Peer-to-peer interaction leads to greater manufacturing satisfaction

Metal fabricating is a complex business. That’s why it’s no surprise that The FABRICATOR editors get asked a lot of questions from business owners and shop managers looking for assistance. Well, editors have never run a shop before. Other fabricators at the FMA Annual Meeting in San Antonio, March 3-5, can help, however. Getty Images

Many in the metal fabricating industry consider The FABRICATOR to be an authority on the very subject the publication covers. Let’s just say that the editors have done a good job covering fabricating technology advancements and documenting the many different steps shops have taken over the years to improve their performances.

But at the end of the day, we really don’t have the experience of running a metal fabricating operation. We’ve seen a lot of shops. We’ve talked to a lot of fabricators. But we are better at building a story than fabricating a metal part.

That doesn’t prevent us from getting notes asking for advice. That’s not necessarily bad as we have worked with subject matter experts on a variety of topics over the years. We may not have all of the answers about metal fabricating, but maybe we can put people on the right path to finding those answers.

But when it comes down to getting the straight dope on a metal fabricating question, fabricators are better off asking fabricators. The Fabricators & Manufacturers Annual Meeting in San Antonio on March 3-5 is the perfect opportunity to do just that.

Do you want an example? We routinely get asked about software. Metal fabricators are looking for everything from project management software as the next step from relying on a dry erase board for years to an entire enterprise resource planning (ERP) package that literally can address every function in a shop, including a few that the metal fabricating business may never use, such as an e-commerce platform.

Certainly we’ve done stories on shops that have upgraded their software or migrated to a new software system, but that hardly has prepared us to play matchmaker in this space. Fabricators, on the other hand, know their businesses, and they know what has worked and what hasn’t.

If fabricators had been at the 2018 FMA Annual Meeting in Scottsdale, Ariz., they could have heard how Jones Metal Inc., Mankato, Minn., and Ludlow Manufacturing Inc., Waukegan, Ill., handled their ERP software implementations. It wasn’t a slam dunk for either company, but they offered up some good advice for those shops that may be considering such a move.

Want another example? We are contacted occasionally by people looking to sell their businesses. It’s no secret that most baby boomers are preparing to retire if they can, so that’s led to a lot of companies changing ownership recently. As editors, we can share some insights into what constitutes a high-performing fabricator and even recommend useful references, such as FMA’s “Financial Ratios & Operational Benchmarking Survey,” but we don’t really know who is the best fit in these change-of-ownership scenarios.

Other fabricators do, however. In fact, at the 2019 FMA Annual Meeting in Nashville, Lisa Wertzbaugher shared the story of how she helped her parents get their business, Superior Tube Products in Davenport, Iowa, in shape for selling. She led changes, such as formalizing the sales and marketing efforts and modernizing human resources activities, over a three-year period to make the company more attractive as an acquisition target. It worked. ESP International, Cedar Rapids, Iowa, bought the company in 2018.

The 2020 FMA Annual Meeting in San Antonio is covering a lot of ground, much of which is likely top of mind for a lot of metal fabricators. What digital manufacturing means to fabricators, growing a welding talent pipeline, what to expect with steel prices, the future of robotic welding, resolving production scheduling challenges, and handling ERP implementation challenges are just a few of the scheduled sessions.

Of course, the real value comes from the informal conversations that occur at breaks and meals. No two shops are alike, but all have similarities. Those fabricators in attendance are the real experts and are likely to have the answers to the questions you haven’t thought of yet.