German-born duo finding success touting aluminum

By: Paula Schleis
Beacon Journal business writer

Eveline Nordhauss had spent two decades helping a German startup grow out of a garage into a multimillion-dollar enterprise when she realized she had gone as far as she could in a business that would never be hers.

 

So when her employer started looking for someone to make and distribute its aluminum machine-building systems in America, she saw the chance of a lifetime.

After some soul searching, Nordhauss and her husband, Michael, left behind friends, family, country and their 21-year-old son and headed for Akron, a city smack in the middle of an industrial belt that could use what she had to offer.

“It was difficult, but I thought, this is another challenge in your life,” she said.

That was 11 years ago.

It’s been a rocky road for the Nordhausses and their company, item North America, as they adjusted to a new culture and unfamiliar business regulations, sought to promote aluminum in a region raised on steel, and weathered the economic storm after 9/11.

But it’s been said what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.

In the last few years, item has watched revenue grow at a steady pace of 20 percent a year, adding some 300 customers to the books annually, Nordhauss said.

A $1.5 million 20,000-square-foot addition is being constructed at the Nordhausses’ facility next to Akron Fulton Airport.

Last week, workers with Campbell Construction of Wooster and item employees celebrated the completion of the new roof with a Richtfest party.

The German tradition - in this case, served with German beer and brats - is the owner’s way of thanking project workers.

A cut pine tree, decorated with ribbons in the colors of the American and German flags, was briefly hoisted onto the roof, a symbolic act to bring good luck to all who work beneath it.

The addition will give item more production capacity, and Nordhauss predicts the company will need it as it launches a new, aggressive marketing campaign targeting wind, solar, fuel cells and other sectors of the country’s fast-growing advanced energy industry.

But item’s systems - developed by Nordhauss’ former boss, Wolfgang Rixen - can be used in any industry, she said.

The company designs and makes structural aluminum frames, enclosures, platforms, machine parts, office work stations and other modular components that can be custom built, sold as kits or delivered assembled.

Nordhauss said Rixen’s system had no peer when he designed it in the 1970s and the company grew quickly in Europe and Asia.

But by the time the Nordhausses established item North America, there were dozens of competitors around the world. It was no easy task convincing machine builders in the Midwest to trust their blueprints to a new foreign-owned enterprise that had popped up on the landscape touting aluminum over steel. “We had to do a lot of education with our customers,” Nordhauss said.

The couple also had to learn a lot about America’s business environment, like how hard it is to get financing with no established credit history.

“We made a lot of mistakes and it probably cost us a lot of money in the beginning,” she said. “We didn’t grow as fast as we thought we would.”

But grow it did, and item now employs 35 people, from engineers who design products and parts to the operators who make them.

And life has settled down for the transplanted couple. Their son, Christian, finished school in Germany and joined his parents to take over the engineering division. They have all since become American citizens.

item still has to market its products aggressively, and Nordhauss expects her company will always have to educate consumers about the benefits of aluminum and the many ways of using item’s components.

On a recent tour of the facility, Nordhauss pointed out item’s work in every room: the receptionist’s desk, a wall-size file organizer in the sales room, a “pick and place” robot in the warehouse, and display of a sliding platform that allows a boulder to be moved with the push of a hand.

Nordhauss counts NASA, Sony and Procter & Gamble among her customers, and this year Rockwell Automation made item a partner in its “Encompass” program, with new opportunities for exposure.

And recently, more and more customers are coming from the steel-hungry state she had fought so hard to win over.

Five years ago item had few customers in Ohio, she said.

“Today, it’s our strongest state,” Nordhauss said. “ I thought you need to be strong in your own backyard, and we made that a focus.”

About item North America

Location: 925 Glaser Parkway in Akron
Founded: 1996
Phone: 330- 945- 4500
Web Site: http://www.itemamerica.com
Product: Provides structural aluminum and modular components for the automation, manufacturing and material handling industries.

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