Everett company raises the bar for Jeeps

EVERETT — Every product needs a good story.

Like the one about GraBar, an accessory made specifically for Jeep Wranglers and created by small-but-growing Everett company WD Automotive.

GraBar is a sturdy metal bar attached inside the Jeep near the windshield that allows people to pull themselves into the cab.

Company founder Ken Welke created GraBars after his mom was having problems getting into the Jeep while he took her to medical appointments or other errands.

“And so she asked him, ‘Isn’t there some kind of grab handle that Jeeps have?’” said Bob Carey, WD Automotive’s chief operating and financial officer. “Jeep Wranglers did not have a grab bar or grab handle to get into the Jeep. So his mom asked him, ‘Can’t you make one?’”

Welke took that as a challenge and he and an engineer-friend in Ellensburg developed GraBar, the primary product for WD Automotive.

A son helping out his mom is only part of the story. Welke’s mom was 5 foot, 10 inches. His wife, Julie Welke, is 5 foot, 2 inches. His wife had even more problems getting into her husband’s Jeep.

“I hate to use the word complain, but I was vocal from the day that we got that Jeep this isn’t working for me,” Julie Welke said.

Her husband was her cable guy when they first met. When they were dating, his work was next door to hers in Edmonds, and he would wave at her every day.

Of course, Welke found a solution for his wife after he bought his dream Jeep. For marketing purposes, the company played up the mom angle.

Welke made the product in 2011 and started marketing it in 2012.

“I knew it was a winner before he even started marketing it,” Julie Welke said.

Ken Welke died earlier this year of a massive heart attack.

He left behind a company that has seen 20 percent to 30 percent growth each of the past four years, Carey said. The company made $1 million in revenue last year. Julie Welke is the sole owner.

Ken Welke started the business out of his garage, but he soon had more work than he could handle. Welke brought on Carey, who was a semi-retired banker who had worked at now-closed Frontier Bank. Welke and Carey were friends from Northwest Church in Shoreline.

The company has built several other accessories for Jeep Wranglers — including GraBars for rear seats, BootBars that stick out the side of the Jeep, a shelfing to hold a fire extinguisher, air compressor or even a drink container. The company also makes a custom storage space in the ceiling called JK Vault to carry gear.

All of the accessories are for Jeep Wranglers. “Jeepers” like to accessorize their vehicles with winches and other after-market gear, Carey said.

The company might look into accessories for other vehicles — Ford F-150 pickups are tempting, because there are so many.

“We can chase a lot of rabbit holes,” Carey said. “What we found out is we have barely scratched the surface with Jeep Wranglers.”

Welke set the path for his company, Carey said, with a vision of creating products in the U.S. while giving back to the community.

The company employs manufacturers all within 20 miles of Everett. Bending Solution makes the bars for GraBar, Powder Fab in Arlington coats the bars. A Monroe company stores and ships the products, which are sold through distributors as well as through Amazon.

As for giving back, the company won a $1,000 gift card through SCORE, a federal mentoring program. WD Automotive gave the winnings to Nourishment Network, a program that feeds children in the Edmonds School District.

Welke and Carey traveled to Africa through their church a decade ago. The company sponsors seven children who are AIDS orphans in Kisumu City, Kenya, paying for their schooling and meals.

“He came back a changed man,” Julie Welke said of her husband. “As generous as he was before, he came back and said we have to do something. It’s just not right.”

The company is setting aside money to build a high school with plans to start next year, Carey said.

One of the orphans they supported is now going to college, and the goal is for him to come back and be a teacher at the school, Carey said.

“That’s part of the fiber of this company,” Carey said. “Yeah, we’re building a business. We want to make money so we can make a living. But we want to give back to our communities. That’s key to our DNA.”

Other companies have taken notice of WD Automotive’s success.

“The biggest competition we have is the knockoffs, I’m going to call it foreign knockoffs, but it is primarily China,” Carey said. “China has knocked off our product. They try to sell it through various channels. They cannot get in to our suppliers — (distributor) TransAmerica won’t take a China knockoff because it’s cheap.

“Amazon, on the other hand, will allow anyone to sell on Amazon.”

WD Automotive approached Jeep about selling their accessories as a standard item for the vehicle. Those discussions didn’t go forward. Carey said future models of Jeeps may include grab handles.

“It’s something we have to deal with,” Carey said. “It’s part of the competition. Jeep is a competitor, although they don’t normally market Jeeps with a lot of after-market accessories.”

Redesigns of Jeeps could have other effects on WD Automotive. One of the reasons that GraBar is so popular is that it can be installed in 20 minutes by almost anyone. The bars fit into existing holes in Jeeps that now are filled just with a bolt.

“It’s still kind of mystery to us exactly what these are for,” said Clark Raymond, who works for WD Automotive and is a student at the mechanical engineering program at Washington State University in Everett.

“Why they ever put these holes to begin with, who knows?” Carey said.