Jim Bradac, in an attempt to solve hisproblem laying cabin footings in wet soilconditions, invented a solution that may rev-olutionize the future of pouring concrete.With seven young children at home, aneighth on the way, and mom dedicated tohome schooling each one, Bradac took$45,000 out of the family savings and puthis dream of manufacturing a better concreteform in motion.

At Ceme-tube’s inception, Bradac oper-ated a thriving business ”Prestige Sheet MetalIncorporated” which designed, fabricatedand installed commercial restaurant equip-ment for large clients such as Sysco, Rein-hart, Culvers, and Target stores. His lucrativecareer in stainless steel fabrication demandeda lot of time and energy, conflicting with de-mands of starting up a manufacturing em-pire. After spending three years preparingCeme-Tube to launch to the industry,Bradac closed Prestige Sheet Metal, whichsupported his family for over seventeen years.

“In January 2007, I entered my firsttrade show ever and it worked out to be thegrand daddy of them all, The World of Con-crete.” Not officially in business yet, Bradacdescribed how he followed his intuition andbelief that he was actually on to something,

and took it one step further. “I only had six prototype 8" tubes and

my purpose was to feel out the public andtry to generate interest. I literally had peopleat my booth at all times. I remember havingtrouble leaving for a rest room break or evengetting a quick bite of a sandwich I made inthe booth. In a sense, I was blown away bythe response.” He de-scribes the moment hisdream of success becamea reality. While observingthe outpouring of interest,a neighboring exhibitorapproached Bradac andasked, “You’re not inKansas anymore are you?”

“The competitioneventually heard aboutwhat we had and they allpaid a visit.” Sonoco's Vice-President visitedand stated that ‘she was shocked to see aproduct like ours on the market.’ I told herit was a new product. She asked if we wouldever be willing to merge with their products.

“I’ll never forget when she asked,” re-calls Bradac. “I politely declined her offer. Ididn’t understand at this time the many as-pects of this new business, but this was my

invention, and I wanted to see what the fu-ture held for Ceme-Tube.”

This was no small concession. SonocoProducts Co., maker of Sonotubes, reportedrevenue of $3.66 billion last year.

“After the WOC, we moved ahead asquickly as possible with manufacturing de-

signs and mold produc-tion. We began moldproduction in Marchand acquired a 20,000sq. foot warehouse inHudson, Wisconsin. Fi-nancing the enterprisewithout investors orgoing public was a high-risk proposition. “It wasscary spending more onjust one of the six molds

than I spent on our first home”Bradac secured a home equity loan,

along with loans against his previous com-pany. He took advantage of low interest in-troductory credit card rates of 1.9% interest,and maxed out five lines of credit. “You mustbe on your toes, you can not make a late pay-ment,” he warns. We literally tapped intoevery available financial resource we had.

When he initially acquired the largewarehouse at 2907 Harvey St. in HudsonWisconsin, the $8,000 monthly rent beganeating up Bradac’s financing. “The overheadhas been difficult in our humble beginnings,but we are treading water until the WOCand the upcoming building season. Ourbiggest suppliers: Graybar, WhiteCap, andCemstone, have all written letters of intentthat they are proud to carry our products.

The Bradacs have gracefully and pa-tiently weathered many setbacks in both fi-nancing and the manufacturing ofCeme-Tubes, without ever letting the obsta-cles stand in the way of ultimate success.

Innumerable start-up costs went withthe warehouse. A new communications sys-tem for phone service and internet had to beinstalled, while computers, printers and of-fice supplies purchased. Forklifts and a largearray of shipping materials also needed to bepurchased. The entire family pitched in tohelp paint the office, lay carpet and furnishthe space with desks and furniture. “I could-n’t pay warehouse workers; the entire familyunloaded the trucks. Even our four-year olddaughter, Gemma was pushing tubes acrossthe floor.”

Faith, Determination andEntrepreneurial Spirit

Guides Jim Bradac and Family

Bradac will officially launch his entire product line one year after the

2008 World of Concrete.

photos by Nickolas Rapaz

by Shelley Hawes

“Even our four-year olddaughter, Gemma waspushing tubes across

the floor. I couldn’t pay warehouse workers; theentire family unloaded

the trucks.”

A FamilyAffair

A FamilyAffair

PAGE 12 MANUFACTURER’S PROFILE JANUARY 22, 2008

In April of 2007, Bradac applied withlocal government for financial backing. This$100,000 low- interest, flexible loan wouldallow him to repay his credit cards and homeequity loan. Promising the St. Croix Countygovernment he would keep the warehouse inSt. Croix County, with the ultimate goal ofexpansion and growth, Bradac guaranteed atax base and employment opportunities tothe small town. The benefits to the countyfar exceeded the risk and the loan seemedlike a sure bet.

To satisfyapplication re-qui rements ,Bradac in-vested another$3,000 in accountants to draft a five-yearbusiness plan and revenue projections. Theloan officer who was assigned to Ceme-Tubeunderstood construction and manufactur-ing, but left his position with St Croix Eco-nomic Development Corp. and was replacedby someone less confident in the long-termbenefits Ceme-Tube assured to St. CroixCounty. The loan was denied six longmonths later in October of 2007.

In addition to financial, “We had manyobstacles pertaining to the molding andmanufacturing of Ceme-Tube, but movedahead with these as smoothly and quickly aspossible. It’s been a really stressful year, allfrom the manufacturing end,” recalls Bradac.

Bradac hired a contract designer to helpdesign the tube molds. Matt Kusz of KuszIndustrial Design and Engineering Serviceswas selected based on his expertise and fol-lowed through exceptionally well. Althoughwhen Bradac selected a manufacturer thathad the capacity to keep up with his vision,manufacturing setbacks surfaced quickly.

