Success Story: Prairie Rivet and Akey Manufacturing

Prairie Rivet and Akey Manufacturing Offer U.S.-Based Manufacturing Solutions Leveraging SBA and SBDC Resources to Provide Onshoring Opportunities

By Katie Ginder-Vogel

Coye Harrett purchased Prairie Rivet in October of 2020, through a conventional loan, and bought out his business partner in 2022. Through his holding company, Van Hise Companies, Harrett plans to build a portfolio of companies in manufacturing, with solid product offerings, established customer bases, and equipment that may not have a succession plan.

“I like buying them, adding processes to them, and figuring out how they can work together,” Harrett says. “My criteria are: A company has to be profitable; the longer it’s been in business, the better; and I only want to buy asset-rich enterprises, where I will own the majority stake of the building, land, and assets. I retain all employees and increase compensation.”

Harrett says SBA loans make it advantageous for an existing business to acquire another business, “My holding company has grown times seven in under 12 months.”

Prairie Rivet

Since he bought Prairie Rivet, which manufactures semi-tubular and solid rivets in its Markesan, Wisconsin facility, Harrett has increased scheduling and tooling purchasing efficiencies, leading to increased growth.

“Our agility and responsiveness differentiate us,” Harrett says. “We can turn parts around reasonably quickly in this industry, with lead times of five to seven weeks. Our customers are dealing with imports and tariffs, so international lead times take many months.”

Prairie Rivet turns quotes around within 24 business hours, while other manufacturers take one or two weeks.

“We have a good legacy OEM base of customers and continue to make parts for them and keep their lines running,” Harrett says. “Prairie competes with other countries for fasteners, and we’re within ten percent of that unit cost right now.”

Prairie Rivet is currently making trial batches of parts for a ladder manufacturing company that could double its business. They have produced ever-larger volumes of trial parts for the company and just shipped a 10k sample run across seven parts.

“Hopefully, they place a large order that would double us,” Harrett says. “We have the capacity, training, and equipment.”

Through Prairie Rivet’s youth apprenticeship partnership with Markesan High School, two students work half-days for the company and earn credits and hourly pay. Prairie Rivet’s General Manager is a twenty-year-old graduate of that program.

“We’re very aware of the retiring demographic in manufacturing, so we’re hiring being diligent in training the next generation to go into manufacturing,” Harrett says. “We help them with tuition assistance for trade school and pair them with more experienced employees who teach them to do specific jobs.”

Harrett is currently refinancing Prairie Rivet through the SBA 7a program with SBDC guidance. Harrett regularly speaks with Erica Kauten, Director of the Small Business Development Center (SBDC) at UW-Madison, and Michelle Somes-Booher, with whom he’s worked since even before he purchased Prairie Rivet.

“SBDC continues to support both my businesses, Prairie Rivet and Akey Manufacturing,” Harrett says. “Michelle saw us through the acquisition of Akey and helped with due diligence, developing the workflow of how the two entities could support each other and coexist, and helping me personally make sure I have systems in place where both businesses can run, and I’m not stretched too thin.”

Akey Manufacturing

Harrett purchased Akey Manufacturing on June 6, 2025, via an SBA loan. Shortly after closing, an existing customer called, looking to re-shore a large portion of their purchases to the United States, due to tariffs. They’ve signed a long-term contract to have the Akey facility produce their parts, and this partnership will significantly increase Akey’s business.

“The SBDC helped with that purchase and growth,” Harrett says. “Michelle helped me write my business plan to present to the SBA and the bank, helping me finalize wording, reviewing numbers, and finalizing the presentation.”

Somes-Booher helped Harrett communicate his vision of how Prairie Rivet and Akey Manufacturing will complement each other and how he will run both companies.

“Michelle was a part of laying that foundation, getting my creative thinking going, and helping me figure out how to make slight changes to be more efficient overall,” Harrett says. “I’ve talked to her about once a month for about 5 years now. She’s been part of the journey, from when my wife and I got engaged until now, when we have two young kids.”

Akey’s space is becoming the centralized hub for both companies and will house phone and email communications, as well as administrative work. One driver will deliver parts to Akey and Prairie Rivet customers within 200 miles, which is still less expensive than paying a trucking company.

“We’re now going to ship all Prairie Rivet’s [items] out of Akey Manufacturing, and everyone can focus on running parts,” Harrett says. “I view Van Hise Companies as a global entity, instead of two siloed companies, and my vision is to continue to buy companies and wrap them into one. I always keep the legacy name because brand recognition is so important, and you’re buying a brand.”

Van Hise Companies is named after a street in Madison, where Harrett lived in college, and the company logo is based on his grandfather’s business, Coye’s Canvas, which made awnings in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

“We have an exciting few years ahead, and I’m excited for the journey,” he says.