Date: Fri 15-Aug-1997

Publication: Bee

Author: BILLB

Quick Words:

business-Scheunemann-Auros

Full Text:

Specialty Paper Firm Moves Into Business Park

(with photo)

BY BILL BRASSARD, JR

In July, Roy Scheunemann moved his company, Auros Paper & Supply Company, to

Newtown into the Simm Lane Business Park, just three miles from home. It's the

type of arrangement Mr Scheunemann was looking for when he started his own

business three years ago.

Because Auros is a small company, Mr Scheunemann tends to all the details.

That's easier to do now that Auros, previously located in Middletown, is so

close. "I come in to do things whenever I have time," said Mr Scheunemann.

Auros sells specialty paper and supplies for engineers, draftsmen, and

architects by mail order. "For a long time I thought mail order was the way to

go in this business," said Mr Scheunemann.

Mr Scheunemann worked as a salesman for several paper companies, and when he

went off on his own he managed to bring a number of clients with him.

He bought Auros, a small mail order company then based in Framingham, Mass.,

and since he took it over his business has grown by 20 percent each year. He

has one full-time and one part-time employee. He uses two catalogs that list

products made by Oce Imaging Supplies, and he has a toll-free telephone number

for placing orders.

Mr Scheunemann likes being self-employed even though he works more hours now

and hasn't taken more than a few days' vacation. "The person I was working for

was always making a whole lot more money than I was," he said. "It was scary

at first, but then I started to learn how to make money."

On Monday morning while Mr Scheunemann was looking for alternate ways to ship

his product because of the United Parcel Service teamsters' strike, his fax

machine beeped. Two orders came in from Monroe. Mr Scheunemann's been trying

to spread the word that he's in Newtown and that he'll deliver local orders

right away. "Local people like being serviced," said Mr Scheunemann.

On occasion, Mr Scheunemann mixes business with pleasure. He enjoys playing

golf and has been on the winning foursome the last two years in a tournament

sponsored by the Connecticut Association of Land Surveyors. Of course,

surveyors use lots of paper, so he makes the most of the networking

opportunities at the event.

For the moment, though, a long vacation is out. "I tried it once," he said. "I

was on the beach with the phone the whole time. I had to come back. It's tough

to disappear for a week."

Mr Scheunemann, who was graduated from Newtown High School in 1972, recently

attended his 25th year class reunion. "I was lucky I had my business cards,"

he said. "Some guys in my class were architects."

Mr Scheunemann had an interest in business while in high school. He enrolled

in the work-experience program and was employed as a clothing salesman. He

attended Mattatuck Community College before landing a job with Joseph Merritt

& Company, a paper company he now competes with.

Most of Auros's clients are in New England, New York, and New Jersey. However,

Mr Scheunemann plans to soon cast a wider net by sending his catalogs

nationally. "I want to become known all over the country as a mail order

supplier of specialty papers," he said. "My prices are very competitive

because I don't have a lot of overhead like the big companies. Our discounts

start at 50 percent off the manufacturer's list price."

He's considering installing a large-document copier, and in the future he

plans to stock papers for the desktop publishing industry.

Mr Scheunemann's wife, Kathy, does bookkeeping for Auros. They have two

children, Roy, 9, and Mark, 6.

Mr Scheunemann said that he would not have been able to start his own business

if it wasn't for Kathy. She works at Southbury Training School as a mental

retardation adult services instructor and was able to provide both an income

and benefits while Roy got the business going.

Development of the Simm Lane Business Park came along at the right time for Mr

Scheunemann. "There wasn't much available in Newtown, and I almost ended up in

Monroe," he said.

He rents 2,500 square feet of warehouse space and has a small office. "I do it

all, unloading, packing, delivering," he said. "Sometimes 2,000 pounds of

paper will come in. They're 30 to 50 pounds apiece and by the time I get it

all sorted on the shelves I have to send it out.

"It keeps me in shape," he said.

The business park is located just off Route 25, and Mr Scheunemann reports

that he's had some walk-in business from the heavily traveled road.

The future looks promising for Auros. "I always wanted to be in my own

business, to do something that I know," said Mr Scheunemann. "It's a chance to

make my own destiny, to grow."