Matthew Peterson is the new owner of B & D Metal Works, located south of Wells.

After over 25 years in business, B & D Metal Works, Inc. has a new owner, Matthew Peterson of Albert Lea.

Brett and Dynette Niebuhr established B & D Metal Works in 1997 on Highway 22 south of Wells.

“Brett was ready to retire and owning B & D is a good fit for me,” Peterson, who also owns Olson Manufacturing, in Albert Lea, says.

Peterson purchased Olson Manufacturing last December from Wayne and Deb Soost. Dynette and Deb just happen to be sisters.

“The two businesses have been linked for years,” Peterson explains. “B & D is Olson Manufacturing’s biggest supplier and Olson Manufacturing is B & D’s biggest customer.”

Olson Manufacturing is a global company which has been in business for 100 years, according to Peterson.

“We make industrial pumps which are used to pump waste water, sludge, edible products along with other specialty pumps,” Peterson comments.

Peterson shares that one of the challenges he has faced since buying B & D is the fear people have of change or moving the business to Albert Lea.

“I understand why people get worried but we are not going anywhere,” Peterson says. “First of all, our location in Albert Lea has no room to grow. We are actually looking at how we can add more capabilities and workers to our site here in Wells.”

Peterson, who describes himself as an entrepreneur at heart, grew up on a farm outside of Clarks Grove and attended the University of Iowa where he obtained a degree in economics.

“My father was always an adapter of new technology,” Peterson says. “Back in 1996, when Case-IH came out with their Advanced Farming Systems, which used precision farming techniques, Dad wanted to incorporate the technology into our operation and I am the one who was responsible for making it work.”

That led to Case-IH offering Peterson a job conducting a marketing tour for the company.

The new job led to him moving to Chicago. He eventually ended up working in the engineering department where his responsibility was to keep six prototype machines operating in North Dakota.

He would go on to work two years for a group of four Case-IH dealers in Minnesota and then for a company called American Exporters.

“My job there was to help Minnesota companies be able to export their products overseas,” Peterson says. “It involved a lot of travel and took me to places like Australia, Italy and many countries in the Middle East. One of the products I was helping market was beach cleaning equipment.”

The last job he held before becoming the owner of Olson Manufacturing was working for Tyco Electronics, now known as TE Connectivity.

“I worked there for 21 years and 11 months,” Peterson notes. “It is a technology company that designs and manufactures connectors and sensors for several industries, such as automotive, industrial equipment, data communication systems, aerospace, defense, medical, oil and gas and consumer electronics and energy.”

His various jobs led him to travel to more countries than states.

“I’ve been to 32-35 countries but not that many states,” Peterson mentions. “I’ve flown something like 780,000 miles.”

But, he says, all of that experience helped pave the way for what he is doing now.

“Our goal here isn’t necessarily to run a contract manufacturing shop,” he says. “There are so many places that need help with repairs, and not just farmers, there are other businesses we do quite a bit of work for.”

In addition to providing repair work, Peterson says B & D also carries steel, nuts and bolts, and welding supplies for people doing their own work.

“We can also repair hydraulic hose and have a large supply of hydraulic fittings on hand to help with repairs,” he offers. “B & D also manufactures tool bars for strip-tillage and other uses.”

One of the things Peterson has been working on is getting to know his customers.

“I want them to feel comfortable that we are here to stay and that we are here to meet their (the customers’) expectations,” he says. “We want to treat everybody with respect and treat people right.”

He adds he is thankful his office manager, Mary Orbell, has remained with the company.

“She knows the people and knows what is going on,” he adds. “She has been here the last seven years.”

Peterson, and his wife Aimee, have three children.

“Aimee is a nurse in the Albert Lea School District,” he comments. “Andrew farms and is also working here at B & D. Austin is in college in the Twin Cities and Kate is still in high school.”

Peterson talks about his other goals for the company.

“I want to expand our capabilities so some things can be done automatically which will free up the workers to do other jobs for our customers,” Peterson concludes. “We want to take all of the values Brett had and continue to go forward with them.”