Greg Paulus Retired From Air Force, He Pulled Cheney Weeder Out Of Debt

Greg Paulus will take a final step today to update the company he bought nearly five years ago.

He’ll change the name from Cheney Weeder to Metalite Industries.

The 87-year-old company, which used to make rod weeders, an agricultural implement, has diversified. And it hasn’t been located in Cheney since 1956.

The company at 1805 W. Fourth makes snowmobile trailers, combine reels, pontoon boats and docks.

Paulus said he couldn’t fuss with the name when he first bought the company - he had more important things to do, like pull it out of severe debt.

Risky as it was to buy a financially struggling company, it’s a lot less risky than flying fighter planes for the U.S. Air Force - the 49-year-old Paulus’s former profession.

“What I used to do, if you screwed up, you were dead,” said Paulus. “The risks here are purely financial.”

The risk Paulus has taken with Metalite Industries has paid off.

Sales have increased 10 to 15 percent each year he’s been there, with the 15-person company producing $1.3 million in sales in 1996.

Most of the company’s business comes from trailer sales. In 1996, the company sold 600 trailers, including 400 for snowmobiles. On average, Metalite Industries also sells about 75 combine reels, five to 10 pontoon boats and 50 to 75 docks each year.

Paulus said his greatest strength is removing obstacles that prevent people from doing their jobs efficiently.

He told a story of three employees who each needed to use the same clamp. The three employees wasted up to two hours every day waiting to use the $10 tool. Paulus quickly went out and bought two extra clamps.

“By buying two more clamps, I was able to save two hours a day and made my employees very happy,” he said.

Paulus also has spent time studying niche markets for his company and looking for new products to make. His 20-year career in the military gave Paulus an inroad to reaping more government contracts for the company.

Last October, the company landed a $1 million contract to build 32 10,000-gallon tanks for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The tanks were used in an experiment to restock the Snake and Clearwater rivers with rare migrating fall Chinook salmon.

“It’s a question of finding agencies that need our unique capabilities,” Paulus said.

Paulus was born and raised in Milwaukee, Wis., and graduated from Marquette University there in 1969 with a mechanical engineering degree.

Rather than be drafted, he enlisted in the Air Force and was sent to Thailand. During his military career he moved 18 times, including to the Middle East, Europe and the Far East. Half his time was spent flying, half working as an engineer.

When he retired from the Air Force in 1990, he began looking for a small manufacturing company to buy. He’d been fascinated with building things since he was 7 years old. He built a motorized mini-bike at age 12.

Paulus and his wife, Sarah, were also looking for a place to raise their four children. Spokane was chosen for a number of reasons, including the climate, size, lack of state income tax, availability of schools and Air Force base.

Finding Cheney Weeder rounded out their plans.

“I had been looking for a small manufacturing business or a small service business,” he said. “That’s what I wanted to do.”

One area the company specializes in is custom-made designs. Being willing to do specific work for individual customers has won Metalite Industries accolades from national organizations.

During Paulus’ second week running his new company, a long-time fisherman who’d lost the use of his legs in an accident came into the office and asked if a pontoon boat could be modified to fit his wheelchair.

Metalite Industries built the boat. Word spread, and two weeks later, another person requested a similar boat. The company eventually received a grant to build handicap-accessible boats and won a 1996 award from the U.S. Small Business Administration for the work.

Still, the specialized boats haven’t appealed to a mass market, Paulus said. They’re made on a per-order basis.

One company product that has appealed to the masses is trailers, mostly for snowmobiles. The trailers are distributed in western states, including Utah, Alaska and Nevada. Paulus is working to expand the market east.

Success hasn’t come to Paulus without mistakes. One of his errors - a lawn and garden trailer for hauling lawn materials around the yard, leans against a shop building at the company.

Two other ideas that didn’t work out are: a motorcycle trailer that rises and lowers using hydraulics and a dump trailer, which works like a dump truck.

“We make a lot of mistakes, but we’re willing to try things,” Paulus said.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Photo