A Lifelong Dream Made Reality Through Embracing Life’s Hurdles
Bruce Hayes had a lifelong dream of starting his own business. After many years spent in the automation industry, he decided to make that dream a reality. He was laser focused and determined to bring his vision to life.
As a business owner, he came to find that dreams don’t become reality without bumps in the road, detours, and changes in plans. Bruce experienced many challenges first-hand in the first few months of his business venture.
It was early 2007 when Bruce started Midwest. The economy was losing momentum and the months to come would prove to be the worst recession of our lifetime. At the time, Bruce and his wife Liz had two sons at home, Dan was 14 and Sam was 12. In the same month that Bruce started Midwest, Liz was diagnosed with breast cancer. Not only was the news of her cancer diagnosis devastating, but the outcome was unclear due to her existing Multiple Sclerosis (MS) diagnosis. At the time, the lack of research surrounding MS and its reaction to chemotherapy and radiation was a major cause for concern.
Given the circumstances and the choices presented, most people would have taken the safe route. They would have stayed with their 9-5 job, taken the guaranteed paycheck, and taken a pass on ‘what could have been’ - especially in the midst of economic and personal chaos. However, when asking Bruce about the first days of the business, it was the unwavering trust and 100% support that Liz had in him that gave him the bravery to try.
Liz was a stay at home mom, raising her kids while battling her daily challenges of MS while Bruce worked at a large Automation distributor. The timing was anything but ideal, but together they helped blossom Midwest into the company that it is today.
Midwest Integration & Automation provides, distributes, supports and sells automation and solutions. The brilliant idea and recipe for Midwest’s success was founded on the passion for automation within Bruce. The execution, however, relied heavily on two women in Bruce’s life that were paramount in giving Midwest the foundation needed for success: Liz Hayes, Bruce’s wife, and Liz’s sister, Sue Glymph. The three of them, working out of Hayes family home in Wadsworth, OH, grew Midwest Integration & Automation.
The employees, vendors, and loyal life-long customers of Midwest Integration & Automation have a good understanding of where Midwest came from. They love Midwest because of the family-owned “started in my garage” style company. While many may not know the risk and bravery it took to take the jump to actually start, they see the results in a family-focused, honest, company is one you can trust and grow with.
After 12 years of hard work and dedication to Midwest Integration & Automation, Suzie retired in September of 2019. Many other family members have helped along the way, including Bruce and Liz’s niece, Erin and her husband, Jason Nelson, who gave years of dedication to the company. Wives, husbands, cousins, aunts, uncles, family friends, (such as Tom Giorgio who is celebrating 10 years with Midwest this July!) and more have all pitched in and sacrificed an immense amount of time and hard work to see Midwest flourish.
Today, Liz and Bruce are joined by both of their sons. Dan, the oldest, is Midwest’s General Manager and Sam is an Electrical Engineer. Dan’s wife, Sarah, kicked off Midwest’s marketing efforts and Sam’s wife, Bri, is a customer favorite in the Inside Sales Department. Both sons have dogs that frequent the office so often that they are called the Midwest Shop Dogs. When you stop in, it’s likely that you’ll get to see one or the other, and if you’re lucky maybe even both!
The Midwest team and business has grown and expanded, but the Midwest Integration & Automation values have remained the same. We aim to deliver the most efficient, cost effective, and high-quality solutions possible. Whether it’s an explanation of a product or a project we are working on for you, we are here to service our customers! We stand by the fact that we have the knowledge and resources as those of our larger competitors, while being able to provide undivided attention and quick response times for a personable and satisfying experience for our customers.
As a family owned business, family means everything to the Hayes. Midwest employees that don’t share the Hayes last name feel like family through the genuine interest, compassion, and open arms that Liz and Bruce extend to their team and it shows through the leadership they exemplify and in the company culture of Midwest.
Midwest Integration & Automation is an automation distributor committed to the distribution, design, fabrication, and installation of automation throughout Ohio and neighboring states.
In addition to our expanding line of distributed products, we offer engineering, programming, design, and fabrication services in an effort to create “turn-key” solutions which generate a fast return on investment for our customers.
Our capabilities lie in our Panel Shop, Robot Integration, and our Applied Engineering divisions.
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