Team Insight

CARRON NET IS CELEBRATING ITS 90TH ANNIVERSARY IN 2024. A LOOK BACK AND A LOOK AHEAD. BY MICHAEL JACOBSEN HISTORY CARRON NET A HISTORY OF NET WORK T h ere aren't a lot of second- or third-generation companies in any industry, but the team sports business is blessed by the fourth-generation of one of its key suppliers. And this year Carron Net, still a family-owned business since being formed in 1934, is celebrating its 90th year in business. To get the inside story on how the company has survived – and indeed, thrived – all these years, Team Insight caught up with Bill Kiel, the great grandson of Ed Carron and Errina Carron, the first-generation founders of the company, and current CEO of the net manufacturer. In the beginning … "Carron Net began as what we would describe today as a home-based business making nets for the local commercial fishermen here on the shore of Lake Michigan in Two Rivers, WI." e first team sale … "e company got into the sporting goods business by sending out a postcard offering basketball nets for sale. e first order, for one net, was placed by Coach WC Schultz of Delavan High School in Delavan, WI, and the postmark on the card, September 24, 1934, is the date we have always marked as the start of our company as a commercial business." Carron Net in 2024 … "Carron is a leading producer of high-quality nets for sports and material handling safety. We still manufacture nearly every net we sell right here in our factory in Two Rivers, WI. And much of the work we do in both sectors is custom, meaning we can provide nets that are manufactured to our customers' exact specifications in the time frame they need them." One pandemic, two markets … "Sporting goods and industrial nets are two very diverse and divergent markets, something that really benefited us during the recent pandemic experience. As we all well know, sports in the United States were, for all intents and purposes, cancelled. Had that been all we do, we might not have survived it. Fortunately for us, the pandemic caused explosive growth in demand for warehouse and distribution center capacity and that's where our industrial netting products are most oen used. As such we were able to keep working at full force through the pandemic and have continued to prosper with the return to normalcy in this market since." Four generations … "We have always had a strong connection to our customers, our employees and the community of Two Rivers. My father and his partners, the third-generation owners of the busi- ness, were contemplating retirement 25 years ago and at that time, there was no one from the next generation active in the business. 28 • Team Insight ~ May/June 2024 teaminsightmag.com Then and now: The production team in the 1940s and today. Opposite page: Bill Kiel and the fifth generation, Kellyn.

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