Barry-Wehmiller

Last updated
Barry-Wehmiller Companies Inc
Type Private
Industry Packaging machine, Converters, Conveyor system, Engineering and IT Consulting
Founded1885
Headquarters St. Louis, Missouri, USA,
Saint Louis
Key people
Robert H. Chapman, Chairman and CEO
RevenueIncrease2.svg $3 billion USD (2022) [1]
Number of employees
12,000 [2]  (2022)
Subsidiaries Accraply, BW Design Group, BW Flexible Systems, BW Forsyth Partners, BW Integrated Systems, BW Papersystems, Carr Biosystems, PCMC, Pneumatic Scale Angelus, Synerlink, W+D [3]
Website www.barrywehmiller.com

Barry-Wehmiller Companies is a global supplier of manufacturing technology and services based in St. Louis, Missouri. In 2016 it was ranked no. 10 on the St. Louis Business Journal's list of the city's Top 150 Privately Held Companies. [4]

Contents

Although it was founded in 1885 as a maker of machinery for the brewing industry, since 1987 Barry-Wehmiller has acquired more than 80 companies that provide equipment and services for a variety of industries: packaging, paper converting, sheeting, corrugating, engineering, and IT consulting.

Barry-Wehmiller's Chairman and CEO, Bob Chapman, is co-author of the book Everybody Matters: The Extraordinary Power of Caring For Your People Like Family. He regularly writes about issues relating to leadership and workplace culture on his blog, Truly Human Leadership.

History

1885-1975

By the 1880s, St. Louis, Missouri had become the third-largest city in the United States in the production of beer. The city would still hold that ranking by the end of the decade, but within that time span, its production would increase by almost a million barrels a year.

That time period was one of rapid technological advancement in brewing, not only in St. Louis but all over the United States. The largest brewers in the city, the Lemp Brewery and Anheuser-Busch were beginning to utilize mechanical refrigeration in beer production and transport, while more modern techniques of bottling and pasteurization would also help the product stay fresh longer for wider distribution. [5]

It was within the midst of massive growth within the industry, in 1885, that Thomas Barry bought into a machine shop that provided production equipment and repair service to local breweries. In 1890, Barry's brother-in-law Alfred Wehmiller also joined the company and by 1897, both men purchased the company fully and it became the Barry-Wehmiller Machinery Company. Under the Barry-Wehmiller partnership, the company developed and began offering its own pasteurizers and bottle washers and grew from a regional to worldwide supplier. Their customers not only included St. Louis-based breweries such as Anheuser-Busch, Griesedieck Brothers beer, Falstaff Brewing Corporation and Hyde Park, but other national beer makers, including Joseph Schlitz Brewing Company and Miller Brewing Company.

Throughout the years of Prohibition in the United States—1920-1933—Barry-Wehmiller focused its attention on the soft drink and dairy industries, as well as their international brewing business. [6]

As market challenges caused the business to struggle into the 1950s, the Wehmiller family sold controlling interest in the company in 1957 to William Chapman, formerly an auditor for Arthur Anderson who had been hired as treasurer in 1953. The company would continue to struggle through the 1960s and mid-1970s. [7]

1975-1987

Robert H. (Bob) Chapman joined Barry-Wehmiller in 1969 at his father, William Chapman's request. Bob Chapman had previously been an accountant at Price-Waterhouse. Upon the elder Chapman's sudden death of a heart attack in 1975, his son assumed control of the company, which was then worth $18 million. However, within a month of Bob Chapman becoming CEO and chairman of the Board of Barry-Wehmiller, the company's bank pulled their loan. Despite these issues, Chapman was able to cut costs and improve financial performance to grow the company to $22 million in 1976. [8]

Chapman also began investing in new technology, such as solar energy. Barry-Wehmiller developed a solar energy system to heat pasteurizers, which became a high-profile technology due to the energy crisis of the 1970s. Anheuser-Busch was the first to purchase the system, which was installed in its Jacksonville, Florida brewery. By 1980, Barry-Wehmiller's revenue grew to $71 million. [9]

Despite the company's growth, by 1983 a number of factors began working against the company, bringing its revenues down to $55 million. The consolidation of the brewing industry slowed sales of Barry-Wehmiller's historic businesses and technical challenges in newly developed technologies were incurring rising warranty and development costs. Facing a loss of $5 million, the company's banks froze their line of credit and asked for repayment of their loans. [10]

In 1984 Chapman – based on his admiration of Chuck Knight, CEO of Emerson Electric – began acquiring companies to expand Barry-Wehmiller's markets and technology. Because of the company's financial situation, many of these acquisitions were in poor health, but after a number of businesses were acquired, their combined operations began to create profitable enterprises. [11]

