2015-02-03_PR Comm Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

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Amid the economic downturn, Blue Rhino landed one of its most challenging projects to date --the assortment of prehistoric creatures for Mammoths and Mastodons, a traveling exhibit commissioned by Chicago's Field Museum. Not only were the animals difficult to build, but they also had to be easily disassembled and moved. Successfully completing this project has helped Blue Rhino build a reputation. The company has no sales people; its business is entirely referral-based. Blue Rhino emerged from the recession smaller, with only 12 full-time employees. And in 2012, Leak sold his interest in the company, leaving Quady as its sole owner. Over the years, Quady's role has evolved to be less hands-on and more managerial. The company has evolved, too. Quady has steered it away from work that doesn't conform to its educational mission. Blue Rhino now employs 16 full-timers and a small stable of freelancers. FOCUS ON QUALITY Blue Rhino is between major projects right now, and Quady is taking advantage of the slow holiday season to complete a long overdue renovation of the company's headquarters. The sounds of drills and saws in Blue Rhino's offices compete with the sounds of drills and saws in the adjacent workshop, whereemployees are assembling a styrofoam tree for the Harriet Alexander Nature Center in Roseville. On the workshop's upper floor, Burt is putting the finishing touches on a Paleo Indian hunter that will complement a prehistoric bear he recently completed forthe yet-to-open Ancient Ozarks Heritage Museum in Missouri. Burt spent about 160 hours on the bear over a six-week period, covering it with goat hair a pinch at a time. Burt and his coworkers go to extreme lengths to achieve not only a realistic appearance with their work, but scientific accuracy, too. "I feel like I need to know what's going on underneath the skin of these animals," Burt said. The new year is shaping up to be a busy one for the Blue Rhino team. They already have three major projects in development: one for the San Diego Zoo and the other two for state parks in Pennsylvania, all to be completed by December 2015. Quady's small staff means he must turn away a good deal of work he would like to pursue. "We could be a lot bigger," he said. "Butthis is as big as I want to be." Quady says the size of his staff allows them to focus on quality over quantity. It also gives each employee a chance to work on a great variety of projects. "We're never doing the same thing twice," Burt said. "The type ofwork we're doing now is the stuff I've always dreamed of doing."