MEMBER SPOTLIGHT FROEDGE MACHINE AND SUPPLY COMPANY
Froedge Machine and Supply Company:
An Evolution of Customer Service
W
hen you think about the machinery that sawmills use to turn logs into lumber, you probably don’t associate it with the delicate intricacies of a wristwatch. But for Froedge Machine and Supply Company, the wristwatch is part of the foundation of their company.
In 1962, Wendell Froedge opened a watch repair shop. Wendell was an energetic man and would get antsy working on tiny watches all day, stuck in one place, not being able to move around. He wanted to work on bigger things, like machining and industrial supply. And thus began Froedge Machine and Watch Repair. Wendell had a broad set of talents and a deep understanding of customer needs. When Timex watches were created, they lived
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up to their slogan “takes a lickin’ and keeps on tickin’,” plus they were cheap to purchase. As a result, fewer people needed watch repair. But that wasn’t a problem for Froedge. He had spent years cultivating relationships with nearby businesses, like Roy Anderson Lumber, which was about a mile away. Froedge started doing repair work for Roy, then expanded to creating new parts and eventually, his own machines. With that advancement came a name change, “Froedge Machine and Supply Company.” W W W. N H L A .C O M
