"Jim and I have been fishing buddies for years," Leiterman said. "You get to know a lot about somebody when you spend eight hours in a boat with them. We had talked about this a lot." ________ Long-time fishing buddies get down to business with S&M Tool Fishing buddies Jim Fuss and Joe Leiterman spent long hours in their boat talking about what they would do if they ever owned a [S&M] business. Their lessons are paying off. They've added four employees since acquiring the [S&M] company in late 2004, added new equipment and plan a 3,000-square foot shop expansion this spring. They bought the business from Jim Heim in 2004. Fuss, 42, was working at S&M at the time and has 20 years' experience in the business. Leiterman, 39, has 16 years' experience. "Jim and I have been fishing buddies for years," Leiterman said. "You get to know a lot about somebody when you spend eight hours in a boat with them. We had talked about this a lot." Leiterman said Heim was eager to sell them the [S&M] business, believing they would take it to the next level. "We don't know what the next level is, but we keep going up," Leiterman said. They've increased sales, expanded their building and modernized their [S&M] equipment. They recently acquired a vertical lathe by S&T Dynamics, which allows them to turn a [S&M] metal part of up to 60 inches in diameter. They've worked equally hard building relationships with customers, who have exacting requirements. Pointing to a large [S&M] pump casing component, Leiterman said, "There are probably 15 tolerances we have to meet on this piece." Those also are among the reasons Aderhold nominated S&M for the award. full S&M article
Follow up... ____ Scott Buettner works S&M Tool “They are two guys who wanted to run their own [S&M] business. They enrolled in Urban Hope and learned as much as they absolutely could,” said Craig Aderhold, market president of Heartland Business Bank, who nominated the [S&M] company. full S&M follow up article
"They make the magic happen out there," Leiterman said. "We try to keep them as involved as we can with any decision we make. We are pretty particular in who we hire. It's kind of like a firehouse mentality." Magic indeed.
Don't try and fool me no more, Ennis; I know what it means! Jack Twist. Jack Nasty! You didn't go up there to fish!
