- The Applewood Business Park
has streets named after apples,
so you could mistake the name BAPI
for a new variety,
but the inside of BAPI's facility
looks much more like the Silicon Valley
than the Kickapoo Valley.
Ritch Stevenson is the founder.
- We're a high-tech business in a...
"low-tech market,"
uh, and-- and we do quite well.
- They do well as a global leader
in sales and manufacturing of sensors
and climate-control products.
BAPI, or Building Automation Products, Inc.,
has their technology used
in buildings on every continent.
Take a tour, and Ritch will emphasize
that BAPI jobs include
much more than what's seen on the plant floor.
- We employ all the different
career functions,
so we have accounting; we have marketing.
Manufacturing engineering,
and engineering management. [speaks to staff] Wave!
Mechanical engineering, electrical engineering.
We have drafting.
Tech support,
and, uh, professional fly fisherman.
- Mentioning the fly fisherman
isn't just trivia.
It's more of an HR strategy.
- It's a lot more quiet lifestyle
than you have in the city, but there's plenty to do.
My passion is bow hunting.
Canoe, bike, fish, hike,
bird-watch.
- The rural setting and remote location
of Gays Mills
could be seen as an impediment
for many businesses,
but BAPI makes it a selling point.
- We took being in Gays Mills
as an asset.
We're looking for talent that wants
to live in this type of environment,
which is, you know, rural America,
a good quality life,
you know, an easy commute to work.
- Wouldn't live anywhere else.
- Michael McCarthy grew up on an area chicken farm,
got an electronics degree from a nearby
tech school, and settled in at BAPI.
- It is beautiful out
when I'm driving back and forth to work.
I'm not stuck in traffic
or anything, and-- and...
just gotta watch out for deer.
- If Ritch thinks he can sell recruits
on a small-town life,
it's because it's what he values
and what he wants BAPI to play a part in preserving.
[spacey music]
- Growing up as a kid, I remember
it was a vibrant community,
and with all the small farmers in the area to support it,
it, you know, was a bustling little town.
When, uh, we saw
the small farmers shutting down,
you could also see the local businesses
closing as they were leaving,
and you could see the community constricting.
You have to hit the bottom
before you start building back up,
and I'd have to say we're right close to that right now.
- But Ritch is confident BAPI can play a role
in a revival.
- It takes effort and there is
a lot of effort to rebirth
and pioneer a new Gays Mills
and get us
back on the track of growth and prosperity
that, you know, some of the old-timers
remember from when they were kids.
♪ ♪
- And he encourages others to follow
the BAPI model.
- We have room in the business park,
if anybody wants to come. [laughs]
♪ ♪