Fifty years ago, Roger Neveu started welding in his garage to support his growing family. He decided to go into industrial welding, which wasn’t as common at that time; a niche market with lots of growth potential. In the year 2000, five of Roger’s seven children bought the business, opening the next chapter. The company continued to grow, and in 2020, made the next transition to an ESOP ownership structure (Employee Stock Ownership Plan). Under this new structure, the leadership team has been growing and expanding beyond the Neveu family; very exciting!

When asked about the source of their success, Susan Rose, the VP of Finance, jumped right to their core values: Safety first, Keep customers forever, Meet the challenge, Working as a team, and Caring about family. These have been the foundation of their decisions throughout their 50 year journey. They’ve chosen a niche of small to medium-size contracts directly with customers, diversified across industries, clients, and services to spread out the risk. Susan was very proud of their apprentice program! They have their own in-house apprentice training, holding a Weld Challenge where their team members go to trade schools in MA and RH, work with the students and teachers, and test the students’ skills. Then all are invited to the Notch home office to win prizes for their work. These investments feed their apprentice programs.

Staying modern when it comes to IT has been a big challenge. There are generational changes, demands for more ‘cool stuff’ as new team members make their contributions. Leveraging IT software and hardware has been a challenging path. How to leverage IT to get more done with existing staff as they grow!

Syscon has been very helpful in this IT journey. Susan specifically highlighted Chris as an example of the ‘languages’ Syscon speaks including IT, Account, and Business, all in one package with attention to detail.

In her 12 years with Notch, Susan has moved to a more strategic leadership position. It’s been her pleasure to see new faces, working together as on a recent project. A client needed a large and detailed estimate for immediate work. These new team members burned the midnight oil to get the work done and the estimate delivered! – CMW