Superior Abrasives Aims for Superior HQ

Superior Abrasives is poised to expand, and President Lynne Henson wants her company to look the part.

Drive by, and the new building doesn’t look like just another manufacturer. That’s no accident.

Last year, the maker of abrasive materials for the metals industry announced plans to move from Wadsworth Road in Harrison Twp. to an increasingly busy manufacturing/logistics area off Peters Pike in Vandalia.

The plan was to invest $6 million and grow from 85 to 110 employees — and to embrace what company leaders felt was the imperative to become a global company.

The 54-year-old family-owned business had already seen its share of change, being acquired in 2012 by a German industrial concern, the Rueggeberg Group.

At the time of the acquisition, Jorn Bielenberg, on behalf of the company’s new owners, assured nervous employees that the company would keep its brand name and remain in the Dayton region.

The home today is Vandalia — not far from Harrison Twp. Here, Henson believes, employees will be inspired to be their best.

We sat down with Lynne Henson last week to talk about where Superior goes from here. This transcript has been edited.

Q: What was your goal with the new headquarters?

Henson: “We came from a small building, 33,000 square feet. It was built back in the ’50s. We had been acquired by a larger, global company, who was very progressive. I wanted to take that big step. I wanted to show the market that we were no longer a small player, that we were a bigger player …

“So the building was one piece of it. We wanted to be progressive. We wanted to look different. I didn’t want it to be just this box you see everywhere else.”

Q: The German owners, PFERD Inc., are a family business, as was Superior. At the time of the 2012 acquisition, was there a period of fear for employees?

Henson: “We watched a major player in our industry who was a big competitor — 3M. They took over Standard Abrasives. They’re a major competitor in our market. As you saw, they closed the Brookville location (in early 2016). They started closing down the Standard over time. … And people saw that.

“So everybody was fearful. Even though, they didn’t know behind the scenes, that we had picked them (the new owners), they didn’t pick us. We had a short list of people we wanted to go ask, ‘Would you be interested in purchasing us?’

The Cook family (the company’s founding family) was ready to retire, and they wanted to know, they asked me, ‘Who might be a good suitor for us?’ I gave them a short list.

“We approached them (PFERD Inc.). It took us about a year, through due diligence. I got to be more comfortable with them in that year.

“When they purchased us, Jorn (Bielenberg) stood before all of (our employees) and said, ‘I give you my word … We don’t make acquisitions we don’t plan to keep.’”

Q: What’s next? Are you still planning to hire?

Henson: “That is still the plan. The economy has been lighter. It has been softer. It’s not just for us. For everyone in our industry, the economy has been softer than it should have been. Which you never want to see when you’re moving into a new building.

“But we are planning to add some product lines in here. We’re already looking at an additional product line, which will bring new people for that product line.

“And we’re still very actively looking for other partners for M&As (mergers and acquisitions). We only want to have two brand names in the United States, and we would be one of their brands. And there’s really not room for a third.”