8/13/2019 Master Mixologists

1/2

By Liam MarlaireLeader-Telegram staff

I n 1960, Coyne Callaghan Sr.teamed with Charlie Phil-lips, who had developed anindustrial mixer in the basementof his feed mill.

Callaghans interest wasfueled by farmers who wouldbring their corn to the mill inthe fall. The produce would bemoist, making it difficult to mixinto feed with other ingredientssuch as molasses. The even-tual result was the Rollo-Mixer,a device that provides uniformmixing, blending and coatingcapabilities.

Continental Products Corp.soon was born. The company

has an office in Milwaukee and a20,000-square-foot manufactur-ing facility in Osseo. Callaghan,85, lives in Milwaukee but isstill hands-on with the business,commuting regularly to Osseo.He has five sons who now workfor the business as well: Coyne

Jr., Tom, Bill, Jim and John.Every time a Callaghan joins

the business, they bring some-thing different to the company,said John, 36. The Fortune 500companies we deal with like thefact its a family business. Andwe give them uniform mixingthats state-of-the-art.

The initial mixer in Phillipsbasement was 14 feet in diameterand 6 feet long.

Times have changed.Continental Products recently

put the finishing touches onwhat it says is the worlds largestrotary drum mixer. It measuresmore than 14 feet high, 16 feetwide and more than 18 feet long,and weighs 50,000 pounds.

The Rollo-Mixer Mark VII canblend 65,000 pounds of productin three minutes and still dis-charge a uniform blend. A Dutchcompany will use the mixer toblend products used in a filtering

system for antifreeze.Everything from the pneu-

matic hookups to electrical sys-tem are manufactured in Osseo.The new Rollo-Mixer boastsstainless steel construction anda 100-horsepower motor. CoyneSr. described the project as a tri-umph of engineering.

Headed overseasOn Monday the device will

begin a lengthy journey. It willtravel to Houston before beingplaced in the hull of a ship for athree-week voyage to Antwerp,Belgium. It then will be taken by

truck to its final destination.Coyne Sr.s interest in new

technologies is no accident. Hehas a background in engineer-ing, and his education includesfour years at Notre Dame andanother in the Navy before earn-ing a masters degree in businessadministration.

Every other mixer in themarket at the time was flawedconceptually, Coyne Sr. said ofstarting the business.

Variations of the Rollo-Mixerremain the backbone of Conti-nental Products, but the busi-ness has diversified in terms ofits applications. The economicclimate of the 1980s fueled theneed to expand, so the Cal-laghans pursued new roles forthe machine, which now is usedin 15 markets.

Rollo-Mixers are used for fer-tilizers, teas, insecticides, ani-mal health products, detergents,soaps, plastics and a number ofother applications. The device isavailable in 10 diameters and 100sizes.

Eau Claire Grow, 4970 KaneRoad, bought its first Rollo-Mixer in 1993 and now uses threeof the machines. The companyprovides fertilizers and otherproducts for lawn care, golf

B USINESSL EADER -T ELEGRAM

Briefcase 2D

Microsoft co-founder 4D

High-end homes 6D

Contact: Business Editor Liam Marlaire (715) 833-9215 (800) 236-7077 liam.marlaire@ecpc.com

DSunday

August 5, 2007

08300_1-21-07

BusinessBytes

OEM Fabricatorsopens facility OEM Fabricators, aWoodville-based design,fabricating, machin-ing, welding and finish-ing company, is holdingan open house from 1 to4 p.m. Friday at its newfacility, 1701 IndustrialPark Drive, Neillsville.

The $9 million facilityincludes $4 million in newequipment. Eighty peopleare employed at the site,which opened in April.The 54,000-square-footlocation features 7,500square feet of offices anda raw materials storagearea.

A ribbon-cutting cere-mony will be at 1 p.m., fol-lowed by self-guided toursfrom 2 to 4 p.m. Therealso will be demonstra-tions, product displays,refreshments and enter-tainment. For more infor-mation visit www.oemfab.com.

NWMOC namesnew director

Larry Blackledgebecame director of theNorthwest WisconsinManufacturing OutreachCenter at UW-Stout effec-tive Wednesday.

Black-

ledge pre-viouslywas anoperationsand proj-ect man-ager forNWMOC,which pro-vides on-site consulting services tomanufacturers in 33 coun-ties in northern and west-ern Wisconsin.

