Company Provides Checkpoint Kits for Iraq

By Marge Pitrof
March 23, 2009 | WUWM | Milwaukee, WI

Rick & Andrew Bergholz

Six years ago, the United States was bombing Iraq. The U.S. went war there to overthrow Saddam Hussein and search for weapons of mass destruction. The impact has been felt in Wisconsin. In our series about effects of the war here, we report now on business involvement. Wisconsin’s biggest producer of military equipment is Oshkosh Corporation. It’s received huge defense contracts to make military vehicles. But a much smaller, family-owned business has also sent products to Iraq. WUWM’s Marge Pitrof reports on TAPCO.

TAPCO stands for Traffic and Parking Control Company. It’s located…at least for now, in Elm Grove. The company makes everything you see along a highway or street, except the concrete. Rick Bergholz is CEO.

 

“Stripes, signs, lights, crash cushions, variable message signs, ramp meters. If it’s out there, we’re involved in it," Rick Bergholz says.

Bergholz says his father started TAPCO in 1956. He belonged to a public speaking group and was assigned to give a speech about parking problems. In researching the topic, he discovered there were virtually no companies making traffic products. So Bergholz says his dad began dabbling with car stops, those bumpers you pull up to in parking lots.

“And here we are, 53 years later. Initially he did ‘a’ to ‘z’, ‘a’ to ’z’ meaning anything that had anything to do with traffic, as you can see from our 350 page catalog. So we’ve kept that philosophy, we still do ‘a’ to ‘z’ supplies,” Rick Bergholz says.
 
But the company has changed the organic nature of its products; it’s gone green. Bergholz says more customers want devices that don’t require a lot of power or maintenance. So now, for example, TAPCO now makes rubber car stops and out of recycled tires. Its red stop lights use only a tiny fraction of the power that traditional bulbs need, and some company signs are solar-powered.
 
Andrew Bergholz says he had an epiphany a few years ago, when he realized countries outside the U.S. desperately need such items; countries with limited resources. Andrew is the family’s third generation working at TAPCO; he’s vice president of sales.
 
“We hired a sales rep who was an ex-military general. He thought we could take our products to the federal marketplace,” Andrew Bergholz says.
 
Not long after the company became listed as a federal government supplier, the military came knocking. Rick Bergholz says it wanted equipment soldiers could use to do roadside checks in Iraq.
 
“They were having problems with all the bombs that were in the vehicles. So part of their solution was to do a whole bunch of checkpoints and stop the cars way before they get to crucial areas and inspect the cars thoroughly. So we developed a check point kit for them that included our signs, which are highly visible and solar-powered so you can put the anywhere, and some other products such as cones, bullhorns, mirrors,” Rick Bergholz says.