BW
Industries was established in 1968 by Bill Winnerberg as
an industrial distribution business.
In
1991 BW Industries, Inc was purchased by Ken LeBeau. Continuing
the focus on industrial and institutional accounts, Ken
proceeded with the expansion of the business. In an effort
to augment his industrial business, in 1992
he purchased his first engraving machine.
The engraving business continued to grow and in 1995 the
need arose to expand physically with the purchase of a second
computerized engraving machine. A third engraving machine
was purchased in 1997 to further enhance the companies’
response time and flexibility. This new engraving machine
also allowed BW to engrave stainless steel.
Spurred
by a customer’s request, in 1997, BW started evaluating
silkscreened graphic faceplates. BW was already producing
reverse engraved lexan panel graphics for several OEM’s,
but because of intense labor and machine time, our current
engraved product offering did not lend itself to the large
quantity demands necessary for most OEM’s.
After
considerable research and evaluation, 3 pieces of digital
equipment were purchased to compete with the silkscreen
market. Late that same year we purchased two additional
pieces of equipment to solidify our digital printing process.
Now, in addition to an established engraving business, we
had an emerging process that complimented our industrial
graphic product line. Eric Robertson accepted the assignment
to head up the new Inst-A-Screen division.
After
several years of refinement, Eric has driven the digital
product offering to a very formidable competitor to silk
screening.
Continuing
to pursue product enhancements, BW bought a 24” x
36” laser engraver, improving productivity, quality
and ability to engrave most metals.
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