“I was working with a manufacturer inIowa and was told in May their roboticswould not trim the tubes in the manufactur-ing process as they had originally thought.”Bradac was informed that he would need tosupply a custom machine to cut the ends ofeach tube after being molded. The machinewas complex as it had to trim the 8” tubes aswell as the 30” tubes. “I didn’t have $50,000to spend on a machine so I built it myself,”describes Bradac. With his Father being anengineer and his brother a machinist, thethree set out to design and build the “Ceme-tube Trimming Fixture” in the workplace ofPrestige Sheet Metal Incorporated.

“Being I had some engineering and a lotof metal fabrication in my previous business,I decided to build this complex machine my-self. It took amonth or so tomake the customtrimming machineand I delivered itto the Iowa facilityin July. Finally,tube production would begin. “We hadsome other unforeseen manufacturing issuesbut worked through them.” Color matchproblems occurred with our Light Pole andBollard products and several early Ceme-Tube shipments had to be declined due toproduct quality.

“I intentionally did not push sales onCeme-Tube until I knew we would have in-ventory. I didn't want to create a demandand not have the product to provide.” Ourfirst year was dedicated to solving any and all

issues that tend to arise withthe beginning of a new prod-uct.

In late July Bradac wasinvited by Fine Homebuild-ing Magazine in Connecti-cut for an all expense paidopportunity to interview fortheir magazine. Fine Home-building was very impressedwith Ceme-Tube and in ad-

dition to run-ning a featureeditorial, theymay also in-clude them intheir largest sell-

ing issue, the annual Decksissue.

“I get rays of hope allthe time,” smiles Bradac.The two newest products in-troduced, the Ceme-TubeLight Pole Base and BollardModels, are proving to betheir two biggest sell-ers. Graybar Electric,a Fortune 500 com-pany, picked up thelines with the promiseto take the Light Poleand Bollard Modelsnationwide to over250 stores. One Gray-bar executive hasstated “I think wehave stumbled ontosomething big”. Gray-bar is the leading sup-plier of parking lotlighting, and theLight Pole Ceme-Tube is a natural com-panion to each lightpole sold.

Another sales-man for Graybar ap-proached GeneralContractor Morten-son Company for useon the Twins stadiumproject, which will bedetermined soon. Contractsare also under review forTarget, Best Buy stores, andthe extensive rebuilding ofthe entire Iron Range inNorthern Minnesota."We're finally getting our

break, and the wordis getting out,"Bradac exclaimed.

In a practicalmove, Bradac in-vested large sumsfor advertisements

in Sweets and Arcat, the twoleading information sourcesfor architects, and to dateCeme-tube products havebeen specified on projects byarchitects more than 115times.

“Being featured in theSaint Paul Pioneer Press wasanother highlight. I havebeen working as hard as pos-sible to be successful with

A scooter is a valuable means of transportation in the vast ocean of Ceme-tubes.

"Ceme-tube is our life." 15-year old Joe Bradac tosses a football to his younger brother.

With many hours often spent at the warehouse, and wide open spaces, there's plenty of wheeled vehicles to spinaround on.

“I didn’t have $50,000 tospend on a machine so I

built it myself.”

“I didn't want to createa demand and nothave the product to

provide.”

JANUARY 22, 2008 MANUFACTURER’S PROFILE PAGE 13

Ceme-Tube. I get absolutely nothing but ex-cited interest in our products and I know itis only a matter of time. I have high hopesfor this up coming building season.”

Bradac fulfilling his dream, it seems, isjust around the corner, and he expects it willofficially launch the entire product line at the2008 World of Concrete, one year afterCeme-tube’s introduction. “The 2008WOC show will hopefully be our biggestboost. We have improved our product lineupand our display greatly from last year. I havemounted a light pole on one of our LightPole Ceme-Tube's. This is a working lightpole and will demonstrate how nice ourproducts look in an actual installation.”

When reflecting on family and his out-

look on life since this journey began, Bradacclaims, “The success of Ceme-Tube has be-come an important factor in our family’s life,and the whole family is dedicated to help.God has guided me down this road and Ihave faith that it’s going to succeed. Whenasked how his faith and belief in God hasstrengthened his mission, Bradac replies,“We are a Catholic family and take examplefrom the words of St. Padre Pio, who alwaystaught to “Pray, hope, and don’t worry.”“Our faith in God is what we live by and itis what will get us through”

For information on Ceme-tube, visitwww.cemetube.com, call 715-377-2133, orvisit Ceme-Tube at World of ConcreteBooth Number S14504. �

From his warehouse office in Hudson, WI, Jim Bradac discusses business matters, while16-year old daughter Alicia tracks the number of times Ceme-tubes have been specified in architectural plans.

by Shelley Hawes

The possibilities seem endless. What began as making a solution to a buildingproject, the requests for Ceme-Tubes are as diverse as the internet customers inquiringabout them.

Orders for creative and resourceful uses frequently amaze the Bradac family. They’veimagined so many ideas, grandma encouraged the children to start writing down theirtop 101 uses for the Ceme-Tube. Some of these uses include using the 30” dome lidsas a saucer for sliding down snow covered hills, to leaving the end caps attached, cut-ting in half and using them as waste baskets.

Web browsers have found the site and ordered tubes for telescope building projects,sub-woofer enclosures, and science projects. A family in California purchased 2 to makea rocket for their son’s bedroom. The head caterer for Disney World wanted many 30”tubes to be used as table bases. Even the medical community found a use for Ceme-Tube; The American Cancer Society is using them for new radiation experiments. �

Telescopes to Rockets Ceme-Tube 101

The 20,000 sq ft Ceme-tube warehouse is located at 2947 Harvey St in Hudson, WI

PAGE 14 MANUFACTURER’S PROFILE JANUARY 22, 2008