Growing in a market that has not grown in 10 years is a feat Thomas C. Fredrick Sr. is happy to have under his belt.
Fredrick, who serves as president of Western Explosives Systems Co. (WESCO) of Salt Lake City, started his company in 1991, and it has grown 51.3 percent annually since its beginning, thus stealing away business from the competition.
However, a successful business is no surprise for this entrepreneur who has worked in the explosives business since 1968.
He began his career working for Ireco Chemicals, a Salt Lake industrial explosives company that was founded in the late 1950s.
The company grew rapidly and took Fredrick along for the ride. He played an important role in the expansion of Ireco into the Midwestern and Eastern U.S. markets.
By 1978, he was in charge of Ireco's subsidiary company in Canada and later that year became the company's vice president in charge of operations in more than 35 countries.
In 1979, Fredrick also helped start Mining Services International and served as vice president of marketing with MSI until 1987.
WESCO distributes and manufactures a full line of explosives products and provides associated services to the mining, quarrying and construction industry.
It was formed by Fredrick to serve as a distributor for Ireco, which changed its name in 1997 to Dyno Nobel Inc. and is now one of the two major explosives companies in the world.
WESCO, owned 50 percent by Dyno Nobel and 50 percent by Fredrick, also distributes for other explosives companies that provide products that Dyno Nobel doesn't make.
In the future, WESCO plans to expand business in the quarry market, as well as build an explosives packaging plant in Gallup, N.M.
Fredrick also encourages his employees to go after their entrepreneurial goals, his three sons included, who currently work for WESCO and are being trained to take WESCO into the future.