For more informationabout the NWMOC, visitnwmoc.uwstout.edu.

Presentationtargets startups

Western WisconsinSCORE, the Eau ClareSmall Business Develop-ment Center and Chip-pewa Valley TechnicalCollege are offeringStarting Your Own Busi-ness from 8:30 a.m. to12:30 p.m. Saturday, Aug.18, in the RCU Commu-nity Room of CVTC, 620W. Clairemont Ave.

Registration is at 8:15a.m., and seating is lim-ited. The cost is $30. Formore information, con-tact SCORE at 834-1573 orscore@score-eauclaire.org.

From staff reports

Blackledge

Master mixologists

Family business builds record-setting device

Right: Bill Cal-laghan of Conti-nental ProductsCorp. explainedthe technology in-volved in a Rollo-Mixer that wasbuilt for a Belgiancompany. Conti-nental Productssaid the deviceis the largest ro-tary drum mixer inthe world. Below: Coyne CallaghanSr., left, Bill Cal-laghan and Mar-tha Callaghantalked businessrecently outsidethe offices at Con-tinental Productsmanufacturing fa-cility in Osseo.Staff photos byShane Opatz

Associated PressThe Wall Street Journal is pictured nextto Rupert Murdochs New York Post. Mur-dochs News Corp. agreed Wednesday tobuy Dow Jones & Co., which publishes theWall Street Journal, for $5 billion.

By Walter HamiltonLos Angeles Times

N EW YORK Its normallynot good news when acompany is the subject ofrepeated stories on the front pageof the Wall Street Journal.

That was driven home to thenewspapers own reporters in per-sonal fashion last week by thenews that Rupert Murdoch suc-ceeded in his monthlong quest totake over Dow Jones & Co., the

Journals parent company.Reporters reacted bitterly to the

prospect of Murdochs gaining con-trol of the Journal, which has longbeen regarded as a beacon of finan-cial journalism.

They voiced concern that Mur-doch would diminish the papersquality, imbue it with some of theglitzy style of h is New York Post

and slant the Jour-nals news cover-age to advance hisbusiness interests.

People areaghast that thiscould have hap-pened, said onereporter, who likeothers spoke oncondition on ano-nymity. Its a sickening realizationto know that this really great iconic

newspaper is (not only) no longergoing to be independent but is alsogoing to be controlled by a manwhose values are inimical to ours.To address such concerns, Dow

Jones and Murdochs News Corp. which also owns 20th CenturyFox, the Fox News Channel andtabloid newspapers in Britain a ndAustralia agreed to the creation

of a committee to help protect thenewsroom from attempts to steercoverage that relates to Murdochsinterests.

The panel could veto the firingor hiring of the Journals top edito-rial executives, but some Journalwriters have said the committeewouldnt be strong enough.

The newsroom was particularlyincensed by the detail, disclosedon the Journals Web site Tuesday,that Dow Jones had agreed to pay

the Bancroft familys advisory andlegal fees related to the merger,which are expected to cost at lea st$30 million.

The journalists viewed the pay-ment, which ultimately wouldbe made by News Corp., as animproper incentive for waveringfamily members to support the deal.

Theres a real feeling that this

place covers the worst in corpo-rate behavior and our executivesshould have known better, onereporter said.

Journal reporters also voiced dis-appointment that Paul Steiger, thepapers longtime managing editor,did not speak out against the NewsCorp. bid. Steiger, who steppeddown in May to become the paperseditor-at-large, could have ralliedopposition to the deal, they said.

Theres a fair amount of anger

and frustration at him, onereporter said.Some reporters took solace in the

belief that the Journal, which hasbeen struck by a decline i n ad rev-enue, might have undertaken deepcost-cutting and layoffs had Mur-doch and his money not shown up.

L.A. Times-Washington PostNews Service

Journal reporter calls takeover sickening

See MIXER, Page 2D

Murdoch

8/13/2019 Master Mixologists

2/2

Wipfli announcesstaff promotions

The Eau Claire office ofWipfli, a Minnesota-basedaccounting consulting firm,recently announced severalstaff promotions.

Employees taking on newroles at Wipfli include seniormanager Todd Kostman, man-agers Rebekah Denzine andMichael Gust, senior accoun-tants Sarah Lindgren, ScottKosmo and Joseph Pichler.

