Lamar native Robi Schreckhise opened Welderbeast Mobile Welding and Repair in February. The business name reflects his time spent working on the Alyeska Trans-Alaska Pipeline.
“I started Welderbeast because there were no job opportunities…that included my skill set in this area, so I created one by becoming a business owner,” he said.
Shortly after graduating from Lamar High School, Robi moved to North Pole, Alaska, to start his career. As a member of the Plumbers and Pipefitters Union, he completed a five-year apprenticeship which consisted of thousands of hours of classroom education and field training.
Schreckhise 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, Robi continued to travel to Alaska to work for eight weeks at a time, having only two weeks off between work rotations. He started searching for a way to be home more with his family and connected with the Arkansas Small Business and Technology Development Center at Arkansas Tech University.
“The most helpful service the ASBTDC offered me was just the simple assurance that someone had my back. 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,” said Schreckhise.
“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.”
Learn more about Robi and Welderbeast at https://welderbeast.com, 479.225.9431, or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/Beastwelding.