The Man Who Stretched · 2004. 7. 14. · complete range of instruments and acces-sories to the construction supply market. Production of the Berger line was moved to Watseka. (Another

TThe history of surveyors’ measuring devicesstretches back thousands of years, evolving fromropes to wooden poles to metal chains andtapes. As the tools of the land measurers grewmore sophisticated, so, too, did the technologyand the production facilities in which they were

made. When Dennis Nardoni of CST/Berger announced thesale of his company to The Stanley Works in January 2004,another chapter of “measurement” history was written.

Technology from Two ContinentsThe chapter begins in the 1840s with the work of several skilledtradesmen and businessmen on separate continents. The paral-leled accomplishments of C.L Berger of Germany, FrederickTrent Stanley of Connecticut, Daniel Wheeler & L.A. Nichols ofMassachusetts, and Levi Sawyer of Chicago would eventuallyintersect some 160 years down the road.

Christian Louis Berger was born in Stuttgart, Germany in1842, a descendant of a family that made arms and armor for theroyals of Württemberg. At the age of 14 he began a ten-yearapprenticeship with various European manufacturers of precisioninstruments, including F.W. Breithaupt & Sons of Cassell,Germany. In 1866 he emigrated to the United States and eventu-ally established the instrument manufacturing firm of C.L. Berger& Sons in Roxbury, Massachusetts. The popular Berger instru-ments were widely sold, and were used to build the PanamaCanal, Grand Coulee and Boulder dams, and the Golden GateBridge.

While C.L. Berger was growing up in Germany, an innova-tive businessman named Frederick Trent Stanley established afoundry in New Britain, Connecticut in 1843 to produce boltsand other hardware from wrought iron. The bolt “manufacto-ry” eventually grew to become the company that is widelyknown today—The Stanley Works.

Not long after Stanley’s Bolt Manufactory was established,Daniel M. Wheeler was born in 1846 in Rutland,Massachusetts. Wheeler became a civil engineer whose firm

designed bridges and railroads. While working on a surveyteam, Wheeler fashioned an experimental measuring tape fromthe steel ribbon used to make hoopskirt wire. Joining the surveyteam as a leveler was L.A. Nichols, a graduate of MassachusettsAgricultural College, who became head of the survey party in1871. Nichols recognized the superiority of the steel tapes, andunder Wheeler’s instruction, produced more of them and soldthem to other engineers. The popularity of the tapes grew, andin the late 1800s, a company was formed in Chicago to producethem. Thus was the beginning of Chicago Steel Tape (CST).

A man by the name of Levi Sawyer purchased CST in 1903. In1941 Sawyer’s son Charles, an attorney, took over the companyafter the sudden death of his father. Charles had a daughter namedClaire, who at age 17 married her high school sweetheart, DennisNardoni, who was one year older. In 1963 Charles Sawyerbrought his son-in-law on board to work for the company.

The lists on pages 18-19 show the early product line-up, costsfor the manufacturing of chaining pin sets, and various yearlyrevenues. CST later added range poles and Chicago-style leveling rods to its product mix. It wasn’t long before Nardonibecame the plant manager. At the time, half of CST’s production went to the Frederick Post Company, and EugeneDietzgen was the main competitor.

In 1969, at age 26, Nardoni bought CST from the estate ofCharles Sawyer. There were 26 employees in all, with eightwho worked 11-hour days and a half day on Saturday in orderto keep up the production of CST’s main product: handmadebabbitt chains. An 18-month development process was startedthat resulted in the world’s first—and only remaining—babbittchain machine (see images on page 20-21). (Today, Nardonisays they only crank the machine up occasionally, but still havebuyers within such groups as the USGS and the Corps ofEngineers. He says that some users deal with muddy conditionsand since they can’t see the numbers on the chain, want to beable to “feel the feet” as the chain passes through their fingers.)Because no new products had been added in many years, afteran evaluation of the market, they began adding products.

The Man Who StretchedChicago Steel TapeAround the World>> By Marc S. Cheves, LS

Displayed with permission • The American Surveyor • July-August • Copyright 2004 Cheves Media • www.TheAmericanSurveyor.com

http://www.theamericansurveyor.com

Dennis Nardoni in 1993

Top: Early-day home of CST inChicago.

