David Herche can tell you that it’s not
always easy being the one who has to
make the decisions that change a company’s fortunes.
When Enerfab Inc., a design engineering
company, which provides products and
services for the food and beverage industry, the chemical and pharmaceutical
industry and the utility industry, came to
Herche in 1987 it was in dire straits.
The bills had piled up far higher than the
meager amounts of money the company
was bringing in, and Herche, a CPA, was told
he could have a fair share of whatever profits he could get from selling the company.
Instead of doing that, he took the company over. Taking equity in the company, he
moved into the top spot and began a
three-part plan to bring the company
back to profitability.
He worked to diversify the company’s
business to industries outside of the
beer business, the main customer at the
time. He also expanded the company’s
technology mindset to make it a more
forward-looking company that led to
functional designs like a modification of
tanks that would allow them to store
orange juice. But the other part of the
plan came a natural need to remove
some personnel from the company
because things were getting bogged
down. Tough as those decisions can be,
Herche did what he did and saved the
company. The result of that painful
stretch is a healthy company now where
the employees are innovative and safe
from those hard times.
HOW TO REACH: Enerfab Inc., (513) 641-0500 or www.enerfab.com