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'It was pretty wild': how a Menomonee Falls small business raced to get signs made for RNC

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A small Menomonee Falls company pulled together to get a major order finished for the Republican National Convention just in time.

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Burton & Mayer wrokers Chris Wiczek (left), Kathy Dillett (center) and Liam Connolly (right) hold the signs they made for the Republican National Convention.

Kathy Dillett is the print communications specialist at Burton & Mayer. The printing company has around 50 employees.

Watch: How a Menomonee Falls small business raced to get signs made for RNC

Small Menomonee Falls company bands together to get signs made for RNC

“We are out in our plant,” said Kathy showing around the TMJ4 crew. “We do such a wide variety of things here.”

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Kathy Dillett is the print communications specialist at Burton & Mayer. She stands in the plant surrounded by signs they made for the RNC.

The week before the RNC they got a small order to do booklets for the convention. Dillett says they were doing that order when they got a call asking, ‘Could they make 72,000 signs for the RNC in 72 hours?'

Dillett says she said yes, but then the race was on to make it happen.

“Did you have the paper?” asked reporter Rebecca Klopf.

“No, we had to order the paper right then and there,” said Dillett.

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A worker at Burton & Mayer moves booklets from the cutter.

On top of that, they needed to figure out the ink. They had to get a very specific color.

"We did it. We matched it,” said Dillett.

Then it took running the plant on double shifts for two days to get all these signs done before the RNC. But right as the workers were celebrating, they got another call that they say was even crazier.

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Plant manager Chris Wiczek moves some of the signs he helped to get boxed up for the RNC.

"It was pretty wild, all this stuff came through and JD Vance was announced as the VP and they had new signs that needed to be there in 24 hours,” said Liam Connolly, warehouse manager for Burton & Mayer.

That turned plant manager Chris Wiczek into a boxer, packing all the signs.

“When you have a timeline that that's tight, that is the way it has to be,” said Wiczek.

After all the signs were boxed and ready, the truck drivers had already left for the day. So, Connolly turned into a driver and got the signs to the Fiserv Forum.

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Liam Connolly, warehouse manager for Burton & Mayer, drove the signs to the Fiserv Forum.

“You almost didn't make it in?” asked Klopf.

“High security, it was definitely an experience and they have it locked down pretty well,” said Connolly.

He got through security with only an hour to spare before the signs needed to be on the floor, but they did and the workers say they couldn't have been prouder.

“Without any one group of people here, it could have never happened, but I was the final step in it,” said Connolly.

Dillett says even though they are just catching their breath from the RNC, they did sign up to be a Democratic National convention vendor. They are hoping to do it all again for the DNC.


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