Packaging fish gravel? Viking's got it
Oostburg — Viking Masek Global Packaging Technologies knows about packaging gravel for fish tanks.
And dog treats. And cheese. And coffee.
The Oostburg-based company has built its business on custom packaging machines for customers with unique needs.
"We found a niche in packaging where we do a lot of work ... other companies walk away from just because the risk level was too high," said Rick Leonhard, Viking Masek’s president. “Products vary from a 50-pound bag of hops for the brewing industry to one drop of wasp pheromone for a wasp trap."
Specialty manufacturers dot Wisconsin, which has the second highest percentage of workers in the sector behind Indiana at 16%, according to the National Association of Manufacturers. While some like Viking Masek build entire products, others make special parts for larger companies.
While our state is known for many of its large manufacturers – such as Oshkosh Corp., Briggs & Stratton, Kohler, Mercury Marine and Harley-Davidson – the majority of businesses that make things are small.
Of almost 252,000 manufacturers in the nation, 248,155 were identified as businesses with fewer than 500 employees.
“We’re seeing a lot smaller, specialized shops popping up to meet that niche for our large manufacturers in the area,” said Sheila Schetter, dean of advanced manufacturing and engineering at Lakeshore Technical College in Cleveland, Wis. “These are the parts and pieces that are unseen."
While manufacturing jobs have slipped nationwide during the last decade, Wisconsin has seen the number of workers employed in the sector grow in recent years.
There were 472,800 manufacturing jobs in the state last year, up 3% from 458,400 in 2013, according to the National Association of Manufacturers.
Nationwide 12.3 million people are employed in manufacturing, making up about 9% of the total workforce. A decade ago that figure was around 14 million, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The number bottomed out at 11.5 million in 2009. Despite that decline, the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development expects a need for new workers in the manufacturing sector as the current generation of employees age and retire.
A 10-year-old company, Viking Masek recently expanded its headquarters and manufacturing plant in Oostburg. Another expansion is underway.
“We’re more of a boutique manufacturer in the sense of the solutions we come up with,” Leonhard said. "It’s not an assembly line-type of situation."
The custom packaging machines are designed and built in Oostburg while non-specialty packaging equipment is built in the Czech Republic. Viking Masek also partners with a company in South Korea.
There are more than 5,000 Viking Masek machines in use around the world, each carrying price tags ranging from $150,000 up to about $3 million.
Packaging is a changing market, and the phrase "bags per minute" is common in Leonhard's lexicon.
"Customers want to go much faster, want more output, and they want it yesterday," he said.
Viking Masek’s Wisconsin operation has 52 employees and finding people to work there hasn’t been an issue. Of the last six engineer hires, all have come to the company seeking employment.
“We don’t do a lot of advertising, most of the engineers came to us by choice. They sought us out," he said. “You let them do what they like to do, which is create, program and solve. It’s like an artist. You let them go and do what they are good at."
Lenohard describes the work atmosphere at Viking Masek as “relaxed” with an expectation the work gets done. He talks about a culture of creativity, results and fun achieving goals.
"When we come up with a solution it’s very specialized, and it's time-consuming," he said. "But the end result is the customer gets product out the door faster and the product looks better.”