Metal fabricators: Share your success, for the sake of manufacturing

Even in the midst of this pandemic, the future looks bright for the metal fabricating industry. With that in mind, fabricators need to be more active in sharing their successes if they want to attract top talent into the manufacturing sector. Getty Images

I was having a conversation with an educator at a college in early August about the changing nature of students entering the school’s engineering program. While some students enter with some hands-on skills, developed while working on a lawn mower engine or woodworking, others are strangers to power tools, drill presses, and welding torches. They know engineering concepts, but they come up short in actual real-world experience with fabricating things.

That’s no surprise to metal fabricators, who have regularly encountered job-seekers who struggle to use a tape measure. It’s a product of living in a society where a child is more likely to pick up a video game controller than a toy hammer.

Despite this well-known reality, metal fabricators still approach their livelihoods like they are guilty pleasures. “It’s great, but I really don’t want to go out of my way to let people know about it” appears to be the general mood of the industry. How can companies promote an industry and all that it has to offer when they don’t rush to speak on its behalf?

The FABRICATOR runs into this situation every year when asking people to submit nominations for its Industry Award. The publication looks to honor a metal fabricator each year that has had success implementing operational improvements, growing the business, and supporting community projects and reaching out to local educational institutions. There are numerous success stories to share, but for whatever reason, many shops have a reluctance to tell their tale.

Maybe it’s because these companies feel like they aren’t large enough to be considered the best of the best. Indeed, many of our recent Industry Award winners are large companies, such as Mayville Engineering Co. (MEC) Inc., Mayville, Wis., in 2016 and BTD Manufacturing Inc., Detroit Lakes, Minn., in 2018 with annual revenues of more than $500 million and $200 million, respectively. But when The FABRICATOR started this awards program in 2008, the first company honored was Seconn Fabrication, Waterford, Conn., which was just approaching $10 million in annual sales. North America is dominated by small and medium-sized shops, so it would make sense that we should be getting more feedback from that sector. After all, MEC and BTD didn’t open their doors and log $100 million in sales their first year in business. Everyone starts out small in the beginning.

Additionally, 2020 is already chock-full of metal fabricators and manufacturers stepping up to contribute in the fight against COVID-19. Whether it was making parts for ventilators like Miller Metal Fabrication, Bridgeville, Del., donating personal protective equipment to undersupplied health care workers, or dedicating a 3D printer to the production of face shields for local first responders, they rose to the occasion, often seeking out ways in which they could help their neighbors. That’s the message that needs to get out.

The long-term outlook is just as positive for the metal fabricating sector. After all, in many instances, governors declared metal fabricators “essential” industries, as they were supporting supply chains that were considered integral to winning the battle against the coronavirus.

The Fabricators & Manufacturers Association’s “2nd Quarter Forming & Fabricating Job Shop Consumption Report,” released in mid-August, revealed that 38.3% of those shops surveyed expect a good business outlook, with another 38.6% expecting a stable situation similar to 2019. Probably most surprising is that most of these shops have been able to retain most of their workers during this slowdown. Only 27% reported that they were reducing their workforce numbers; on the flip side, 13.6% were adding jobs during the second quarter.

Lessons learned during two major downturns in the 2000s have made metal fabricators much smarter businesspeople. They have diversified their customer bases, so when one industry sector plummets, such as retail shelving, another one peaks, like exercise equipment has during the Great Shutdown. They have amassed cash reserves to see them through these slower times, but made key investments over the years that have allowed them to produce more with fewer people. These companies not only can compete with the shop down the street, but also the shop in Asia.

Metal fabricators are not just looking to hire press brake operators and welders. They are now looking for software developers and engineers, people that weren’t part of any human resources discussion 10 years ago. But the industry has changed, and so has the need to be more open about the opportunities that await in the metal manufacturing industry.

Celebrate your team and elevate your industry. Let us know why you are worthy of The FABRICATOR’s Industry Award.