you can’t beat them, join ….
you can’t beat them, join them.”
As the business grew, additional secretarial help was hired, with Sondra retaining oversight of financial matters and employee benefits.
“I think she underestimates what she did,” Tom interjects. “We were growing, so there was continually more to do, and she took care of all that. That allowed me to do what I needed to do. She’s been extremely important.”
For any business to enjoy great longevity, it also requires great commitment on the part of the people involved with the business, and that includes the employees, and Tom’s own family.
Tom’s son, Mark, his grandson, Tyler, and daughter-in-law, Cindy, are all a part of Creative Automation, and the values of hard work, customer service and innovation have all filtered down to them. Not that Tom ever pushed them to follow in his footsteps.
Mark, co-owner and full partner since 2012, says working in manufacturing came naturally to him while watching his father working and designing new and better machines.
“I grew up with this business, you know?” Mark says. “Dad started the business when I was four, so I was always being exposed to this. I saw what it took to run a business, dad’s ideals, and what he valued, and the technology involved.”
Mark spent summers and after school hours working at Creative Automation. Even though he saw what his father did almost daily, Mark says he wasn’t sure if he wanted to follow in his father’s footsteps when he graduated from school.
“My dad and I thought it would be important to get some experience somewhere else, and see what the rest of the world was like,” he said.
Mark spent two and a half years working at Oscar Mayer Foods in various locations and roles, and that experience proved invaluable. It allowed him to hone in on what he was truly passionate about. It turned out the apple did not fall far from the tree.
“It showed me what it was like to work at a big company, and it gave me a better appreciation of working for a small business, and the advantages of that. I realized that building and designing automation is what really appealed to me.”
In 1993, Mark joined the engineering department at Creative Automation, specializing in electrical engineering and programming. His responsibilities soon expanded into administrative duties. In 2004, he was promoted to vice president of the corporation. Today, as co-owner, Mark is responsible for engineering, sales, recruiting, project management, and oversight of all departments Cindy joined the company in 2013 as executive secretary, taking over Sondra’s duties upon her semi-retirement. Cindy has supervised implementation of techonology upgrades in the office, and in recognition of her contributions, was promoted to vice president in 2019.
“I’m always really pleased to hear how much people appreciate the family values of the company,” Cindy says.
The Streckerts also believe in providing for their employees, offering competitive pay and excellent benefits.
“If you’re going to give your life to something, you should come away with something to show for it,” Cindy says. “We want the culture here to be one where you’re glad you came to work today and you feel respected and valued and a part of something that matters.”
Like his father, Tyler also worked at Creative Automation in his teens, and grew up hearing about what was being built and how the business was run. He witnessed the values that have made the business successful for so long.
And, like his father, Tyler felt the need to explore the world beyond central Wisconsin. He went to school in Chicago, and earned a master’s degree from Wheaton College. However, Tyler returned to his roots and Creative Automation in 2017.
“When I started, I was doing a number of tasks, largely just the things that needed to be done,” Tyler says.
That included painting the parts and machines, much as his grandfather had done in the early years of Creative Automation. Tyler found he enjoyed the day-to-day operations, and doing a bit of everything allowed him to know the employees and see each part of the process of creating a machine.
“If you were doing the same thing over and over again you’d get bored with it, but when each project is like a mini adventure, it really keeps you engaged,” he said. “We believe having those challenges is part of what makes us a great company.”
But no story of Creative Automation is complete without its employees, many of whom have been with the business for decades, with the average tenure being nearly 15 years.
All three generations of the Streckert Family agree that while the products and technology will change, certain things will always be associated with Creative Automation.
“We don’t give up,” Mark says. “That’s the culture here; we always find a way to deliver on our promises. The things that are going to stay the same are our culture, the customer service, the ideas, things like that.”
That is the legacy the Streckert family and their employees will always keep. It’s why Creative Automation has been so successful these last 50 years.
While innovation and technology have changed much of the world, some things will always stay the same.
“We don’t just sell machinery, we sell ideas,” Tom says with conviction.
“Creative Automation is a small business, doing business in a big way,” Sondra says. “It’s something for people to be proud of and something that will remain.”
