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Innovation is the future delivered.
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How Passion & Perseverance Led Dwight Wiedrich to Revolutionize Manhole Adjusting Rings
It’s one thing to find your passion in life and use it as a driving force for decades. It’s another to maintain that passion long after others would have felt fulfilled and changed course. No one would have questioned Dwight Wiedrich if he would have moved on to other ventures or simply kicked back and relaxed.
But to Wiedrich, there aren’t many things that can compare to waking up in the morning and pitching the product he invented that revolutionized an industry.
Many individuals in their late 70s would have long been retired. But on the cusp of Wiedrich’s 80th birthday, he found himself still going to work at the company he founded nearly 30 years prior. His company, Ladtech, Inc., reinvented the manhole adjusting ring and revolutionized the underground industry. Ladtech’s high-density polyethylene (HDPE) manhole adjusting rings solved many problems that had long been associated with traditional concrete manhole adjusting rings.
The Ladtech system is used in municipalities across the United States, as well as in Canada and the Bahamas. But unlike those instant success stories of innovators whose products came together quickly and immediately changed the industry, Wiedrich’s story is one of patience, perseverance, and a drive to achieve a dream.
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The Thrill of Innovation
Wiedrich’s decades-long career in the underground industry began in the concrete sector — ironically, the sector he would later disrupt with his invention and the establishment of Ladtech. In the 1970s and 80s, he worked for a precast company in Minnesota and was involved with many innovative projects. This allowed him to meet many engineers throughout the state and form relationships that would prove to be beneficial down the road.
Eventually, Wiedrich went to work for another company armed with experience and knowledge that gave him confidence as a problem-solver. He always found himself looking for ways to do jobs better.
One of Wiedrich’s successful innovations involved a junction box that supplied electricity to the street and traffic lights. The existing epoxy-coated box was heavy — around 1,000 pounds — and deteriorated over time. Its size meant that when repairs or replacements were necessary, the city would need a backhoe to dig it up and lift it.
The company Wiedrich worked for had a PVC pipe division, and he had the idea to modify a piece of pipe into a tub to house components. At 100 pounds, its smaller and more lightweight nature meant installing and accessing it was less disruptive. A hole created by a drill was all that was needed. And being made with PVC meant it had a longer lifespan. It took some time to get the transportation department to buy into the new solution, but they eventually came around to the change.
Not long after, Wiedrich was approached with a request that would change the course of his life.
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