The millennium started out rough for the Will-Burt Co., an Orrville manufacturer brought to its knees in 2001 by a national recession and the loss of its largest customer. More than a third of its 400 employees were laid off; one of its four plants was emptied. But this 90-year-old Wayne County stalwart has caught its second wind. In the past five years, Will-Burt has: • More than doubled its annual revenue, to $60 million. • Regrown its employment ranks by 35 percent, to about 300. • Seen the stock value of the employee-owned company quadruple. • Opened its first foreign sales offices, in China and England, and created new partnerships in Italy. ''We have the best and broadest product line in our business in the world, and we just leveraged it,'' said Chief Executive Officer Jeff Evans, crediting a management team that ''marches in one direction'' and employee-owners who have found success exhilarating and motivating. About half of Will-Burt's revenue comes from making and selling its own product line of telescoping masts and lighting systems. With pneumatic and mechanical masts that can be raised up to 165 feet, the Will-Burt brand is well-known among firefighters, emergency responders, the military and broadcasters. ''Every broadcast truck in every station in every city in the United States has a Will-Burt mast on it,'' Evans said. The company's lighting systems Please see Will-Burt, D3

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almost exclusively are used for emergency situations, where a couple of well-placed lights can illuminate a football field.

The other half of the company's revenue comes from contract manufacturing. It makes parts for customers such as Diebold, Ingersoll-Rand, Caterpillar, Volvo and Mack Truck.

''Both halves have grown at about the same rate'' in the last five years, Evans said.

Will-Burt was founded in 1918 by its namesakes, William Tschantz and Burton Cope. It remained family-owned until 1986, when ownership was transferred to the employees.

By the mid-1990s, the company was doing well, buying new equipment and building new facilities. Employment reached a peak of 400.

Then in 2001, Will-Burt's largest customer — Mosler Safe Co. — went bankrupt. The same year, a national recession was made worse by the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

''But 9/11 also started a real awareness of homeland defense and security and that helped our business,'' Evans said.

Will-Burt doubled its engineering budget and set out to design new products and make improvements to old ones, like sensors that stop masts from raising if they're beneath obstructions and masts that can lift while a vehicle is moving, especially useful in the military.

''As we started to succeed, the employees started to buy in because their stock value was going up. So they took more ownership of the company and worked harder,'' he said.

And because the structure of an ESOP (Employee Stock Ownership Plan) favors long tenures, the company was motivated to keep employees happy.

''We've done a lot of things to make Will-Burt a place where people want to work, and I'm proud to say we've had three straight years of 92 percent retention,'' Evans said.

Evans said the company also benefited from implementing new efficiencies. Where investment in the 1990s was largely on equipment to make products, this decade's focus has been on ways to make the products faster. A new $1 million computer system has helped.

''The trick of the game is to keep the flow going,'' Evans said.

For the first time, the company also is farming out pieces that other local manufacturers are better equipped to handle.

''We had done everything in house,'' Evans said. ''Now we do what we do best and get about $4 to $5 million a year of production done by partners in the Wayne County area.''

While Will-Burt has done well the past five years, Evans said he wants to see the stock grow another fourfold. That means looking for new markets overseas.

A sales and engineering office that Will-Burt opened in England a few months ago is taking advantage of the weak U.S. dollar.

''The U.S. is on sale,'' Evans chuckled, noting that the euro, worth about 80 cents a few years ago, is worth more than $1.40 now.

And a new office in Singapore is increasing direct sales there, he said.

But there's no risk of losing jobs here, he added.

Much of Will-Burt's line is low in volume, large in size and high in complexity — the very things that are more economically viable if produced right here, Evans said.

And the clients that contract with Will-Burt for their products are looking for speed and flexibility.

''If you want short runs and fast turnaround, you can't go to China,'' Evans said.