By 1986, leaders of many of Barry-Wehmiller's acquisitions in the United Kingdom saw an opportunity to take those companies public. In May 1987, the IPO of those companies took place on the London Stock Exchange in an offering that was oversubscribed 35 times -- $1.1 billion for $28 million in stock. Barry-Wehmiller paid off its debt and was left with $28 million in cash. Harvard Business School has written a case study on the London IPO offering. [12]

1987-present

After experiencing two near-fatal crises in ten years, Chapman and Barry-Wehmiller decided to continue to pursue their acquisition strategy and transform the company into one that made machinery to serve a variety of markets in the industrial packaging industry.

The first acquisition of significance for Barry-Wehmiller was Pneumatic Scale, a publicly traded hundred-year-old business based in Quincy, Massachusetts. Over the next almost 30 years, Barry-Wehmiller would acquire 82 companies that are divided into 11 divisions: PneumaticScaleAngelus, Hayssen Flexible Systems, BW Container Systems, BW Papersystems, Accraply, Thiele Technologies, Paper Converting Machine Company, Design Group, Barry-Wehmiller International, Synerlink and Winkler+Dünnebier  [ de ]. [13]

Bob Chapman and Barry-Wehmiller's cultural transformation story was written about in Simon Sinek’s 2014 book, Leaders Eat Last.

Chapman and co-author Raj Sisodia – the co-author and co-founder of Conscious Capitalism – released their book, Everybody Matters: The Extraordinary Power of Caring For Your People Like Family in October 2015. The book tells the story of Barry-Wehmiller’s business history that led to Chapman’s change in leadership as well as detailing many of the company’s internal cultural programs. Inc. (magazine) called Chapman one of “15 Writers Shaping How We Think About Leadership.” [14] Forbes called Everybody Matters one of the best business books of 2015. [15]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anheuser-Busch</span> American brewing company

Anheuser-Busch Companies, LLC, is an American brewing company headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri. Since 2008, it has been wholly owned by Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV, now the world's largest brewing company, which owns multiple global brands, notably Budweiser, Michelob, Stella Artois, and Beck's.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">South African Breweries</span> Brewing company based in Johannesburg, South Africa

South African Breweries is a major brewery headquartered in Johannesburg, South Africa and was a wholly owned subsidiary of SABMiller until its interests were sold to Anheuser-Busch InBev on 10 October 2016. South African Breweries is now a direct subsidiary of Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">SABMiller</span> Multinational brewing and beverage company

SABMiller plc was a South African multinational brewing and beverage company headquartered in Woking, England on the outskirts of London until 10 October 2016 when it was acquired by AB InBev. Prior to that date, it was the world's second-largest brewer measured by revenues and was also a major bottler of Coca-Cola. Its brands included Foster's, Miller, and Pilsner Urquell. It operated in 80 countries worldwide and in 2009 sold around 21 billion litres of beverages. Since 10 October 2016, SABMiller is a business division of AB InBev, a Belgian multinational corporation with headquarters in Leuven.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Adolphus Busch</span> German-born co-founder of Anheuser-Busch (1839–1913)

Adolphus Busch was the German-born co-founder of Anheuser-Busch with his father-in-law, Eberhard Anheuser. He introduced numerous innovations, building the success of the company in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He became a philanthropist, using some of his wealth for education and humanitarian needs. His great-great-grandson, August Busch IV, is a former CEO of Anheuser-Busch.

Blue Point Brewing Company is a brewery that is a subsidiary of Tilray located on Long Island, in Patchogue, New York. The brewery offers a variety of year-round beers, and several seasonal brews, as well as a 'tasting room' which is open to the public on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays. The brewery hosts an annual Cask Ale Festival, concerts and other events in the brew yard.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Asahi Breweries</span> Japanese food and beverage company

The Asahi Group Holdings, Ltd. is a Japanese beverage holding company headquartered in Sumida, Tokyo.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gussie Busch</span> American businessman (1899–1989)

August Anheuser "Gussie" Busch Jr. was an American brewing magnate who built the Anheuser-Busch Companies into the largest brewery in the world by 1957; he acted as company chairman from 1946 to 1975.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Oriental Brewery</span> South Korean brewery

Oriental Brewery or OB is a South Korean brewery currently owned by AB InBev, and initially founded by Doosan Group.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Budweiser Budvar Brewery</span> Czech brewery

Patrick T Stokes is the former Chairman and CEO of Anheuser-Busch Companies, Inc. He served as President and CEO from 2002 to December 2006 and Chairman from December 2006 to November 2008.

