Trans-Tech Manufacturing good will
Saturday, June 24, 2006

First, the sheet of aluminum is cut through with unmatched precision by a computerized laser.

Next, each section is bent to form, then welded together by a team of specialists until it's shaped into a tank.

Once it grows in size, huge cranes lift the tank and place it in an assembly line ready for computerized welding, top and bottom.

Finally, the tank is taken off the lift and checked for leaks, and the last welds are done by hand.

This 10-week process turns a relatively small sheet of shiny aluminum into large trailers with the ability to carry as much as 10,000 gallons of fuel.

Within its 50,000 square feet of space, Trans-Tech Industries, located in Brewer's East-West Industrial Park, manufactures a range of aluminum tanks, in addition to the trailers, that hold from 500 to 6,000 gallons of fuel.

Unlike many manufacturing outlets, however, Trans-Tech designs and also sees its final product, plant manager Will Haynes, a 17-year veteran of the company, said.

"One of the major benefits to working here is seeing a product from start to finish," Haynes said recently. "I like the idea of building and designing everything, not just components."

Teamwork, accuracy and perseverance all describe Trans-Tech and its president, Ken Peters. Haynes said his boss cares personally about his employees and has a good sense of direction.

"He is very aware of the individuals in the shop out there and their situations," the plant manager said, adding as an example that Peters is giving his shop employees a raise to help offset rising gas prices.

"Ken realizes without the people, we can't build the product, citing the motto, 'the building is not the product, but the people,'" Haynes said.

Workers in the factory, who make an average of $14.75 an hour, operate in a laid-back atmosphere, but one with an edge, said David Breau, chief financial officer since 1999.

"We need an edge to prosper and to stay competitive," Breau said.

Tucked away off the beaten path, Trans-Tech is a company of 62 that few locals know about. The company produces an average of 10 tanks a week and looks to break the $9 million mark this year in revenues, Breau said. In order to increase its revenues annually, the 21-year-old company attempts to diversify its tanks and, of course, increase production, he explained.

The company assembles several models, from trailers to fuel tanks for airliners, and all can require different features depending on where they will be shipped. For instance, northern fuel distributors do not need compartments in their tanks because they're used mainly for home heating oil, whereas southern distributors need more compartments to carry various types of fuel that can't be mixed.

"We have to cater to the particular region of the country," Peters said, adding that the style of tanks has to be modified to appeal to buyers in the South.

Looking at his reflection in a mirrored 10,000-gallon tank, Peters said his employees work hard at getting the finished product as clean as possible, but that is the last time the tanks will be glistening.

Trans-Tech expanded two years ago when it purchased a smaller building nearby where small tank components, such as brakes and taillights, could be made, providing more space in the main warehouse for tank assembly. Further expansion is anticipated by Peters who said he has purchased 3.5 acres with plans to build a new 26,000-square-foot warehouse where the focus of the company - airplane fuel tank production - could be located.

"There are no formal plans, but a draft is on the drawing board," Peters, a Chelmsford, Mass., native, said.

He recalled the idea originated when the company started to receive a number of orders for the large airliner tanks. The Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, however, caused a downturn in the airline industry and limited the demand for fuel tanks. That trend now is reversing, and he is receiving more orders for the fuel tanks.

"The airline industry is slowly coming back," Peters said. "In particular the regional airports are doing quite well, like Manchester, N.H., for instance."

A move to Brewer

The company did not always have the capability to design, develop, manufacture and ship large fuel tanks. Seven years ago, Trans-Tech relocated from a cramped, limited facility in Southwest Harbor to its new location in Brewer. The old building in Southwest Harbor had been converted from a storage unit to a manufacturing plant when Peters went into business with three others in 1985. At the time, the company made both aluminum boats and trailers."For the first year, I think we built 24 tanks," Peters chuckled. His company now makes between 400 and 500 tanks per year. The company eventually split in 1996, separating its boating business from its tank division.

Three years later, Peters relocated the company, a move that, he said, prevented the company from going under, a possibility if it remained in the coastal town.

With only one road in and one road out of the Mount Desert Island town, shipping even a 4,500-gallon tank was difficult.

"We really liked that community; it was neat being over there, but we knew we needed to get out of Southwest Harbor," Peters said.

The tank industry was demanding larger products be manufactured, and while Trans-Tech could build them, it was impossible to lift such tanks around the facility.

