Fred Brechbuhler started his career working at Republic Steel Co. in the maintenance department. Republic Steel had an internal employee who was responsible for calibrating and fixing scales. One day, that person had to take a leave of absence so Fred asked if he could be responsible for keeping the company’s scales working properly. Republic Steel agreed and Fred began servicing the scales.

When the maintenance man returned, Fred had discovered something he not only was good at but truly enjoyed. When Republic Steel told Fred he was no longer needed to work on scales, he knew he had a decision to make – go back to his prior role or follow his passion. So, without the money to start his own business, Fred went to the local hardware store, Lehmiller Hardware, to borrow $50. Using that $50, Fred purchased weights and basic tools to begin servicing and selling scales. 10 years later, when the loan became due, the hardware store owner asked for his $50 back or ½ the business. Fred wisely gave him his $50 back.

In the early days, truck scale decking used 4” thick oak planks that were varying widths from 6” to 12”. A lot of scales were only 9’ wide so the plank would be cut/trimmed to fit in the pit (no above-ground scales). A 22’ x 9’ truck scale was a very common size.

Brechbuhler Scales would typically cut the planks in the shop (this is how Clyde Brechbuhler lost ½ of his little finger!) and then trim, if needed, at the job site. How did we cut such large planks? We had a huge circular saw that had a 14-16” blade that weighed 60-70lbs! Even more difficult was the creosote coating that was applied to the planks. Creosote was a byproduct of wood combustion that consisted mainly of tar. Creosote was nasty stuff (banned due to toxicity today) and would burn your skin if you came in contact with it. The finished planks would be attached to the weighbridge via 8” spikes approximately ½” in diameter. The weighbridge would have two “spiking timbers” attached via bolts to the weighbridge cross members that would run parallel to the main beams. Installation was awful and everything was manhandled. A typical process would be to lay all the planks on the scale, trim to fit, drill pilot holes through the plank to the top of spiking timber and then drive the spike through the plank into the spiking timber. Generally, there were 4 spikes in most planks, but 6 in the wider planks so you can imagine how long installation could take a scale crew.

Clyde Brechbuhler was born 9/9/1921 and graduated from Canton South High School (then called Canton Township HS). Clyde worked a lot of odd jobs and also helped Fred Brechbuhler when he had time. Clyde met his future wife, Wanda, before getting drafted into the Army Air Corp where he flew B27’s and was stationed at bases around the country and Cuba. In addition to flying B27’s, Clyde was responsible for a motor pool in Key West and would rent jeeps on weekends to other soldiers for leave.

To see Clyde, Wanda would take a bus from Canton to Philadelphia and then ride the train to Key West to visit. She didn’t have enough money for a return ride so she would get on a train anyway and sweet talk her way home. After the service, Clyde went to embalming school and worked for Schneeberger's funeral home. Why embalming school? Story has it that he liked driving fast with sirens and lights as back then the hearses were also ambulances. This came to an end when he had to embalm a baby and couldn’t take it, so he came to work for Brechbuhler sometime between 1943-1944.

Clyde Brechbuhler was convinced we needed a forklift. The company was growing, and he felt that the purchase of a forklift would significantly help with efficiency. Fred, however, felt that Clyde was crazy and that “we’d never use a forklift”. Against his Dad’s judgment, Clyde purchased the company’s first forklift in 1954. We still have this forklift stored in our Canton branch building.

Clyde brought many new ideas to the company. While it almost seems like common sense today, Clyde was instrumental in building our culture of relationship selling. He had a recipe box on the front seat of his car full of cards. After making a call/visit, he would write down customer info, including personal details, so on the next visit he could take up where they left off. Clyde loved working with customers and was the pioneer of our customer-first attitude we have today.

The 1960s was a decade where some of our culture was established. It was during the 1960s we saw our first steps towards “keeping it in-house”. Clyde Brechbuhler invested in equipment to begin producing coal/coke pivots and bearings. He quickly learned that by controlling the quality and delivery of some of the key scale components, we could better serve our customers. Clyde always bet on our employees. He loved youthful attitudes and employees that wanted to grow. The 1960s was also the decade where the company made a significant investment in equipment by purchasing two brand new Ford F750s. Clyde believed that our trucks and equipment were important because they were some of the first things that our customers saw.

He felt it was necessary to make a great impression on our customers through our people and equipment. We still heed Clyde's words of wisdom today in our culture of presenting a great image, betting on youthful attitudes, and controlling the quality and delivery to the customer.

• Brechbuhler begins making their own coal/coke pivots and bearings
• Brechbuhler Scales purchases their 1st open-bed test truck
• Kraig Brechbuhler begins working in the company

The 1970s saw Brechbuhler Scales, under the vision of both Clyde and Kraig Brechbuhler, take a more aggressive approach to branch expansion. Over the years, the company had forged a customer-first attitude that was proving to be highly successful. Brechbuhler Scales was quickly becoming a staple of Stark County and surrounding areas. Both Clyde and Kraig felt it was time to take the business to other markets. The first expansion was the purchase of Northern Ohio Scales of Cleveland, Ohio in 1976.

The Cleveland market gave Brechbuhler Scales access to a larger industrial customer base with proximity to Canton, Ohio. Finally, we purchased General Scales & Service of Columbus, Ohio as the Columbus market was growing rapidly. These two successful acquisitions set the tone for the 1980s in which the company saw dramatic growth in branches and capabilities.

