“Thank you for your commitment thank you for your staying here in the city,” said Councilman Tim Naab. “Certainly, there are choices in today’s business climate and there have been for the last number of years. The new facility, the forward-thinking of your company, and the contributions back to our communities have been amazing.”
The brothers retire on the heels of opening a new building as part of the company’s expansion, which was 100 years after their great-grandfather opened the original building in 1922.
“We’re going to end this year with our best year ever, in the history of the company in the top line and the bottom line,” said Steve Lippert. “And it’s due to our people, and we’ve got about 100 employees and we’ve got great teams, and a lot of credit goes to Dave in assembling a lot of his initiative.”
Steve Lippert had overseen and guided every patent application for proprietary innovations submitted by the company, which Mayor Pat Moeller found “fascinating.”
“I find that so fascinating, that we have patents coming out of businesses in our city and you helped guide those patents,” said the mayor. “I feel like we’re losing Batman and Superman of manufacturing, we’re missing the big folks here.”
While they are leaving the helm of their family business, they aren’t leaving the community. Between the two, they are involved with more than a dozen boards and organizations.
“When you think about the civic involvement of your business leaders, that’s all you can ever hope is for a community to have that,” said City Manager Joshua Smith. “I was thinking about the history of Hamilton and the companies that built this community ... and here you are 100 years later, building a new building when a lot of those names have just left and only remain in the history books.”
Moeller highlighted some of the Lippert brothers’ accomplishments while at Hamilton Caster, including both having transformed the company’s culture “by deemphasizing hierarchy and directives, and encouraging all employees, regardless of their level or title, to listen and speak up, offer ideas and input, and to now they can make a difference to both the process and the outcome of their work.”
Dave Lippert was awarded the 2022 Norman L. Cahners Award by the Material Handling Institute for “extraordinary contributions” to the material handling industry throughout his career.
Dave Lippert said it’s easy to work and stay in the city of Hamilton, especially with today’s administrative team.
“One of the things I love about Hamilton ― and there’s lots of them ― I know I don’t live in Hamilton but I spend all my waking hours here, and ... when we started the project, if you have any trouble with anybody in the whole process in the city of Hamilton, come to me. They never had to.”
About the Author
