West Bend, WI – On this Labor Day we feature a family from West Bend/Slinger that will be featured in an upcoming show “World’s Greatest” on the Bloomberg network. The story focuses on Duke Long, a high school dropout who started a company out of his garage and then took a leap into robotics and is now a leader in his field of robotic demolition at Interstate Sawing & Demolition.
Below is a behind-the-scenes look at when the film crew came to Interstate Sawing & Demolition in West Bend, Wi.
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Haley Long oversees the marketing at Interstate Sawing & Demolition. She said the producers from “World’s Greatest” contacted her after they found one of the company’s videos online.
“Our robotic demolition piqued their interest,” she said. “It’s definitely not something many
people know a lot about.”
Interstate Sawing & Demolition has worked across the United States and overseas. In the behind-the-scenes video one of the key messages is how the trades as a career are changing and becoming increasingly lucrative.
“Our top guys are making $160,000 a year by going into trades,” said Sam Long.
The program, “World’s Greatest” featuring Interstate Sawing & Demolition is expected to air on the Bloomberg network in October 2024.
West Bend, Wi – There’s a bit of Hollywood coming to West Bend, WI this week as film crews will be in town to feature robotic demolition at Interstate Sawing and Interstate Demolition.
“We are being featured on the TV show “World’s Greatest” for our development of robotic demolition in the construction industry,” said Haley Long with Interstate Sawing & Demolition.
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Interstate Sawing owner Duke Long started his business in 1996. Twelve short years later, Long implemented robots and started shifting into specialty services; now he has customers from around the world calling for specific jobs.
“The robots add to our speed, safety, and cost efficiency,” said Haley Long. “We use the robots to break and remove concrete instead of cutting everything out.”
Unlike traditional demolition methods, robotic demolition allows operators to control the machines safely from a distance, reducing the risk of injury and enhancing precision in challenging environments. This approach is particularly advantageous in delicate operations where precision is critical, such as in historic buildings or closely-spaced urban settings.
“We have a variety of sizes ranging from 1,000 pounds up to 12,000 pounds,” said Long. “The robots are a very pricey piece of equipment but they’re perfect for the job. It saves us on diamond-ware blades and everything is safe.”
Specialty work comes in bank vault or smokestack removals; large-scale items.
“For example there was a bank vault project. A company quoted $300,000 to do the project in two months with eight guys,” said Long. “We did it in seven days, with two guys for $75,000.
“Time and money saved.”
Click HERE to learn more about robotic demolition
The TV show World’s Greatest is associated with the shows “How it’s Made” and “Dirty Jobs.”
“The show contacted us,” said Long. “They found one of our videos and it piqued their interest because they had done a segment on robots and thought robots and demolition would be pretty cool.”
Long went through three interviews with the show and said the show was impressed with the size and scope of their operation.
“We have 28 total robots and we really use them in some unique scenarios,” she said. “We also use them daily. Duke made the investment and our guys are very skilled, especially in high-stress environments.”
“We think this is an awesome opportunity to showcase a local company,” said Long about the TV show. “Plus, it helps put a spotlight on the trades.”
Interstate Sawing & Interstate Demolition recently hired three students from the Slinger job fair. “We’re teaching them about these machines because they’re inherently gifted with remote controls and robots,” Long said.
Interstate Sawing & Demolition employs 76 people.
Stay tuned for a behind-the-scenes look at filming for World’s Greatest.