Bottom: Original inventorypages that list CST’s productline-up and costs for makingsets of chaining pins.



The 70s and 80sGrowth came steadily, and CST quicklyoutgrew its facility in South Chicago. In1973 they moved 100 miles to its presentlocation in Watseka, Illinois, which offered avery good labor market. As CST continuedto diversify, it began importing Japanesetripods in 1974. But Nardoni realized thatimporting products required the company tokeep an inventory that didn’t necessarilymeet with demand. So, in 1976, CST beganmanufacturing its own aluminum and wood-en tripods.

When Nardoni approached a major mag-netic locator company in 1983 with somesuggestions about how it could improve itsproduct and become a major distributor, hewas rather surprised by the negativeresponse he received. Nardoni creativelyresponded by purchasing magnetometertechnology from a West Coast company,United Scientific. Thus was born CST’sline of MagnaTrak locators. Two otherimportant acquisitions were also made in1983. First, CST acquired McHenrySystems of California for its prism glassmanufacturing capability, followed by a pre-mier machine shop, Watts Tool Product ofFlorida, which was moved to Watseka.

A vital key to the success of CST wasbuilding a talented team. In 1985, Ash

Dennis Nardoni showcases several CSTand Stanley products.

Top: 1974—CST first imports JapanesetripodsLeft: Various pages showing yearly CSTrevenues. Note decrease duringDepression, and increase after WWII.



Puri, a recent MBA graduate, was hiredto develop CST’s export business andassist Nardoni with product management,and that he did. Exports currentlyaccount for between 20 and 30 percent ofCST’s business and the product line hasgrown sixfold. Today, Puri is Presidentand Chief Operating Officer. Another keyhire was David White in 1983. White (norelation to the company of the samename), is in charge of sales.

The 90s: Past Meets PresentWhen the company outgrew its facilitiesin the 1990s, they purchased anotherbuilding in Bradley, Illinois. That facilitynow houses CST’s primary machine shopas well as its plastic injection moldingdepartment. Turned and milled metalcomponents, screw machine components,and injection molded components aremanufactured there, all of which are uti-lized in the manufacturing and assemblyoperations in the Watseka facility. TheBradley facility also handles R&D andengineering for all of CST’s divisions.

In 1993, CST purchased Triad Industriesof Redding, California for its GPS back-pack, GPS antenna, and other ancillary sur-veying equipment line. This capability hassince been moved to Watseka. In 1994,CST Germany was formed as a Europeandistributor of CST products. In 1995, CSTforged an agreement with a Chinese com-pany for the manufacture of labor-intensiveoptical and laser instruments, as well as anagreement with a company in India to man-ufacture leveling rods, tripods and measur-ing wheels.

Here’s where the legacies of Berger,Stanley, Wheeler, Nichols, and Sawyerintersect. In 1995, CST bought theremaining portion of C.L. Berger & Sons,which had struggled to keep pace withthe flood of electronic and less expensiveforeign-made instruments that came onthe market after WWII (as much as halfof Berger’s production had been for Sears& Roebuck). The acquisition satisfied oneof Nardoni’s original goals: to market a complete range of instruments and acces-sories to the construction supply market.Production of the Berger line was movedto Watseka. (Another interesting sidebar in the CST story involves the rescue of several dividing engines that were rusting away at the Berger factory inMassachusetts. Nardoni donated one toMIT, another to the Smithsonian, andtwo—a circular and a linear—were donatedto the Museum of Surveying in Lansing.At the same time, Berger’s extensive



records for the thousands of instrumentsit had sold were scanned and placed onCDs for posterity).

In 1996, CST entered the laser level-ing market with its LaserMark line. A keyacquisition came in 1998 when CST pur-chased 50 percent ownership of LaserAlignment in Grand Rapids, Michigan.The company, with 350 employees, wasclose to bankruptcy, but along with theacquisition came key patents for compen-sator technology. In 2001, after rapidlyreturning Laser Alignment to profitability,Nardoni sold his interest to LeicaGeosystems. Also in 1999, CST of Italywas formed to handle distribution in thatpart of Europe.

