For a company that is 87 years old, the Buehner Corp. should be more visible in the community, especially since two tall smokestacks serve as a landmark to Murray residents.
Buehner Corp. provides precast concrete panels for a variety of buildings and makes products that never carry the Buehner name. It is possible to walk by some of the company's work and never know it. Hence, the feeling of being rather anonymous.Although 75 percent of the company's work goes out of state, Buehner Corp. has had a dramatic impact on Utah construction by providing concrete panels for important buildings such as the LDS Church Office Building.
The Buehner name has been connected to many buildings in Utah and surrounding states although no one named Buehner is now associated with the company. In March 1990, the families of Merlin V. Fish and Scott M. Waldron purchased the company from the Buehner families.
Fish is chairman of the board and Waldron is vice chairman. Steven J. Cosper is president and chief executive officer. They are perpetuating the Buehner name for quality in concrete products and other related items but are separate from Buehner Block Co., 2800 S. West Temple.
The Buehner story began when Carl F. Buehner and his wife arrived in Salt Lake City in 1901 from Stuttgart, Germany, as converts to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. In 1905 he organized Carl Frederick Buehner, Cement Contractor and soon was into the cast-stone industry.
Sons Carl W. and Otto entered the business, which moved to Wilmington Avenue near 600 East. The production of concrete products and block was completed.
By 1935, the elder Buehner had built a thriving construction business, but his two sons convinced him they should take over the business. While they were running the business a younger brother, Paul, was attending the University of Utah.
After Paul graduated, they formed Otto Buehner Co. to produce precast concrete products, and Carl W. became president of Buehner Block Co. Their products became part of several buildings, including the LDS Temple in Idaho Falls. Most of the products were produced in Salt Lake City and shipped to the construction sites.
In 1950 the Buehners purchased the Murray site from American Smelting and Refining Co. The family leased the land to Walt Disney Co. for several years where the movie "Perri" was filmed. About 1955 the Buehners began to move their operation from Wilmington Avenue to Murray.
Fish said the company tried to pull down the 454-foot and 320-foot smokestacks on the 45-acre site, but it was too expensive and Murray residents considered them a landmark. They now have communications equipment on top and remain a part of the community.
As time passed and the company provided concrete panels for many major buildings, the Buehners upgraded their methods of production, including pre-stressing. This process involves stretching steel cable within a concrete girder before the concrete is poured. After the concrete is hard, the tension is released and the girder arcs in the center.
In the 1970s, the company's reputation was enhanced greatly by being picked to
provide the precast panels for the LDS Church Office Building that have four world maps on the corners, the Pan American Building in New York City, the Washington, D.C., and Seattle, Wash., temples and the Brigham Young University Law School Building.The company's 220 employees make the molds and pour the concrete into the molds while others operate huge machines, called drotts, to stack the finished pieces until they are shipped to the construction site.
For example, 350 large beams are being produced for Kennecott Corp.'s $840 million modernization project. Other notable projects were 2,700 pieces for construction of a hospital at Nellis Air Force Base near Las Vegas, concrete repair and remodeling work in the Joseph Smith Memorial Building (formerly the Hotel Utah) and the panels for the Bountiful Temple.
Cosper said the company purchases aggregate material from several places. The aggregate goes into the wet concrete and is jiggled to the bottom so it shows when the molds are removed. It is then sand- blasted or pressure-washed, depending on what the customer wants.
Buehner employees must follow a strict recipe for the mixture so that each panel will be the same color. It's much like a recipe for a cake.
Each piece is numbered, and when they reach the construction site they are put in place much like a huge puzzle. Fish said the company's four engineers and 12 draftsmen are responsible to design the project so everything fits.
Waldron attributes the company's success to the craftsmen. The employees who make the molds have to be especially talented because every corner and twist must be precise for a handsome finish.
Other divisions of the Buehner Corp. make structural components for bridges, commercial and industrial buildings, parking garages, arenas and sports complexes while a third division produces slabs of granite, marble, slates and limestone used as countertops, furniture, showers, fireplaces, pavers and accents.
A native of Ohio, Fish was in the coal-mining business. While he was in the investment banking business he came across the chance to purchase Buehner. Waldron is an Ogden native and a licensed general contractor and was in the coal business with Fish in western Colorado.
An Idaho native, Cosper was raised in Texas and trained as a structural engineer. He worked for a precast concrete company in Tacoma, Wash., before joining Buehner as chief engineer. When Fish and Waldron purchased the company they appointed Cosper as president.
Another key player in the Buehner operation is Thomas C. Davis, vice president for marketing and contracts administration. The Salt Lake native has been with Buehner since 1986. He left for two years and returned in 1990.
The company name might not be plastered over its products, but Buehner has the respect of its peers. In August, the company received two of the possible 15 awards from the Precast/Pre-stressed Concrete Institute during a convention in San Diego.
In the hospital category, Buehner was honored for its pre-cast concrete exterior work on the Mary Birch Women's Center at Sharpe Memorial Hospital, San Diego, and in the miscellaneous category, the company was honored for its exterior work on the Portland, Ore., LDS Temple.