Maintenance managers: Michigan firm acquires successful local software company

A Bigfork-area computer software company with corporate clients such as Facebook, Campbell’s Soup and Burlington Coat Factory was purchased by a Michigan firm in December, but founder Paulson Palmer said Upturn Solutions will stay and most likely expand its Flathead Valley presence.

“There’s a lot of opportunities for us to grow in this valley,” Palmer said. “Dematic is dedicated to keeping us running here and keeping us growing.”

Dematic, which manufactures and supplies materials-handling equipment such as conveyors and automated machinery, has a global business volume of about $1.3 billion, with more than 5,000 systems in place throughout the world.

The Grand Rapids-based firm has been a partner with Upturn Solutions for many years. Keeping track of the products that move through warehouses, as well as labor, equipment and assets, is a key to Dematic’s business.

“We’re more and more focused on preventative things,” said Robert Nilsson, Dematic’s vice president and general manager of software and supply chain intelligence. “To keep assets working is a big growth area with current and new customers.”

Upturn, which serves more than 500 businesses and has more than 10,000 users, was started by Palmer in 2003 in Salt Lake City. Its flagship product is Sprocket Computerized Maintenance Management Solutions, focused on keeping up with facility and capital-asset maintenance and preventive maintenance.

Brigham Young University was the pilot client for the business and Upturn has retained the school as a user for the last decade. As an example, Palmer explained how the school might use Sprocket software.  

“They schedule preventive maintenance on equipment throughout the university — maybe the lights need to be replaced regularly in student housing. Our software tracks and schedules it,” he said. “Or they may go out every month to do a set of procedures, clean equipment to make sure it’s in good running order.

“Our system generates a work order and sends it to a mobile device. He [the maintenance worker] will go out and do the work, then post that to the mobile program and then they have an inventory and a way to track all the costs to maintain equipment.”

Upturn doesn’t have any local clients — the closest business using the software is University Medical Center in Missoula — but Palmer first learned what it took to keep a workplace maintenance program going during his father Gary’s tenure as facility manager at Kalispell Regional Medical Center. Gary Palmer even designed a precursor to Paulson’s software, Maximal Advantage.

“I spent a lot of time with him and learned how that system worked and gained an understanding of maintenance management as well,” Palmer said.

Palmer learned his computer programming skills on the job at Jordahl & Sliter, an accounting firm in Kalispell, and NXGEN Payment Services, headquartered in Whitefish.

The first software developer he hired at Upturn Solutions was Brett Webster, who is still with the company. Webster and Adam Hoge, the company’s first salesman, eventually became business partners with Palmer.

Though Sprocket CMMS was not the first facilities maintenance program on the market, Palmer said the software improved dramatically on existing ideas.

“There were systems that were powerful and flexible, but were difficult to manage and not user friendly,” he said. “We created a system that is powerful and flexible and easy to configure and easy to manage. The user interface is very simple and easy.”

Upturn Solutions has around 12 employees currently working out of its 3 1/2 acre-campus on the Flathead River. Palmer said the business is somewhat modeled after a “typical fun Silicone Valley environment.”

“We have pingpong tables and an indoor gym and in the summer people will be out on the dock fishing during their lunch break. If you want people to be happy in their jobs, you need to provide a fun environment and we try to stage the culture around that.”

Nilsson said the Montana-based culture is another reason Dematic was eager to purchase Upturn Solutions. Dematic has offices in similar rural areas, such as Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. Nilsson said these places draw people who want to use their engineering and technical skills but still maintain a certain lifestyle.

“We have offices where employees would like to live and we see this as an extension of our hiring strategy. We like the location, we like the quality of the people,” Nilsson said of the Bigfork office. “The core of the culture at Dematic is similar to Montana. It’s important for us to grow the culture and people as a key part of our business.”

Palmer said Upturn employees don’t take advantage of the company’s generous spirit.

“Everyone works very hard,” he said. “That’s why we are where we’re at today.”