Published: May 03, 2008 11:42 pm         

Enid company is turning 80 years old

A little company in Enid is about to turn 80 years old.

A.W. Brueggemann Co. Inc. has manufactured bronze and steel-backed babbitt bearings since 1928.

Art Brueggemann, originally from Covington, started the company after working for Franks Machine Shop in Enid in 1928. Today, his grandchildren, Geoffrey Brueggemann and Jennefer Branch, are the third generation to operate the family owned business. They plan a birthday celebration in July.

The company sells industrial tools and manufactures babbitted bearings. Art Brueggemann focused his business on the oil field and automobile repair. Today, the oil industry is a major customer for the company, which manufactures connecting rod bearings to fit on oil field engine crankshafts to protect the shafts.

Babbitt is an alloy used to provide the bearing surface in a plain bearing. Composition for babbitt alloys is varying percentages of tin, copper or lead to reduce wear.

“We are still manufacturing some of the same type bearings that Art was making in 1948,” Branch said. Geoff Brueggemann is a civil and structural engineer with his own business next door. Branch is president of the company.

Brueggemann experienced some tough times in the 1980s and early 1990s and again in 1999, rebounding for its best year ever in 2000.

Geoff Brueggemann started working in the building sweeping floors in junior high school and continued to work there until he graduated high school and left home to attend college. He left the business when he ob-tained his engineering degree. Branch also was gone until 1970 when her father and mother both became ill.

Older brother Mike Brueggemann worked in the business more than 40 years.

What is the secret to surviving 80 years in business?

“Cash and carry,” Branch said. “We didn’t buy anything we didn’t have the money for. My grandfather and father were very frugal.”

She developed the same habits in business; however, she said the company also tries to maintain a high level of quality in its work and a reputation for taking care of its customers.

In the supply store, they are known for having items no one else carries, she said.

Their father, Warren Brueggemann, had an engineering degree from Oklahoma State University and designed and built some of the equipment they still use in the shop.

“He was a smart man,” she said.