Expanded Solutions

Each year, Oklahoma Governor Brad Henry bestows awards on manufacturers to recognize them for setting standards in Oklahoma and in the nation. Each of the award-winning companies must be progressive, forward-thinking and willing to adapt to change to become more successful in their marketplace. They represent the enormous potential available in Oklahoma and take a leadership role in promoting the importance of doing business in and from our state. An awards committee made up of manufacturing professionals selects the winners from a long list of nominees. Often the manufacturer is cited for some specific or significant impacts.

Awards Criteria:

- Is considered a benchmark example of the potential available to Oklahoma manufacturers.

- Is progressive, forward-thinking and willing to adapt and change to become more successful in their marketplace.

- Well represents Oklahoma and the manufacturing industry. The company should be represented by an articulate spokesman who can talk about the advantages of doing business in and from Oklahoma. The manufacturing facilities should be neat in appearance.

- Is a manufacturer with which The Alliance/ODOC/OCAST or other state agencies have had significant impacts, i.e. bottom-line, job increases, or something technically specific.

2008 Award Winners:

Cherokee Nation Industries in Stilwell

Cookshack in Ponca City

VE Enterprises in Springer

Pelco Products in Edmond

Expanded Solutions in Wewoka and Oklahoma City

Expanded Solutions was formed in 2002 with the purchase of Acker Industries by Carol and Rick Bahner. For more than 50 years the company has provided quality expanded metals, security mesh & micro-mesh and expanded grating. Expanded Solutions continues the tradition of excellence established by Eric Acker when he founded the company in 1956.

The company makes expanded metal mesh and grating for a plethora of uses. The products are manufactured from carbon, galvanized and stainless steel, aluminum, copper and other metals. Mesh sizes range from three-thousandth-of-an-inch silver for high-tech battery applications to quarter-inch steel and aluminum used for catwalks. Small-mesh products are produced in Oklahoma City. The larger products are manufactured in Wewoka where residents swear the ground shakes all over town when the giant presses are running.

While operations like this are relatively dangerous, Expanded Solutions has made safety its No. 1 priority. Manufacturing extension agent Bob Carter helped guide Expanded Solutions through the process that led the company to qualify for the Department of Labor’s SHARP program. The SHARP certification exempts Expanded Solution from programmed OSHA inspections, but it’s far more important than that. “Our employees are Expanded Solutions’ biggest asset.  This is a reflection of safe and reliable working conditions which we are striving to establish,” says Rick Bahner.  This is manifested in reduced employee turnover and lower Workers’ Compensation rates.

Assistance from manufacturing extension agent Clarence Prevost along with OSU applications engineers Doug Enns and Rajesh Krishnamurthy is making the output more efficient through better machine design and fabrication improvements. Modifications have led to hundreds of thousands of dollars in gained production time.

Owner Rick Bahner says, “We are always looking to invest in the future of our business while continuing the traditions of innovation and excellence established over the past 50 years.”  Carol Bahner adds, “Building a competitive and quality company and a better, safer place for Oklahomans to work has been a priority for us.  The assistance provided by The Alliance and its Associates has made these much more achievable.”