Robi Schreckhise of Lamar is a proud new business owner.
Welderbeast Mobile Welding and Repair, a business name that reflects his time spent working on the Alyeska Trans-Alaska Pipeline, opened in February.
Shortly after graduating from Lamar High School, Schreckhise moved to North Pole, Alaska, to start his career. As a member of the Plumbers and Pipefitters Union, he completed a five-year apprenticeship that consisted of thousands of hours of classroom education and field training.
Through his training and experience, Schreckhise now holds multiple certifications and is a journeyman pipefitter/welder with more than eight years and 16,000 hours of experience in his field.
After moving his family to his hometown, Schreckhise continued to travel to Alaska to work for eight weeks at a time, having only two weeks off between work rotations. It was during this time that he started searching for a way to be home more with his family and connected with the Arkansas Small Business and Technology Development Center (ASBTDC) regional office at Arkansas Tech University in Russellville.
“The most helpful service the ASBTDC offered me was just the simple assurance that someone had my back,” said Schreckhise. “I would have been too scared to just jump out on my own without knowing how things were going to go with my family’s livelihood at stake. The ASBTDC gave me the information I needed as the questions came to me and reassured me every step of the way.
“At the beginning of this year, I decided to strike out on my own and make a way for myself to do the work I am trained and love to do AND to be home with my family,” continued Schreckhise. “I started Welderbeast because there were no job opportunities as an employee that I was happy to settle with that included my skill set in this area, so I created one by becoming a business owner.”
Learn more about Welderbeast at https://welderbeast.com, by calling (479) 225-9431 or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/Beastwelding.
