Anniversary Blog: A New Building, a New Machine, and a Changing of the Guard

Anniversary Blog: A New Building, a New Machine, and a Changing of the Guard

A New Building, a New Machine, and a Changing of the Guard

There are certain moments in a company’s history that stand out, not necessarily because we recognized their importance at the time, but because of what they would eventually mean.

For Tedco, one of those moments came when my father and I decided to purchase our third turret punch press, an Amada Pega. The new machine was an important investment, but it also presented a problem: we were running out of room.

We knew we needed a larger building, and we needed to find one before the new machine arrived.

Around that same time, my father was hospitalized. Although he had already begun stepping back from some of the day-to-day responsibilities, he remained involved in the business. I had taken on most of the estimating, while Jennifer was handling the books. Dad would still look through the financial reports, not because he questioned Jennifer’s work, but because he wanted to know what was happening with the company he had worked so hard to build.

With Dad in the hospital, Jennifer and I suddenly found ourselves making decisions we had never faced before. Neither of us knew much about commercial real estate, but we had a building to find, paperwork to navigate, and a new machine on the way.

We eventually found a suitable building about a block from our original shop. Getting the paperwork completed w

as only the beginning. We had to determine where every machine would go, arrange for the electrical work, and coordinate the move. We hired an electrician and professional machinery movers, but the planning and decisions were now largely up to us.

By the time everything was ready, Dad had been released from the hospital. He was still weak, but there was one thing he didn’t want to miss: the arrival of that new Pega.

We managed to get him seated inside the shop so he could watch the machine being delivered. After everything he had put into Tedco over the years, it was important to him to see the company taking another step forward.

We set up an office for him in the new building. He would come in when he felt up to it, offer advice, and see how things were going. He couldn’t stay very long, and there were times I would walk into his office and find him asleep at his desk.

He still wanted to be part of the business, even as Jennifer and I were taking on more of the responsibility of running it.

Looking back, I realize that the move represented much more than an expansion. It was also the beginning of a new chapter for TEDCO. Jennifer and I were learning to make decisions that Dad had always made, often figuring things out as we went. And although his role had changed, we still had the benefit of his experience and advice.

There was no formal changing of the guard, no big announcement, and certainly no instruction manual. Just a new building, a new machine, and a family doing what needed to be done to keep the business moving forward.

And in many ways, that’s how Tedco’s next chapter began.