ENID – Two years ago, Randy Breitenkamp was attempting to get a business started to manufacture fence fork clips.
A friend, Jimmy Snow, had developed a fence clip designed to attach wire to T-posts faster and with no twisting or reaching through the fence, which often results in cut hands or torn clothing.
“He (Snow) showed the fence clips to me and asked me if I thought it would work,” Breitenkamp said. “I told him I thought it would work and he asked me to take it on.”
So a new business – Fence Solutions Inc. – was created with Breitenkamp and Snow as owners. But help was needed, so Breitenkamp started working with the Oklahoma State University New Product Development Center and the Oklahoma Manufacturing Alliance.
“OSU provided testing for us and came up with a working model,” he said.
Johnny Thornburgh, manufacturing extension agent with the Oklahoma Manufacturing Alliance, introduced Breitenkamp to the James W. Strate Center for Business Development at Autry Technology Center, which had just opened a business incubator.
Fence Solutions moved into the business incubator in Enid and started manufacturing the fence clips. That was a year and a half ago and Fence Solutions now has products in more than 300 stores.
To develop the company, Breitenkamp said he worked with Phillip Gillham, self-employment coordinator, at the Center for Business Development.
“We put together a business plan and worked on the plan for more than a month,” Breitenkamp said. “You have to be sure the business will be viable before you get into manufacturing.”
Fence Solutions makes three related fencing products – Fence Fork Clip; Fence Fork, a tool for installing the clips; and Quick Brace, a patented system fence bracing.
Fence Fork Clips are made by Fence Solutions at the business incubator. Quick Brace and Fence Fork are manufactured by companies in Newkirk – K&C Manufacturing and Imperial Plastics. Imperial makes the plastic handles for the forks and sends them to K&C, where the handles are attached to the fork.
Thornburg helped connect Breitenkamp with the two manufacturing companies.
Fence Solutions has offices and 1,400 square feet of manufacturing space at the business incubator at Autry Technology Center. Fence clips are made from rolls of wire from Southwestern Wire in Norman. A 1,600-pound roll of iron will yield 80,000 to 90,000 fence clips, Breitenkamp said.
A bag of 100 clips in a retail store normally sells for $6, or 6 cents per clip. Fence Forks sell for $15.
Fence clips are made on two machines at the business incubator with each machine capable of making 4,400 clips per hour.
“We are in 300 stores and ship the fence clips all over the country,” Breitenkamp said. “This has all happened in a year and a half.”
Fence Solutions keeps approximately 1 million clips in inventory.
“When we started I wanted to keep 300,000 clips in inventory but now I am not even comfortable with 1 million in inventory,” he said.
Ease of installation and speed are selling points.
The fence clips are about five times faster to install than most old-style clips, Breitenkamp said.
“It’s a lot more user-friendly for the older producers and for women that don’t have the strength in their hands,” he said.
The clips have been popular on family farms.
“The husband will often string the posts and the wife will come behind him and put on the clips,” Thornburg said.
Breitenkamp had some experience with fencing before he and Snow started Fence Solutions. He was a cattle buyer for more than 20 years and a cattleman.
“At one time I ran over 2,000 head myself,” the Enid native said.
Fence Solutions is one of five tenants at the Autry Technology Center’s business incubator, which opened in May 2008, said Brian Gaddy, center coordinator. One tenant has already graduated from the center.
One of the other current tenants, Aerosock, will graduate from the incubator soon, Gaddy said. Aerosock makes windsocks for airports, the energy industry, emergency medical transportation and government agencies.
An eight-member committee reviews applicants for space in the incubator. Applicant requirements include a business plan.
The Center for Business Development also operates a Business Development Academy.
Entrepreneurs in the Business Development Academy are not in the incubator but can still access some of the Center for Business Development’s services, Gaddy said.
“Our whole goal is to help small businesses any way we can,” he said.