Our Sites

Election season, management style, and the metal fabricator

It’s tough to generalize custom metal fabricators, but, well, that won’t stop me from trying. When I visit fabricators, I see two elements at work that shape the company culture. I call them “I hear you” and “buckle down for battle.”

The battle approach comes from ever-more-demanding customers who need parts yesterday. In this world, expedited jobs are muscled through the shop. People come in early and stay late to get the job done. They have the character and the tenacity to take responsibility for their actions and make changes as needed. Life is a fight, and only the strongest, smartest, and ultra-focused will survive.

Then there’s the “I hear you” approach, which focuses on how people in the shop relate to one another. Communication is clear, open, and honest. Front-line employees have a voice when it comes to how things are done, and how they can be done better. Those in human resources talk not just about benefits and payroll paperwork, but about career paths and career goals.

The more managers I talk to in custom fabrication, the more I feel that both of these cultures—the buckle-down-for-battle and the I-hear-you environment—are needed. Employees need a voice, but customers pay the bills, so employees also need to hunker down, prepare for battle, and get the job done.

Finding the right balance can be quite balancing act, which is probably why finding the right people is so difficult in this business. And it may in fact go deeper than this. It may go back to the very fabric of American society, about our upbringing.

A recent Hidden Brain podcast on NPR covered a study that found a correlation between people with strict (so-called “strong parent”) upbringings and Republicans, and those with “nurturant” parents and Democrats. For sure, there’s a continuous spectrum between the two extremes, but the correlation is striking nonetheless.

”America needs stricter parents today.”

A Maryland farrier told NPR that, but plenty of shop owners have told me the same, and for understandable reasons. Contracts end. Nothing is for sure. Fabricators need to prepare for battle.

But you can’t win at chess with just a king, queen, and a bunch of pawns. You need all the pieces in place, working together. For instance, one Pennsylvania shop, Bass Mechanical (which we’ll be covering in the November issue of The FABRICATOR), has transformed in recent years. Everyone has a voice, and a management structure (rooks, bishops, knights) for sustainable growth.

A strict parent isn’t better or worse than a nurturant parent. The best upbringing has both, just as the best fab shop prepares for battle and gives employees a voice. During this election year and beyond, it all may be about finding the right balance—both on the fab shop floor and in the voting booth.

About the Author
The Fabricator

Tim Heston

Senior Editor

2135 Point Blvd

Elgin, IL 60123

815-381-1314

Tim Heston, The Fabricator's senior editor, has covered the metal fabrication industry since 1998, starting his career at the American Welding Society's Welding Journal. Since then he has covered the full range of metal fabrication processes, from stamping, bending, and cutting to grinding and polishing. He joined The Fabricator's staff in October 2007.