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Light at the end of COVID-19 tunnel for metal fabricators

Coronavirus has torpedoed the global economy (and toilet paper aisles), but a reset in the fab shop might not be the worst thing

Manufacturing facility and shop floor

As the world’s governments took steps to minimize the health impact of the COVID-19 virus, the economic impact was felt early, and the potential for lingering damage remains. That’s bad news for metal fabricators, but not the worst news possible. There is a light at the end of the tunnel. Getty Images

On Friday, March 13, my luck wasn’t about to run out. In fact, timing proved everything.

I was headed to work after dropping off my dog at day care. (Yeah, I’m that guy, but my wife and I work long hours, so we can’t get home to let the animal out. It works for us.) The day care owner and I had just engaged in a conversation about people overreacting to the news about the coronavirus. I was kind of oblivious to the whole matter as I only had been keeping up with nearby school closings and the postponement of industry tradeshows. I shrugged and said, “I think people are just being cautious.”

Twenty minutes later, I’m driving to work, and I see my local supermarket’s parking lot packed as if it’s the day before Thanksgiving. Earlier in the week I had told my wife to forgo buying toilet paper at the nearby Walmart as I had planned to go on this particular Friday afternoon to pick up a package of my favorite double-ply megarolls. Needless to say, I was getting the side-eye for the entire week as my wife watched news stories about people hoarding toilet paper and bottled water. So when I saw the filled supermarket parking lot at 8 a.m., I began to worry more about getting any toilet paper, much less my favorite kind.

Well, they had the toilet paper. I grabbed some paper towels and some chocolate-covered peanut butter eggs to round out the emergency purchase. A 20-minute wait in line to check out this early in the morning reinforced the strange days we are living through with this COVID-19. The eyes of the supermarket cashiers said it all: “This ain’t normal!”

Of course, metal fabricators know this firsthand. You are seeing this play out in your own communities. For the most part, however, I think you understand that you don’t need to start digging that underground bunker right now. (Having said that, now might be the time to launch your own line of underground doomsday desperation dens if it’s been in the back of your mind.) Metal fabricators for the most part are blessed with a great amount of common sense—maintain healthy hygiene habits, avoid large gatherings for the immediate future, and stay at home if you feel sick.

Unfortunately, common sense and planning seem to be in short supply nowadays. It’s led to some frustration and pain, but that was inevitable. COVID-19 was coming to America. Freedom in trade and travel doesn’t mean freedom from risk. It’s a price we pay for living in a global community.

We also have to pay a price for living in a capitalist society, meaning what goes up has to come down. Economic cycles all have a beginning and a conclusion. We may be near the end of the longest economic expansion on record. (In July 2019, the U.S. economic expansion reached 121 months, breaking the old record of 120 months, from March 1991 to March 2001.) Whether this is a slowdown or a recession, I don’t know, and it really doesn’t matter. This economic expansion, as sluggish as it has been at times, has placed the U.S. economy in a much better position than it was in 2009.

Metal fabricators are in a better place as well. They have more diversified customer bases to prevent a major downturn in one economic sector from dragging the whole company down with that one or handful of dominant customers. They have leaner organizations because of investments in automation and relying on a key group of talented, cross-trained employees.

The COVID-19 pandemic is a slow-moving event, but it already has made an immediate impact. Large multinational companies realize they need flexibility in the supply chain, even if it might mean added cost compared to the “global prices” available in Southeast Asia and other areas. On-time delivery means the world to most major manufacturers, and metal fabricators absolutely understand that. Without product, you can’t produce.

So metal fabricators are much better prepared for an economic downturn, and large multinational companies have been reminded once again of the often overlooked costs associated with overseas sourcing. They now have the chance to maybe take a collective breath and embark on new endeavors, perhaps launching continuous improvement efforts or employee training. Instead of chasing deadlines and trying to stay on top of ever-changing production schedules, fab shops can take the time to decide if they have the right customer mix in terms of overall profitability. A step back from the hustle might make a company better prepared to dash into the opportunities that await.

When a sense of normalcy returns to the U.S. economy and the toilet paper aisle at the supermarket, metal fabricators will be ready to take advantage of the start of the newest economic expansion. Let’s just hope precautions taken today to contain the COVID-19 virus minimizes the impact on this country’s citizenry.

About the Author
The Fabricator

Dan Davis

Editor-in-Chief

2135 Point Blvd.

Elgin, IL 60123

815-227-8281

Dan Davis is editor-in-chief of The Fabricator, the industry's most widely circulated metal fabricating magazine, and its sister publications, The Tube & Pipe Journal and The Welder. He has been with the publications since April 2002.