The final acquisition took place in 2002when CST purchased the bankruptDavid White Company, known mostlyfor its do-it-yourself and professionalbuilder instruments. Diversification inproducts, target markets and geographicmarkets has made the company virtuallyrecession-proof. Nardoni also creditsCST’s ability to control its own destinyby scheduling its manufactured productmix on a monthly basis to keep invento-ries low without compromising on its ability to deliver. Complicating this is thefact that many different versions of thesame product are manufactured, therebymaking forecasting difficult.

CST/Berger currently has 300 employ-ees. With the construction industrystrong, 2003 was their best year ever—aquantum change from the $250,000 insales when Nardoni bought the companyin 1969. Up until last year, CST opera-tions were housed in four separate build-ings—totaling 100,000 square feet—inWatseka. Last year they consolidated theoperations into one giant 180,000 squarefoot building, finally bringing everythingunder one roof. Nardoni recently donatedone of the former buildings—containing36,000 square feet—to the IroquoisCounty Mental Health Board.

An International Network A quick glance at the company timeline demonstrates Nardoni’s vision tovertically integrate his company toenable growth, and to expand the prod-uct line to appeal to a broader base ofcustomers. CST/Berger now has morethan 2,000 dealers in 60 countries.Prior to 1975, CST never directlycalled on the dealers. To create the

Babbitt chain machine



network, it had to gain dealer confi-dence, and it did so by marketingdirectly to DOTs. This got the atten-tion of the dealers—and resulted in thebeginning of the dealer network expan-sion—but CST still had to comethrough with quality products, correctpricing and on-time delivery. Utilizingboth in-house and offshore manufac-turing capabilities, carefully calculatingthe effects of foreign currency fluctua-tions on imports and exports, andplanning for strategic acquisitions have

been key ingredients to Nardoni’s success.

Because instrument manufacturersexert a heavy influence on the industry,CST has responded by carving out alarge market in the private label OEMarena, producing, over the years, tripodsand poles for Sokkia, Leica, Topcon,Pentax, Nikon, Sears, Home Depot,Lowes, David White, Spectra Physicsand Geotronics. Nardoni sympathizedwith the dealers and said they have ahard row to hoe as they deal with the

instrument manufacturers’ attempts tocontrol distribution.

So why sell such a successful company?Here’s where our story comes full-circle.With its wide range of lasers—more than150 models, both rotating and straightline—CST had become the largest manu-facturer of consumer and builder lasers.Between David White and CST/Berger,the company is number one in thebuilders’ market, making it an attractive“bolt-on subsidiary” for The StanleyWorks. In addition, CST’s China opera-

Top left: An employee calibrates a Berger instrumentTop right: MagnaTrak assembly areaBottom: CST team at a 1980s trade show



tions would have required a $10 millioninvestment—a scenario that Stanley, whichalready has nearly 3,000 shipping containers coming annually from China—was better situated to handle. And so itwas that in January of 2004, Nardonisold CST/Berger to The Stanley Works—a $3 billion company—for $63 million.

That’s the business side of the story.But there’s a personal side, too. Forty-three years later, Dennis and Claireare still married. Along with hardwork, their success has also been min-gled with deep pain. Their 19-year-oldson Brian, who had started working atthe company alongside his dad, diedin a motorcycle accident in 1983.More recently their other child, a

daughter with five children, unexpect-edly lost her husband to diabetes.Those are the deep aches that keepfinancial success in perspective.

So where to from here? As one chap-ter closes another begins. For the pastseven years, Nardoni has been involvedin land development projects on theisland of St. Lucia in the Caribbean,including a world-class golf coursedesigned by Jack Nicklaus.

For an Italian kid who grew up in theChicago Heights neighborhood knownas Hungry Hill, it’s the kind ofAmerican success story we never grow tired of hearing, and a fascinating chapter in the ongoing history of measurement technology.

Nardoni today. On the desk in front of him is the small leather-bound book fromwhich the early-day cost and revenue images were taken. Also shown is a hardcover Berger book that outlines various product specifications.



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The Man Who Stretched · 2004. 7. 14. · complete range of instruments and acces-sories to the construction supply market. Production of the Berger line was moved to Watseka. (Another