From wagons to bidets — how toilet seat manufacturer Bemis is vamping up in fourth-generation ownership

SHEBOYGAN FALLS — Among the significant changes Bemis Manufacturing Company has seen during its more than century-long tenure in Sheboygan Falls, Jon Bemis, vice president of contract sales for molding services and fourth-generation family member, said three things have stayed the same.

“We're still a manufacturing company, we make stuff. We are innovative,” Bemis said. “Our whole history is dotted with trying to change things and do things better. We've always cared about our people an awful lot, and there's all kinds of stories that go back to my father, my grandfather, my uncle, my great grandfather about the commitments to people over the last 120 years.”

Last year, the toilet seat manufacturing company was recognized on the Deloitte Wisconsin 75 list for the first time among other large privately owned companies, joining the ranks of Acuity, Sargento and Kohler Co.

In its fourth generation of family leadership, Vesla Hoeschen, chairperson of the Bemis board of directors, said the Bemis family is committed to maintaining family ownership and a presence in Sheboygan County while striving for sustainability, innovation and integrity.

Family and company values guide Bemis in its decision-making, she said.

“It's not something like, ‘Let's be a flash in the pan. Let’s make a ton of money and sell,’” Hoeschen said. “It's really about this steady commitment of the owners to stay in business, to be a sustainable business.”

Hoeschen was elected as the company’s chairperson in 2021, following her father Richard Bemis, who was a longtime board chairman. She is the first female chairperson in company history.

Bemis was founded in 1901 as a wagon-maker powered by a waterwheel. It has grown its operations abroad to Europe and Mexico and workforce to more than 1,300 people.

“It (Bemis) has always been a very humble company,” Jeff Lonigro, president and CEO of Bemis, said. “One of the things we've pivoted on a little bit is we want to stay humble, but we got to get out there a little bit. There's definitely competition for talent, and also attracting and retaining talent, so we're doing a few things to be a little more visible.”

In one area, the company “ramped up” its digital marketing to grow brand recognition among potential employees and customers.

“Now, more than everm people are starting with their search on ‘Who do they want to work with? Whose products do they want to buy online?’” Lonigro said.

The company has a larger online presence, bolstered by online advertisements and video creators like Dude Dad, as mobile devices changed the consumer experience, Bemis said. This can also provide a space for education, displaying how to use the product based on specific consumer needs.

“The hardest part of toilet seat research is you cannot observe people using the product, right?” Bemis said. “If you want to design your phone to have a better user interface, you can watch them using a phone. This is a place you can't go.”

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A couple times a year, the company calls on employees to help test new toilet seats outside the restroom, gathering in the showroom and collecting feedback, like ease of use and accessibility.

Bemis has considered advertising and market research issues in the past when the company logo was underneath the rim of the toilet seat instead of underneath the lid about 15 years ago.

“We learned two interesting facts. 75% of all toilet seats are installed by men. 75% of all toilet seats are purchased by women,” Bemis said. “The women were driving the purchasing decision. And so, we said, ‘75% of our potential consumers aren't going see our logo unless they're cleaning the toilet.' So, we moved it. This is a small thing, but it's a big thing.”

Lonigro said the company is also working to share its community contributions — like monetary and volunteering support to United Way’s Day of Caring, table sponsorship at local events and partnerships with the Sheboygan Red Raiders — more publicly, too, which is a significant value to employees, shareholders and leadership.

A century of manufacturing: laminated wood seats, contract molding and more.

The move into toilet seat manufacturing came during the Great Depression, when Albert Bemis recognized to stay in business, it had to produce goods that people will always need, Bemis said.

“He bought the assets from a company that had gone bankrupt, hired a guy who was in the industry, and said, 'We're going to make toilet seats,'” Bemis said. “From that tiny, desperate Hail Mary of 'What do we do next?' now we're an innovator and a market leader and a well-recognized brand in that space.

“For me, there's so many cool things that we do, but that milestone of saying, ‘Hey, we're going to do something different. We're going to listen to what the consumer needs and we're going to stick around.’ That was a big moment,” Bemis continued.

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The company began manufacturing laminated wood toilet seats, its bread and butter, alongside sustainable practices. It recycles post-consumer wood shavings and collects wood flour for injection molding, which Hoeschen said was a “natural progression” in the 1960s.

“We had to make huge changes to the way that we made things,” Bemis said. “The way we capture air in the plant. We have to keep those shavings clean, so we have storage facilities for them and ways of handling them."

A transformative moment hit during World War II, according to Bemis, when the company “started dabbling” in plastics. The new technology was unpredictable and took off 20-some years later when production added plastic toilet seats.

The material makeup has been tinkered and tested over the years, perfected with molecular-level analysis, advanced machinery and engineering expertise. Bemis said engineers have “always been held in very high regard in our culture,” improving efficiency, costs, safety and quality.

Sustainability extends to plastics, too, recycling plastic scraps and grinding up for a second use.

Hoeschen said innovation and sustainability go hand-in-hand across production and materials, evident in all products but especially the 100% recycled plastic Greenleaf seat.

“A lot of times when plastic manufacturers manufacture raw plastic, they've got sort of the prime cut in the middle and then it has heads and tails,” Bemis said about a piece of plastic. “We do use those heads and tails because otherwise they'd get thrown away, or it would have to be reprocessed with more energy.”

Being sustainable saves the company money and reduces material consumption. Lonigro said Bemis is “on a journey" to reduce its energy, water and waste.

Persisting as an industry leader and master of plastics has broadened Bemis’ portfolio into bidet seats and specialty seats, like those for potty training and additional physical needs. It has also expanded to contract molding for various industries, like health care, construction and agriculture equipment, now the company’s second-largest division.

“The challenge that those customers bring us of, ‘Hey, make this thing that no one's ever made before. This is an exotic material. This is a very difficult geometry to mold.' — We take those learnings and we put them back into the toilet seat side of things and we learn things about material there," Bemis said.

One example he shared is ensuring its contract molding machines comply with Food and Drug Administration certification standards beyond health care production, where it is required to be certified, to make sure they “work like they expect.”

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Empowering a workforce for company longevity

To ensure longevity for perhaps another 100 years, workforce investment and development is another key component for leadership.

Bemis has a tight-knit and structured internship program for college students exploring engineering, human resources, marketing and accounting, and an apprenticeship program with Lakeshore Technical College. On top of that, employees have access to tuition reimbursement and professional development with goal-setting, coaching and individual development plans.

Employees are celebrated and recognized for their service when they reach 25 years and have opportunities to share input.

“That's one of the greatest opportunities for people to develop, is you give them a voice and you give them a seat at the table on what our plans are and how are we going to win or lose, and you give them a little bit of ability to take some risks and chances,” Lonigro said.

Looking forward, Hoeschen said it's difficult to pinpoint where Bemis will be.

“I think the driving factors when we're living our values means that it's going to be a sustainable company, a place that's good to work for, hopefully still here with the presence in Sheboygan County because we've got deep roots here and we want to keep them here,” she said.

Hoeschen said, “Do we know what products we're going to be making? No. Would we have traced a straight line between a wagon and a bidet? That's a tough line to draw. It's going to be that focus on innovation. So, predicting where we're going to end up, we're not really sure, but we know that we want to still be here.”

Contact Alex Garner at 224-374-2332 or agarner@gannett.com. Follow her on X (formerly Twitter) at @alexx_garner.

This article originally appeared on Sheboygan Press: Bemis building name recognition, attracting workers in Sheboygan Falls