Sign company finds room to grow

Move from Elm Grove affords new products, showroom

Jason Kugel & Andrew Bergholz photo courtesy of JSOnline.com

By MARY BUCKLEY

Brown Deer — The next time the "Too Fast for Curve" sign blinks as you drive downtown on Interstate 43, think TAPCO. When you check the parking capacity signs approaching the Bayshore Town Center or pick up a ticket to park in the parking structure at General Mitchell Airport, think TAPCO.

TAPCO, Traffic & Parking Control Co., makes not only the traffic and parking signs but a wide range of products aimed at "making travel safer around the world," which is the company's motto. chasing the former printing plant building at 5100 W. Brown Deer Road.

Twice the space

The new location is slightly more than double the size of the old, 128,000 square feet vs. 57,000 square feet.

"We liked Elm Grove, but we were totally packed to the gills," said Andrew Bergholz, executive vice president for sales. "We literally did not have a spot to put another person in Elm Grove."

The business has the added advantage of room to grow on vacant land north of the existing building.

The business, which was named the U.S. Small Business Administration's 2009 Family Owned Small Business of the Year, got its start in Wauwatosa.

"My father Ray started it in the basement of his (Wauwatosa) house," said CEO and co-owner Richard (Rick) Bergholz. John Kugel is the other owner and president of the company.

After six years in the basement, the company grew and moved to another location in Wauwatosa, and later still to Elm Grove, where it spent the last eight years.

"This location gives us the ability to add another 15 employees right away," Andrew said. The company employs 120 people during its busiest summer months.

TAPCO purchased the building from Concours Motors, which abandoned its plans to open a Mercedes Benz dealership at the location.

"We have been very fortunate to continue to grown through the recession," Rick said.

Going green with solar power

The company has moved into innovative green products such as LED enhanced traffic signs and crosswalk buttons that are both wireless and solar powered.

"Our next project is to make street lights solar," Rick said.

The new building will allow the company to open a retail store on site.

"We make the Milwaukee harp light and other streetscape items," Rick said. The store will allow them to showcase and sell their products, including street or traffic signs for those who want to decorate a college dorm room.

The new location also keeps the company close to its parking business, which is mostly downtown.

"We have 12 service men who service signals and parking garages," Rick said.

The building, formerly used for printing, also has ventilation systems and natural light that allow TAPCO to do silk screening.

Although not manufactured by TAPCO, the company also stocks and sells traffic cones, barricades, speed bumps and car stops.

The village issued $5.1 million of industrial revenue bonds for TAPCO to help finance the move and purchase of the building. The company repays the debt and interest, not the village, Village Manager Russell Van Gompel said.

The location, building size and room for expansion, along with the bonds, met the requirements for the company but Andrew said the running joke in the company is that it moved to Brown Deer because Rick lives nearby in River Hills.