University linksstudents, services

UW-Eau Claires annualConnect! program is set torun from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.Wednesday, Sept. 5, on theCampus Mall.

The event showcasescity resources, services andretailers available to UW-EauClaire students. Represen-tatives from businesses andorganizations interested inparticipating may call eventdirector Paula Stuettgen at836-4803. Registrations alsoare being taken online atwww.uwec.edu/activities/connect until Friday, Aug. 24.

The cost to exhibit is $25per table. There is no fee fornonprofit organizations.

Bankers releasequarterly report

The Community Bankersof Wisconsin has released itsperformance report for thefirst quarter.

In the Eau Claire met-ropolitan statistical area,

which includes seven com-munity banks, the percent-age of banks with earninggains rose to 71.4 percentcompared with 28.6 percentover the same period in 2006.Returns on equity, net inter-

est margin and net charge-offs to loans, however, weredown from the previous year.

Loan data from the EauClaire metro in eight differ-ent categories showed anincrease in activity from thefirst quarter in 2006.

For more information visitwww.communitybankers.org.

Business startupis seminar topic

OSSEO Western Dairy-land and United Bank in Osseowill present The 7 Steps toStarting a Business from 6 to 9p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 14, at UnitedBank, 50518 S. Charles St.

Tuition costs $25. Registra-tion is due Thursday; schol-arships are available. Formore information, call 836-7511, ext. 171, or visit www.successfulbusiness.org.

River Falls tech

company expandsRIVER FALLS Interfa-cial Solutions is constructing a15,000-square-foot productionfacility in River Falls at White-tail Ridge Corporate Park.

Founded in 2003, the com-pany provides technologydevelopment and t rans-fer services. The project isscheduled to be finishedby the end of the year. Thedesign provides for a futureaddition of 45,000 squarefeet. The company projects11 new jobs will be created inthe next three years.

Interfacial Solutions receiveda $207,600 Technology Zonetax credit to help construct andequip the facility.

Restaurant plansgrand opening

CHIPPEWA FALLS TheBridge St. Station, a new res-taurant in downtown Chip-

pewa Falls, is planning a grandopening for Friday, Aug. 17.

The Bridge St. Station, 212N. Bridge St., features a rail-road theme. It can accom-modate 48 diners, and alsooffers take-out service. Themenu will feature hamburg-

ers, hot dogs, bratwurst,malts and other items.Don Baker owns the res-

taurant; Jim Hopkins will beits manager.

Open house slatedat regional airport

Chippewa Valley RegionalAirport and Sacred HeartHospital are sponsoring anopen house for chamber ofcommerce members from 5to 6:30 p.m. Monday, Aug.13, at the Heartland Aviationhanger at CVRA, 3800 StarrAve.

Admission costs $5. Theevent will feature businessexhibits, networking oppor-

tunities, door prizes, foodand refreshments. The grandprize is an ai r and hotel pack-age for two to Laughlin, Nev.

The Eau Claire, ChippewaFalls and Menomonie areachambers of commerce are

hosting the event. For moreinformation call 834-1204.

Job, volunteer fairseeks exhibitors

The eighth annual Age ofOpportunity Job and Volun-teer Fair is set for 8 to 11 a.m.Wednesday, Sept. 19, in theYounkers wing at OakwoodMall.

The event is aimed atworkers 56 and older whoare seeking job or volunteeropportunities in the Chip-pewa Valley. The cost for anexhibition booth is $60 formembers of the Eau Claire,Chippewa Falls and Menomo-nie chambers of commerce,and $85 for nonmembers.

Call 858-0616 for moreinformation.

Reporting tips is pamphlet topic

The Appleton-based

National Association of TaxProfessionals has releaseda pamphlet on reporting tipincome.

Employees who earn$20 or more in tips in anyone month must report

the incometo theiremployers.

There isan ongoingmyth thatemployeesonly have to

report 8 per-cent of theirtotal sales as t ips, said CindyHockenberry, tax informa-tion analyst for NATP. The8 percent allocation rule isa requirement placed on theemployer, not the employee.

For more information visitwww.natptax.com or call800-558-8002, ext. 3.

