efficient access to northwest Illinois and central Iowa. It would be difficult from Cascade," Mr. Noonan said.

"Another important factor was the positive attitude of people like Dick Kvach (Eldridge's community development director). There's a very good business climate there," he said.

The Quad City Development Group also was helpful, getting information together to help Cascade Manufacturing's management make the decision to stay.

"Besides the other advantages, it was our perception that the real estate around Eldridge would be a good long-term investment."

All told, Cascade employs about 160 people.

"When we went into the Eldridge plant, we expected to retain nine jobs and create 19 more within 24 months. We're running ahead of those projections," said Mr. Noonan.

Mr. Noonan is optimistic about the future. He said the economy of Eldridge and the Quad-Cities looks vibrant and stable.

Cascade's market involves mostly single- or multi-family units, as well as some commercial urban projects.

-- Chemtreat

You know how, under certain circumstances, water can leave deposits in pipes and rust stains on the laundry?

At home, you can use a water softener to postpone some of the damage from hard water, and there are relatively simple solutions for many other water problems.

But industrial applications, such as cooling or boiler systems, electricity generation or pasteurization, use millions of gallons of water in systems that must work efficiently and effectively.

Chemtreat, a business that held an open house in its Eldridge location in October 1997, provides products and expertise for treating the water to be used in those exacting indutrial applications.

"The water requires treatment, because of the chemistry of water," said Chris Carter, Chemtreat plant manager. "Water's natural properties are corrosive, and when it's used at a high temperature or under high pressure, those corrosive properties are magnified."

Mr. Carter said if the water used in these industrial applications is left untreated, the result can be pipes that are pitted or narrowed by scale or unchecked biological growth, such as algae.

"We're a specialty chemical-blending operation and distribution center for the Midwest," said Mr. Carter. "Our business is to go into these industrial applications and treat the water so each system continues to operate efficiently over the long term."

Some of Chemtreat's clients include John Deere, Miller Brewing and Ralston Purina. A national company, Chemtreat has four locations in the U.S. and 340 salespeople servicing accounts around the country.

Like many other businesses, Chemtreat was attracted to Eldridge by its centralized location for customers in the Midwest and by its easy access to main transportation routes.

The approximately 40,000-square-foot Eldridge plant employs seven people, at present.

"We expect to continue to grow. We've seen an average 11 percent growth in the business every year," Mr. Carter said. "Based on business conditions, if we continue to grow, we'll probably expand to double the size of the warehouse in the next two to five years."

-- By Catherine Guy