"If we had stayed there, we would have died a slow death," Peters said.

Peters said the company was able to design its new Brewer location the way it wanted for "production flow," a benefit over its old home.

"The location next to the highway is ideal for allowing us to ship more tanks and expand our business," Peters said, sitting in his first-floor corner office.

With highway access and more maneuverability within the building, revenues nearly tripled after the move, Peters said.

The city of Brewer, working with the state, used grants and its location near Interstate 395 to entice the multimillion dollar company to move off the coast.

"Moving over here was the key not only to surviving, but to growing the business," the president said.

D'arcy Main-Boyington, now director of Brewer's Department of Economic Development, worked on the project to bring Peters and Trans-Tech to Brewer when she was with the Maine Department of Economic and Community Development.

Main-Boyington said grants were not the only reasons for the move. Local businesses lured Peters and tipped the scale. She said the deal worked for both sides as the move increased revenues for Trans-Tech and brought in an owner with the desire to improve the economy of the region.

"Peters donates his time to the community as one of the founders of the Penobscot Landing project and a board member of the Brewer economic committee," Main-Boyington said. The Penobscot Landing project is Brewer's waterfront plan and the economic committee is a separate entity from her department and unrelated to city government, Main-Boyington explained.

"Everybody involved did a phenomenal job putting a package together to put this building up," Peters said.

Trans-Tech created both jobs and tax revenue for the community. According to city figures, the company paid $72,000 in taxes to the city in 2006. It is the 10th-highest taxpayer in Brewer and responsible for more than one-half of 1 percent of all taxes collected by the city.

"It's not the highest paid, but it is certainly one of the top companies," Main-Boyington said.

Trans-Tech is a behind-the-scenes company, Main-Boyington said, pointing out that one reason for its quiet style is that the company does not sell many products to area businesses. Trans-Tech uses 30 distributors from New England to Miami and as far west as North Dakota. Very few of the company's products stay within the state, as 90 percent of all manufactured tanks are sent out of Maine.

Peters said having a company that deals with distributors nationwide while being stationed in eastern Maine is tough.

In order to deliver tanks to distributors in South Carolina, Trans-Tech must pass two competitors along the way, he said. The quality and precision construction of the tanks, however, keeps customers coming back to Maine for Trans-Tech tanks, the company president said.

Community involvement

Trans-Tech has done more than generate tax revenue for Brewer - it also is often the first to sponsor community events, Main-Boyington said.

Not only does Peters have a vision for manufacturing tanks, interpreting the market and knowing what needs to be done in business, but he also has the same vision when it comes to the community.

Peters has a clear sense of how to help those in need, and he understands it will take a joint effort to affect the community positively. Community fundraising events need more large corporate sponsors, he said.

One of Peters' missions is to end homelessness. Ever since the move to Brewer, he has worked closely with the Bangor Area Homeless Shelter. Recently Trans-Tech sponsored a BAHS hike in hopes of one day achieving this objective.It was not Peters' first good deed for Bangor's Main Street shelter. He has purchased new furniture for the lounge, buys consumer supplies on a monthly basis, and bought the shelter a new air conditioner, BAHS Executive Director Dennis Marble said.

"He [Peters] is not looking for attention," Marble said. "He just has old-fashioned core values."

Marble describes Peters as a genuine and modest man who does not have an agenda by giving his money and, more importantly, his time. Peters serves on the BAHS board of directors.

"He is one of those guys that I can only shake my head in appreciation," Marble said.

It was not Marble who sought the local business owner to help out. It was Peters who offered his help to BAHS.

BAHS is not the only organization benefiting from Peters' giving spirit.

Trans-Tech sponsored a local youth hockey team this past winter, Brewer Days last September, and an abundance of other events. The company also aids Manna Ministries and The Salvation Army.

"It's all part of giving something back to those in need," Peters said. "There is a lot of need in this area and a need for a lot of additional support."

For the president of a company that does not sell a product to local residents, giving support to various groups and events is not about getting his name out there.

"It is about being a part of the community, and that is the extent of it," Peters said.

Peters also said the homeless need more support and sometimes people tend to ignore them. Furthermore, he said, it is the mentally and physically disabled who have fallen through the cracks of the system, and who need the help and support of the community.

"Those who have the means to help those in need have an obligation to do so," Peters said.