SABMiller was one of the top five global brewing companies, and had a range of over 150 beers, including international beers such as Pilsner Urquell, and Miller Genuine Draft, and local ones such as Gambrinus and Castle Milk Stout.

Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV, commonly known as AB InBev, is a Belgian multinational drink and brewing company based in Leuven, Belgium and is the largest brewer in the world. AB InBev has a global functional management office in New York City, and regional headquarters in São Paulo, London, St. Louis, Mexico City, Bremen, Johannesburg, and others. It has approximately 630 beer brands in 150 countries.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Accra Brewery Limited</span> Brewery based in Accra, Ghana

Accra Brewery Limited is a brewery based in Accra, Ghana.

InBev was a brewing company that resulted from the merger between Belgium-based company Interbrew and Brazilian brewer AmBev which took place in 2004. It existed independently until the acquisition of Anheuser-Busch in 2008, which formed Anheuser-Busch InBev. InBev had operations in over 30 countries and sales in over 130 countries. In 2006, it had a market capitalization of €30.6 billion and net profit of €3.2 billion on sales of €13.3 billion.

Anheuser-Busch, a wholly owned subsidiary of Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV, is the largest brewing company in the United States, with a market share of 45 percent in 2016.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Molson Coors</span> Multinational beverage and brewing company

Molson Coors is a Canadian-American multinational drink and brewing company headquartered in Chicago, IL with main offices in Golden, Colorado, and Montreal, Quebec.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Craft Brew Alliance</span> Beer brewing company

Craft Brew Alliance is a beer brewing company that originally was composed of five beer and cider brands:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Breckenridge Brewery</span> American brewing company based in Littleton, Colorado

Breckenridge Brewery is an American brewing company based in Littleton, Colorado. Select beers can be found in 42 US states. The company was purchased by Anheuser-Busch InBev in 2016 and resold to Tilray in 2023.

Tilray Brands, Inc. is an American pharmaceutical, cannabis-lifestyle and consumer packaged goods company, incorporated in the United States, headquartered in New York City. Tilray also has operations in Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and Latin America, with growing facilities in Germany and Portugal.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Beer in Milwaukee</span> Beer culture in Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Milwaukee, Wisconsin, has one major brewery and dozens of microbreweries, and is home to several iconic beer brands from a variety of brewers. It has had an association with beer throughout its history, with the brewing industry getting its start prior to its official founding as a city and was nationally recognized as such by the end of the 19th century. This heritage can be found explicitly in its Major League Baseball team, the Milwaukee Brewers, and on recognizable beer brands such as Old Milwaukee and Milwaukee's Best. This recognition of Milwaukee as a brewing hub dates back to the early 20th century, and boasted the world's largest brewing capacity as late as 1981. The city is nationally recognized with the nickname "Brew City" due to its nearly two centuries of brewing heritage from multiple past major brewers including Miller Brewing Company, Pabst Brewing Company, and Joseph Schlitz Brewing Company. Today, through the ownership of MillerCoors, the city's largest brewery produces 10 million barrels of beer annually.

References

  1. ↑ "Our Story / Barry-Wehmiller" . Retrieved 2022-12-15.
  2. ↑ "Our Story / Barry-Wehmiller" . Retrieved 2022-12-15.
  3. ↑ "Our Business / Barry-Wehmiller" . Retrieved 2022-12-15.
  4. ↑ "The 2016 Top 150 Privately Held Companies in St. Louis". bizjournals.com. March 25, 2016. Retrieved 25 March 2016.
  5. ↑ St. Louis Brews (Second ed.). pp. 12–14.
  6. ↑ St. Louis Brews (Second ed.). p. 250.
  7. ↑ Chapman, Bob (2015). Everybody Matters. Portfolio / Penguin. pp. 23–26.
  8. ↑ Chapman, Bob (2015). Everybody Matters. Portfolio / Penguin. pp. 26–27.
  9. ↑ Chapman, Bob (2015). Everybody Matters. Portfolio / Penguin. pp. 28–29.
  10. ↑ Chapman, Bob (2015). Everybody Matters. Portfolio / Penguin. pp. 31–32.
  11. ↑ Chapman, Bob (2015). Everybody Matters. Portfolio / Penguin. pp. 35–36.
  12. ↑ Chapman, Bob (2015). Everybody Matters. Portfolio / Penguin. p. 37.
  13. ↑ "Our Business / Barry-Wehmiller". Barry-Wehmiller.
  14. ↑ Murphy, Shawn. "Inc Magazine". 15 Writers Shaping How We Think about Leadership.
  15. ↑ Burkus, David. "15 Best Business Books of 2015". Forbes.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.