When it comes to the timely delivery of high-quality shop fabricated pipe spools, tanks, and vessels, Team Industries, Inc. leads North America’s fabrication industry. With fabrication facilities in Wisconsin and Texas, Team serves clients in various industries, including: data centers, semiconductor, power, petrochemical, LNG, brewery, pulp and paper, pharmaceutical, marine, chemical, and food and beverage.
Featuring more than 725,000 square feet of indoor fabrication space and the newest fabrication tools and technologies at each Team location, the company ensures every project crafted by its skilled workforce meets the highest quality standards.
A history of growth
Team Industries, Inc.’s story began in 1987 when a group of employees, facing the bankruptcy of their employer, made the bold decision to purchase the company’s assets themselves.
“To save their jobs, that handful of individuals got together and they put their necks on the line,” shares Jon Viestenz, Director of Sales. “They pulled together a financial plan to buy the assets, and hence the name Team Industries, Inc.”
Through the late 1980s and onward, Team Industries expanded its Wisconsin footprint, adding fabrication bays, paint and blast facilities, loading areas, climate-controlled material warehousing, and additional office buildings. Strategic acquisitions followed, including opening a facility in Port Arthur, Texas. Each move was made to serve the company’s industries more effectively.
Most recently, in 2025, Team Industries expanded into the advanced technology and manufacturing industry by converting a 7,000-square-foot building into a dedicated ultra-high-purity fabrication facility, with the installation of an ISO 4 and ISO 7 certified cleanroom.
From the ground up
These feats of growth are truly impressive when considering the company’s roots.
As the years passed and the investors phased out, the last member of the original team is John Panetti, Team’s current President and CEO. Today, 38 years later, John’s sons, Tom and Dan Panetti, hold Executive positions within the company.
“From a family and a cultural standpoint, we have become the largest union shop fabricator in North America,” says Viestenz. “And we’ve been able to do that with a culture today that started with the same principles, the same disciplines, the same approach to safety and cleanliness 38 years ago—we just elaborated on it,” he shares.
“Today, we’re a debt-free company, 100 percent,” says Viestenz. “We’re just under 400 employees right now, and we went from pulp and paper and brewery to today, where we serve almost 20 different industries.”
A huge point of pride for Team is its company culture, something all employees—and the Panetti legacy—are pleased to embrace. “We have never lost track of the fact that we’re a family-owned business,” says Vice President of Sales, Estimating, and Supply Chain Management, Tom Panetti.
Team also values its long-standing partnership with UA Local 400 in Kaukauna, Wisconsin. In 2000, the two organizations collaborated to create a five-year UA pipe fabrication classification with an apprenticeship program, developing highly specialized tradespeople for the pipe fabrication industry.
Another feather in the company’s cap is its history of producing industry-leading welding positioners, which the company has developed and produced to serve in every one of its weld booths. They are also available for purchase by other operators and fabrication shops across North America.
Indeed, when it comes to all the elements this company holds dear—safety, succession planning, defined values, consistency, mission, willingness to invest in infrastructure, workforce development, and R&D—being a financially sound company (and fully intending to stay that way) means that Team Industries stays plugged in, never cutting corners or giving up. “We’re not in a position where we can afford to give up our defined values or willingness to invest in infrastructure or the future,” says Viestenz. “We can’t sit on our laurels and say we’re going to coast for a while.”
Living its values and investing in the long term
While these principles might seem like obvious keys to success, the difference is in the extraordinary way Team Industries holds true to them and honors them every day.
To this end, Team prioritizes investing in new equipment, a choice that is always at the forefront when discussing ways to support employees’ success and Team’s competitiveness across different industries. “It can be a daily discussion of where to upgrade and become more competitive with the best technology,” adds Panetti. That collaboration among equals has become vital for the company’s ongoing success.
“It’s one thing my father made sure of: that more than just one person is making the decision. Many department heads are brought in to examine the pluses and minuses and why [a given move] is going to be good for the team overall,” says Panetti.
John Panetti is always looking forward, particularly when purchasing Team Fabricators in 2008, taking a big leap of faith. Today, that shop is up and running at full capacity in Port Arthur, Texas.
“In 2008, there was a lot of rolling of the dice, a lot of sleepless nights, a lot of wondering if we can exist down there,” says Viestenz of the Texas location. “There were times along the way when industries we serve were slow, and we couldn’t make it work, but John Panetti didn’t throw in the cards. He doesn’t like giving in. The Panetti family made that investment, and here we are today, reaping the benefits of it.”
Taking risks and making investments are in the blood of this family dynasty, including the recently opened high-purity cleanroom, which calls for different machines, different processes, different materials, and investing in training. Again, this success has come not only from investing wisely but from maintaining financial stability.
This is a vertical integration step that Team Industries has invested in to move the company forward, striving once again to differentiate itself from competitors and providing a needed product for the industries it serves. “We’re basically now a turnkey solution to any fabrication need, no matter what industry you’re in, right here at Team Industries,” says Viestenz.
Nearly four decades of a good thing
Approaching its 40th anniversary, Team Industries stands as a testament to what can be built through trust, patience, and shared values. The company’s growth is not measured solely in square footage or revenue, but in reputation, resilience, and people.
Building trusted, long-term relationships with its workforce, supply chain, and customers is also key, and an approach that Team has upheld for decades. So how does Team maintain that workforce structure? “Anybody can grow, but managing your growth, preparing for the future, and proving your company in hard times is very challenging, because a lot of companies just disappear when things go bad,” says Viestenz. In Team’s case, it has future-proofed its approach by knowing the industries it serves, he adds. “We’ve been able to be the leader, but we do it humbly. We’re grateful and blessed.”
A culture of community
The company is also grateful for its tenure and for the ability to weather the ups and downs of the industry over time. “Even though we have a large footprint, we’re still technically a small business at 500 employees or less,” Panetti says. “For some companies, when they grow too much, it’s difficult to maintain the personal touch they want to build their company on; you lose track of your roots. We want that culture to be ingrained in everybody. If you go too fast, you can’t capture that culture.”
That culture includes giving back through community involvement and outreach, whether through regular blood drives, contributions to the Make a Wish Foundation, or hosting high school and technical school students for tours and internships. “If you’re going to act and play a prominent role in a community like Kaukauna, Wisconsin, you have to give back,” Viestenz emphasizes.
Fortunately, the entire team agrees and works together to maintain the culture and atmosphere created at the outset. “Why are we better than our competition? Because when times get tough, even if we have to shrink in manpower, the infrastructure we invested in will be standing tall for the next shift, which we know will come,” Viestenz says.
“We’ll survive those valleys, and we’ll survive them in a way where we’ll still succeed, even in a downturn. If you look at our reputation and the tenure of our employees, it just speaks for itself.”