• First semi-truck is purchased for $26,000
• The Cleveland, OH Branch begins after acquiring Northern Ohio Scales
• The Columbus, OH Branch beings after acquiring General Scales & Service

The 1980s saw dramatic changes across the scale industry while the Brechbuhler footprint was expanding. Electronics were quickly replacing older mechanical technologies. Digital instrumentation was replacing analog dials. Large industries such as waste, recycling, coal, steel, and others were beginning to implement stricter safety protocols and quality guidelines. What was expected out of a scale company had shifted. Clyde understood that the industry was changing and promoted Kraig Brechbuhler to lead the company in 1986.

While Clyde still worked in the company, Kraig took over the day-to-day and made several key personnel changes, promotions, and new hires to help fuel our expansion. Brechbuhler Scales added 6 locations in the 1980s. We expanded into the adjacent states of Pennsylvania and West Virginia by acquiring Anthony Scale Service, Quality Scale, and Gibson Scale. By the end of the 80s, we had 9 locations and were quickly growing.

• The Canton/Corporate Complex is built
• Cincinnati Branch begins after acquiring Howe
• Parkersburg, WV Branch begins after acquiring Quality Scale
• Mansfield, OH Branch begins
• Lima, OH Branch begins after acquiring Gangle Scale
• Sarver, PA Branch beings after acquiring Anthony Scale Service
• Nitro, WV Branch begins after acquiring Gibson Scale
• Clyde (2nd gen) retires, and Kraig Brechbuhler (3rd gen) becomes President

During the 90s other scale distributors and manufacturers began to take notice. At one point, we were the largest privately held scale distributor across the United States. Our customer-first attitude had served us well. In this attitude, however, we became irritated with some of our major suppliers. We felt these suppliers didn’t have the same amount of care when it came to quality and delivery.

Because of this, Kraig Brechbuhler decided to start B-TEK in 1994. B-TEK started as a 100’ by 200’ fabrication plant. We had two overhead 10-ton cranes and a total of four welders. Additionally, the company purchased a drill press, a band saw, and a paint booth without any dealers! Initially, B-TEK produced 4-6 scales per month and mostly sold to Brechbuhler branches as there was no dealer network. The first model of the truck scale was called the Super Low. The Super Low tried to be one of the lowest profile (height) scales on the market. B-TEK also had an electro-mechanical truck scale called the Octopus. The Octopus was NTEP’d at Kimble landfill directly across the street from B-TEK. In addition to truck scales, B-TEK fabricated all the floor scales for our branches.

• Youngstown, OH Branch begins
• Dayton, OH Branch begins
• Indianapolis, IN Branch begins
• Pittsburgh, PA Branch begins
• Bowling Green, OH Branch begins
• B-TEK begins

During the 2000s, Andy Brechbuhler began working full-time for the company. Andy started in Cleveland, Ohio, and then moved to Indiana to run our Fort Wayne operations before finally moving back to run B-TEK. It was the decade of the 2000s that we were approached by Bilanciai of Campogalliano, Italy. B-TEK and Bilanciai entered into a new joint venture in 2004. B-TEK was seeing good demand amid a growing dealer network that expanded outside of Brechbuhler Scales.

Andy & Kraig saw this demand and moved to hire outside sales reps, upgraded equipment, processes, and formed a partnership with Southwestern Scale of Phoenix, Arizona to cover the West coast. B-TEK was also beginning to produce more products. We were starting to build and ship industrial bench scales, counting scales, load cells, instrumentation, and even do some basic private labeling for other manufacturers.

• Andy Brechbuhler (4th generation owner) joins the company in Cleveland, Ohio
• VPI software created for electronic certificate management
• Rockford, IL production plant in operation
• B-TEK purchases a Pangborn shot blaster to increase scale quality
• Brechbuhler Scales begins scalesonline.com to capture the new online scale market
• B-TEK Acquires Durline Scales
• B-TEK joint venture with Bilanciai begins
• The first Centurion order was for 4 truck scales and was sold to Bayer Chemical of West Virginia
• B-TEK begins private labeling GSE scales and instrumentation
• B-TEK forms partnership with Southwestern Scale
• Dayton, OH branch undergoes expansion

In 2014 B-TEK once again expanded the facility. Due to our growing dealer network, we needed increased production capacity as well as space to store steel and finished products. It was in the 2010s where we saw customers shift from just wanting to read the weight to wanting to know what we could do with the weight. While deck thickness and beam size are still important, larger and more complex customers needed more from a manufacturer and scale distributor than the weight and printed a ticket. The industry was undergoing another dramatic shift. We were being asked to integrate into existing processes, systems, and send data to many different types of devices. Sensing another shift in customer demand, the company invested in a Systems department to position for this new need. Additionally, we changed our hiring practices as our role became less mechanical and more technical. Finally, B-TEK began fabricating and distributing test trucks and carts to Brechbuhler and its dealer network. These trucks and carts are used by scale dealers as well as the many different Weights and Measures departments across the United States.

• STI Sold
• Scalesoft Partnership
• B-TEK DD (computer-based) instrumentation is introduced
• Systems group is created
• B-TEK Expansion
• South Bend, IN Branch begins
• Brechbuhler Industrial Services begins (BIS)
• B-TEK introduces WorldWEIGH brand
• B-TEK University begins
• Brechbuhler acquires Scale Service and Sales

• Andy Brechbuhler becomes CEO
• Bowling Green branch relocates with the opening of the Dundee, MI branch
• Instrument Calibration Solutions (ICS) Joint Venture begins
• B-TEK begins using robotics
• Stainless steel shot blast booth installed