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FABTECH reporter notebook: A reason to be thankful

Several weeks ago, on my way to a meeting a booth meeting at FABTECH® in Atlanta, I spotted a familiar face: Chris Scripsick, sales engineer at Humboldt, Kan.-based B&W Trailer Hitches, a product line and contract fabricator that, like nearly every other company in this business, saw business plummet during the Great Recession.

Unlike many businesses, though, B&W didn’t lay off a single soul. Instead, managers sent people to the Humboldt community to pitch in where they could. Machine operators and welders repaired ball fields, refurbished parks, even did small jobs at each other’s homes. By 2010 the company had made it through, kept its core talent, and was ready to grow.

Scripsick told me this story four years ago, the last time FABTECH came to Atlanta, when I interviewed him just outside the show floor entrance. It was a good story to tell at the time, fresh off the Great Recession. The story even made television news headlines. It was a perfect feel-good story during a time when many of us needed to feel good.

But in the back of my mind, I was skeptical. The real world of business doesn’t always follow a feel-good narrative. Business owners can do all the right things and still fail miserably. When I ran into Scripsick at the show several weeks ago, I half expected to hear a few missteps—that the company’s plan to not lay off anyone didn’t quite pan out.

But that’s not what happened.

“Since 2009 we’ve doubled our employment and doubled our sales,” he said. “We’ve just added another 100,000 square feet. We’ve purchased four lasers over the past year, and six robotic welding cells. Business is really, really good.”

This Thanksgiving week, I’m thankful I get to cover a business with stories like that to tell, where doing the right thing leads to success.

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.