Network to linkservices, investors

HUDSON The I-94Business Network www.I-94BizNetwork.com has setits first meeting for 7 p.m. Tues-day, Sept. 11, in the communityroom of WESTconsin Credit

Union, 1601 Maxwell Drive.The network aims to linkinvestors and entrepreneurswith management and tech-nical assistance services. Formore information, call 715-781-2569 or 651-275-0275.

Manufacturing program offered

The Northwest Wiscon-sin Manufacturing OutreachCenter at UW-Stout is offer-ing a lean manufacturingcertificate program at Wis-consin Indianhead TechnicalCollege, 1900 College Drive,Rice Lake.

The first in a series ofseven daylong Thursday ses-sions, Principles of Lean Man-ufacturing, is set for Aug.23. Others are Value StreamMapping on Sept. 6, QuickChangeover/Set-up Reductionon Sept. 20, The 5S System (alean manufacturing strategy),on Oct. 4, Principles of Cel-lular/Flow Manufacturingon Oct. 18, Total ProductiveMaintenance on Nov. 1 andValue Stream Management/Project Planning on Nov. 15.

The cost for seven sessionsis $1,900. Organizations with

three or more people attend-ing will pay $1,800 per person.An in-house mentoring proj-

ect is part of the program. Formore information, call 715-232-2793 or visit www.uwstout.edu/outreach/conf/lcp.

444088 8-1-07

Some hospitals are not waiting tobegin improving communication.The main thing were trying todo is listen to our patients, saysFaye Deich, chief nursing ofcer atSacred Heart Hospital in Eau Claire,Wis. The hospital, which ranks inPress Ganeys top 1% for patientsatisfaction, has hourly nursingrounds, strict behavioral standardsfor doctors and follow-up phonecalls with patients after they havebeen discharged. We ask eachpatient what good care means tothem, and thats communicated tothe staff, Deich says. If patientsknow you are there for them,they are more likely to tell youif somethingdoesnt seemright.

-USA Today

You expressedconcern about health costs . We just cut $5 million inexpenses. Savings are passed on to you.

You want the best in quality and safety from your hospital. Thissummer, we were honored with seven national physician satisfactionawards for healthcare excellence.

You want the best in service . Sacred Heart Hospital is rated in thetop 1% in the nation for patient satisfaction. Hospital executives and

administrators visit from all over the nation to study our innovationsand success.

In emergencies,you want fast service. Our busy emergencydepartment is rated a Best Practice in providing exemplaryoperational excellence rates that are only seen in the nations top10% hospitals. In Maternity, when an emergency Cesarean-Sectionis called, our response is so stellar (eight minutes compared to thenational benchmark of 30 minutes or less) that it is a Best of BestPractice. Our anesthesiologists have been so impressed, they arehaving us share our procedure with other hospitals.

You want stable jobs, community investment and growth . With1,400 employees, we are the 9th largest employer in the region. Theannual Community Benet we provide is more than $27 million.For more about how we listen to you and our national recognitionsfor patient safety, quality and service, visit our new website atwww.sacredhearteauclaire.org.

we listen to you.Communication is part of the cure, ran a national USA Todayheadline on July 25. Helping patients understand is critical to healthand healing. As an example of patient advocacy, the article cited innovations at Sacred Heart Hospital:

excellence at its best

444983 8-3-07

courses and retail services.For our application, theyre fab-

ulous, said Steve Hunsley, generalmanager at Eau Claire Grow. Weblend fertilizers and then can addthings such as insect control.

There are environmental con-

cerns, and we can blend productsprecisely to hit our requirements.Thats what these mixers do.Customers worldwide

Hunsley said the fact ContinentalProducts is a local company also i sa positive.

They do business across thecountry and overseas, he said.Were just fortunate theyre in ourbackyard.

Continental Products is oneof two or three companies in theworld recommended by severalnational companies in the chemicalindustries such as Dow.

According to Coyne Sr., three keyfactors must be considered whenmixing: batch size, density of theproducts and shapes of the parti-

cles. Companies often will come toOsseo to test the equipments abil-ity to produce a uniform, consistentblend.

We have an accurate, simplemachine that provides very uni-form results, said Tom, 51.

The mixers typically rotate at a

speed of 3 revolutions per minutewith two main bearings and a drivechain. Their design makes themremarkably energy efficient.

In the 60s and 70s, that wasnot a big issue, but in 2007 savingenergy is a big deal, sa id Bill, 47.

