The "Generations"
Ralph Schmidt (Proprietor 1965-1984)
The doors of Schmidts Safety Center opened Sept. 1, 1965 at 444 N. Main St West Bend Wisconsin. A gas and service station since the 1930's had seen several businesses come and go before Ralph. Ralph never attended high school but gained his mechanical experience from working on the family farm and several repair shops throughout Wisconsin. Schmidts Safety Center specialized in tires, wheel alignments, brake and suspension service. He installed tires for many retail stores such as Western Auto, Gamble, Sears and Fleet & Farm. The tire changes often lead to other suspension repairs and wheel alignments. Ralph purchased a John Bean Visualiner for his alignments a very accurate and advanced machine for the time. We have been using John Bean Alignment machines ever since and are now on our 3rd. Ralph started and maintained his business by word of mouth advertising only. This shows that he built his business on not only quality work but honesty and integrity as well. To this very day we still service and repair vehicles for customers who started coming when Ralph ran the shop.
Roger Berth (Proprietor 1984-2005)
December 5th 1983 was a day life would change for Roger in more ways than one. It was the day his daughter was born, it was also the day he and Ralph had agreed to the sale of Schmidt's Safety Center. Roger remembers negotiating with Ralph on the phone from the hospital, while his wife, Linda was beginning labor. Linda had recently quit her job to stay home with the kids, Roger was between jobs and baby #2 was on the way (literally) in hindsight the timing could not have been better. Roger got his start at Langs Trailer Rental in Milwaukee, servicing and repairing the 120 trailers in their fleet. He also installed trailer hitches and electrical harnesses (which is something we still do at Auto Safety Center). He recalls at that time many hitches would just mount to the bumper of a vehicle, and could be installed in a matter of minutes, very different than today’s vehicles. In 1969 he took a job at the full service Mobile Gas Station on 124th and North Ave, also in Milwaukee. It is here that his automotive skills were developed. The owner of the service station would send his mechanics to every training class he could. Roger benefited from not only the training, but the high volume of vehicles they would service in a typical day. Gaining the experience he needed to start his own business. He officially closed the deal with Ralph on January 27th 1984. Immediately changing the name to Auto Safety Center, to gain a better position in the phone book as well as bring a better understanding of the type of service he did. Ralph at the time, took out a full page advertisement in the local paper to thank his customers and show support to Roger. Roger made many physical improvements to the shop over the years, but one thing he had no problem keeping was the reputation for honest and quality workmanship. His philosophy was Honesty is the best policy, and to do only what he would want if the customer's vehicle was his own. These core values are what have helped Auto Safety Center grow to what it is today.
Joe Valind (Proprietor 2005-Present)
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