Farmweld Holds Groundbreaking for Expansion Project in Teutopolis

Print

Published on June 11 2019 4:25 pm
Last Updated on June 11 2019 4:27 pm
Written by Greg Sapp

Farmweld President Frank Brummer calls it "our dream office project."

The project is a 10,000 square foot addition to the east of the existing Farmweld operation. The office area will be located in the addition, along with such amenities as a half-court basketball floor. Brummer said it's an effort to continue to attract "the best and the brightest" to work at the business.

The groundbreaking ceremony for the addition was held Tuesday afternoon in Teutopolis. Representatives from Akra Builders, the general contractor on the project, said the actual moving of earth should occur sometime later this month.

Brummer said the project "cultivates our Farmweld culture of caring." He said the day was about gratitude. He thanked local attorney Bill Austin, who has spent "37 years molding and mentoring me." He thanked Siemer Milling Company President Rick Siemer "who always encouraged me to invest in Teutopolis." Thanks were also extended to Father Joe Carlos, who during his first tenure in Teutopolis as a young priest helped Brummer insulate the walls of his first shop; his welding teacher Joe Evans, and his parents, saying his mother always told him he could be whatever he wanted to be, and reminding that his father loaned him the $12,000 he needed to get started. He also thanked the late Chuck Stevens of Stevens Industries, who told him to "never lose your love for life" and to "never stop building."

(FARMWELD PRESIDENT FRANK BRUMMER FLANKED BY ATTORNEY BILL AUSTIN AND ACCOUNTANT KEN VOGT. BRUMMER, AUSTIN AND VOGT HAVE WORKED TOGETHER IN BUSINESS AND ON THE TREC TRAIL PROJECT)

Brummer reminded that in 2006, he sold Farmweld to David Beatty, but remained as company president. He said that was supposed to be a two-year agreement, but noted that he's still there. Beatty is in the process of turning the company over to Jim Cooper, who was supposed to be with Beatty for three months one summer and is still there 41 years later.

Brummer sold the company so he "could start the next chapter of my life." That has included running and biking in competitions worldwide and a leadership role in development of the TREC Trail in the Effingham area.

He still has an active interest in Farmweld, though, and has targeted others who help with day-to-day operation of the company. One of those is 29-year employee Lori Runde, who worked with the Teutopolis Village Board on a package of incentives to help facilitate the expansion project. The incentives include a street along with the west side of the current building known as "Farmweld Street", along with water and sewer service and extension of the TIF District to include the Farmweld property.

(HERE'S THE ARCHITECT'S RENDERING OF THE FARMWELD ADDITION)

Teutopolis Village Board President Greg Hess was presented a "key to Farmweld" for his help in facilitating the assistance to the company.