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CEO Brad Batz talks to Construction Today about the company’ s groundbreaking Fike Labs facility and revolutionary Fike Blue technology.“ The initial business was actually created by Les in the basement of his house,” starts Brad.“ He was approached by the chemical company in 1955 and that’ s where the story of Fike began – these origins truly capture the innovative and entrepreneurial spirit of the Corporation.” Following that first rupture disc, Fike discovered broader applications for the technology, particularly in fire and explosion protection. Today, the company focuses on three core areas: pressure relief for overpressure situations, explosion protection for dust explosions in industrial environments, and fire protection for data centers and other high-value assets. Across all three, Fike handles the full process in-house- from design and engineering through to manufacturing.
“ We now have over 1,300 employees across the globe,” continues Brad.“ My two brothers and I are in the third generation leading the organization forward, and we’ ve remained a family business throughout all of it. Our intent is to remain family held so that we can continue a noble cause, purpose-driven style of business. Our vision is to eliminate catastrophic loss of life and assets for companies around the globe.”
Thought leadership
Fike’ s commitment manifests in Fike Labs; its state-of-the-art testing facility.“ We’ re seen as thought leaders in the market because of our investment in research and development,” Brad reveals.“ The journey started with land near Blue Springs, Missouri, featuring a quarry where we carry out a lot of explosion protection testing. This entails physically blowing
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