Busche-CNC: About Us

About Us

Busche is a Quality CNC Machining organization conceived and developed by the Busche brothers Nick and Jerry. Both brothers with strong histories of machining created Hi-Tech Corporation in 1989 operating out of an existing pole barn on their father's farm just outside of Albion. This successful venture was sold to Citation Corporation in 1996. After growing the company to a $7 million organization, which still operates in Albion. In the late nineties each brother felt the need to develop businesses as entrepreneurs rather than employees and each struck out on his own - Nick A. Busche creating Busche Enterprise which specialized in high to medium volume production work catering to the durable goods industry, and Jerry A. Busche created E.T.I., Engineered Tooling, which specialized in Tool & Die along with fabrication work.

In 1997 both businesses were occupying the same downtown location in Albion. As sales spiraled for both organizations additional floor space was required. Jerry moved his fabrication work to the outskirts of Albion in 1998. After the addition of 5,000 sq ft at the new location, Jerry completed his move to 1946 E. State Road 8. In March 1999, Nick acquired 39,000 square feet of additional space with the purchase of Plant II, or the old Albion Wire facility located at 1515 State Road 8 east of Albion.

Workholding Final Assembly Area

Realizing the significance of providing their customers with additional services, Engineered Tooling Division became a part of the Busche Organization in 1999. This merger allowed Nick and Jerry to offer their customers additional services and benefits. Jerry could now offer high volume production machining and Nick now had a reliable source for proto-type, reverse-engineering, tooling and gauging, fabrication work or engineering assistance. Nick and Jerry both had an answer and solution to most machining needs required by their customers.

The Busche's anticipated doubling their growth in 1999 with an expected shipped sales of $4 million and reaching for $12 million by the end of year 2000. Working with three Divisions of Dana, Bosch Braking Systems, Tower Automotive, Cooper Standard, SPX and BASF just to name a few, required additional production space. In November of 1999, Busche Enterprise announced the purchase of its third facility when Autojectors moved their operations out of Albion. This Plant at 1563 E State Road 8 in Albion, would become the Corporate office and Plant 3 production operations. Engineered Tooling also continuing to expand their services purchased Plant IV in 2000, the old Precision Plastics building in Albion's East Side Industrial Park. An additional 10 acres adjoining the Plant IV location was purchased in 2002 with expectations of expanding this facility further.

Newly Renovated - Busche Plant 6

In the summer of 2002, "Busche" also announced the purchase of the Receiving Warehouse East of Albion at State Road 8 complex. Plant 5 located in the same complex, was also purchased, when International Wire consolidated it operations. Plant 5 was needed to handle the new automotive business arriving from Paulstra CRC, SPX Contech, Metal Forge and International Truck and Engine Corporation for 2002.

Nick and Jerry's entrepreneurial spirit and vision did not go unnoticed. In July 2002, Nick & Jerry were honored as Finalists for the Ernst & Young Northern Indiana Entrepreneur of the year. As Ron Kaufman, Managing Partner for Ernst & Young stated, "Most people think "yesterday", some people think "today", but, as you will see entrepreneurs think "tomorrow."

The Albion Chamber of Commerce also recognized "Busche" in January of 2003 for its "extraordinary efforts in the creation of employment opportunities in the Albion Community." Nick and Jerry's foresight and vision for tomorrow continuing to bring new opportunities for Busche employees and the Albion community. Busche's market base continued to expand to including John Deere, Caterpillar, American Showa, Delco Remy, Honeywell, Tenneco, Hayes Lemmerz, Gunite, Navistar, U.S. Mfg. and other national and international organizations. With an estimated shipped sales at $39 million for year ending 2003, the Busche's once again expanded with the purchase of Plant 6, located at 1514 Progress Drive in Albion. This immediately added an additional 20,000 square feet and ground was quickly broken to add an additional 39,200 square feet to this facility to meet the needs of new high volume production work.
In 2004 Busche purchased a 58,500 square ft production facility from International Wire in neighboring Kendallville at 811 Commerce Drive adding primary operations such as turning and blanking. With shipped sales reaching $48.8 Million by the end of 2004 and employment levels well over 500, Busche committed to the training of their workforce by purchasing a 3,600 square foot facility completely dedicated to the training of Busche Employees.

By the end of 2005 shipped sales had reach $53.3 Million, and as a marketing move ETD changed names to Busche Workholding Busche was also honored to add Caterpillar as a new direct customer. In 2006 Busche purchased the Busche Distribution/ Warehouse site at 1105 Weber Road, Albion for an addition storage capacity of 27,500 square feet. A 3,200 sq. foot MRO/Stores building was completed in 2006 that centralized the storage and regrinding of production tooling at the main campus on State Rd 8 in Albion.

Nick A. Busche, CEO/President receives Caterpillar's Supplier Quality Excellence Award in 2007.

In 2007 Busche was honored to be awarded Caterpillar's MQ11005 Bronze Supplier Quality Excellence Award after successfully launching $12 million of new work machining castings. At this time Busche has become the only machining facility to handle diesel engine bearing cap machining for the Caterpillar organization globally. In 2008 Busche strived for silver in Caterpillar's Supplier Quality Excellence Program and was awarded this prestigious honor in December, 2008. Globally, Busche is one of only seven machining facilities in the world to be certified with a silver rating.

By the end of 2008 Busche's shipped sales climbed to $58 Million, and with new launches lined up for 2009 Busche moves forward optimistically. &qoute;Busche looks forward to a challenging and rewarding future, working to serve and accommodate the needs of our customers and bringing new opportunities to the community of Albion.&qoute; In May of 2010, Jerry Busche made the decision to pursue other interests and resigned his position at BUSCHE.

Please refer to the Tab button on the left side to take you to "What's New" for the continuing events regarding the BUSCHE organization.