Coyne Sr. also takes pride in thedurability of the mixers. Rollo-Mix-ers used at Eli Lilly, a pharmaceuti-cals company, are at work 24 hoursa day, seven days a week for 30months before taking short breaksfor servicing. Bill estimated 800to 900 of the mixers are in serviceworldwide. The seventh ever madestill is being used in Bloomer.

The device itself is relativelysimple; it only involves one mov-ing part, which makes it easy tomaintain and clean. The Cal-laghans have a portable version ofthe Rollo-Mixer they take to clientsfor demonstrations. The device ishoused in a van that has traveled toalmost every state. They have con-ducted more than 150 demonstra-tions in the past three years. Thebusiness also exhibits at a tradeshow in Chicago every other year.

Once a new mixer is online in acustomers facility, John said, cus-tomers really wont go another way.This is top-of-the-line equipment.True family affair

And the fact its manufacturedby a family-run business shouldnt

change when the next generationcomes of age. Coyne Sr. and his 82-year-old wife, Martha, have 11 chil-dren and 35 grandchildren. Twomembers of the third generation,Tricia and Joe, also work at theplant.

When you call here, you get aCallaghan, Martha said.

Twenty people are employed atthe Osseo site, 11 of whom haveworked there more than 20 years.

The Callaghans lived in Milwau-kee but always maintained the pro-duction facility in Osseo. The fivebrothers who work in Osseo now alllive in the Eau Claire area. WhenCoyne Sr. was first looking for ahouse that would accommodate hislarge family, he put in an offer hedescribed as ridiculous that wasaccepted. He did the same when hebought his first business.

I told them, Im rich in kids butnot in money, he said.

Growing up in Milwaukee, therewere three steadfast rules: You hadto have the last name Callaghanto enter the upper floors of theirhouse, the children couldnt attendor host sleepovers (Mom said it wasdifficult enough keeping track ofher kids), and no tattling.

As a result, we had peace in t hehouse, Coyne Sr. said with a grin.

Coyne Sr. kept the manufactur-ing side of the business in Osseo

because of the strong work ethic,low taxes and absence of unions.

In 2000, the company under-went an expansion in Osseo thatincluded a 25-ton overhead crane.Coyne Sr. said expanding the busi-ness was always a consideration,even when times were tough.

If there is any advice I haveto give if youre going into busi-ness, Coyne said, its that whenthings are darkest, thats when youexpand.

A loft area in the Osseo facilityhouses the engineering and otheroffices. It also has a display of morethan 400 samples of materials thatare Rollo-Mixer blends. Paintedpieces of rubber used for play-grounds and materials used in aero-space and defense are among thesamples.Still learning, improving

To coat materials, the Rollo-Mixer uses a unique free-fall pro-cess that allows the entire surfaceof a particle to be exposed to t hematerial used for coating. An exam-ple is the coating used to cover the

pieces of rubber for playgrounds.Its evolved to the advanced mix-ing technology it is today, Bill said.And were constantly learning newthings to improve our product.

In the last year alone, Continen-tal Products has sold mixers acrossthe U.S. and in Belgium, Brazil,

Canada, Mexico, Spain and Wales. Jim currently is at a new installa-tion in Sao Paulo, Brazil, trainingcustomers on one of the mixers. Billand his siblings are all bidding torepresent the company in Belgium,but working with fellow engineers,inventors and other professionalstruly holds their interest.

We get to work with brilliantpeople who appreciate our technol-ogy, Bill said.

Bill has worked in the familytrade since he was 19. His fatherstill works in purchasing, and Mar-tha handles the books.

Ive been working with my par-ents for more than 27 years, Billsaid. Theyre more than parents tome. But it wont be li ke this forever,so its a treat to work with them andhave them see the growth of thisbusiness.

Martha said she never doubtedher husband, even in leaner times.The two recently celebrated their60th wedding anniversary.

I had great fa ith in (Coyne), shesaid. If he said its the right thing

to do, its the right thing to do.And, in all our years, Ive neveronce not once seen him getmad. I think thats why the boyslike working with him so much.

Marlaire can be reached at 833-9215, 800-236-7077, ext. 3215 or liam.marlaire@ecpc.com.

Mixer/ Business emphasizes family tie

Briefcase

Hockenberry

from Page 1D

B USINESS2D Sunday, August 5, 2007L EADER -T ELEGRAM