A steely resolve
By DON SHILLING
VINDICATOR BUSINESS EDITOR
NORTH LIMA -- With steel mills and finishing plants closing all around him, David Hughes was determined that his company would survive.
That was a tall order at the time, considering that four years ago more than 90 percent of Specialty Fab's business was making and repairing equipment for the steel industry.
"The game isn't over," Hughes, the company president and founder, remembers thinking in 2000. "You have to start looking elsewhere."
Specialty Fab's recent move to a larger plant shows that he was right.
By building business in new markets, the company's annual sales have returned to between $2.5 million and $3 million after dropping significantly when the domestic steel industry nearly collapsed.
To provide space for its new work, the company moved last fall from Leetonia to 11950 South Ave. after another fabricating shop closed its operation there. The building and land were sold for $700,000, according to documents at the Mahoning County auditor's office.
The move increased Specialty Fab's plant and office space from 30,000 square feet to 50,000 square feet. The company added six employees and now has 22.
Structural-beam work
It needed more space partly because of its work with structural steel beams, a segment that now provides half of its sales.
Workers take the long beams that are used in building construction and cut them, drill holes in them and add metal plates and other parts that are needed on the job site.
Crews were working recently on some beams that were headed to California to be part of movable scaffolding system to be used for bridge inspection and repairs.
Its largest structural project was preparing 700 tons of beams used to build an IMAX theater in the South Side Works near Pittsburgh.
The structural work isn't as profitable as equipment repair and construction, but it's been crucial to keeping the shop operating, he said.
The company recently became certified to provide structural steel for bridge projects. Bridge work seems like a more consistent market than manufacturing, he said.
"There are going to be a lot of bridges that need [to be] repaired in the next 20 years," Hughes said.
Industrial fabricating
Still, Specialty Fab remains an expert in working with industrial equipment.
Recently, workers were finishing construction of a roll lifter that's designed to lift rolls of steel that weigh 316,000 pounds. The roll lifter itself is 19 feet tall and weighs 14,000 pounds.
The company receives many of its orders to build or repair steel mill equipment from Hunter Lift Ltd., an engineering firm that rents space from Specialty Fab.
Branching out beyond the steel industry is paying dividends as well, Hughes said.
In another part of the plant, workers were building a tire press, which will produce tires at a plant in Akron.
Nearby stood the company's first order in the auto industry -- a storage rack destined for General Motors' Lordstown complex.
Since moving to North Lima, the company named Mike Wallace to head up sales efforts. It previously relied on sales representatives, who also worked with other companies.
Hughes said Specialty Fab has been able to elbow into new markets because companies today are always looking for ways to cut costs while improving quality.
"Everyone is shopping everything," he said.
That forces prices down, meaning suppliers such as Specialty Fab have to watch their operating costs, he said.
"What you do you better be efficient at it or you're going to lose money on it," he said.
Key employees
Achieving that efficiency depends on the employees on the plant floor, especially the fitters who put together the metal rods and sheets that make up various types of equipment, he said.
"They're the ones that are the heart of this business," Hughes said.
The welders also play an important role.
"Quality has to be top-notch or you're not going to have your customer back," Hughes said.
Steel-related orders are picking up as the domestic steel industry has turned around, he said.
On the other hand, he said, pricing bids has become difficult as the price of steel also has increased rapidly throughout the first half of the year. Steel suppliers are quoting prices that are good for only one or two days.
Hughes, 53, started as a welder after graduating from Beaver Local High School and the Columbiana County Joint Vocational School.
He worked for 20 years at various steel mills and suppliers, first as a welder and later as a general foreman and superintendent.
Hughes, who now lives in Salem, remained a resident of this area, driving to places such as Midland, Pa., Steubenville and Cleveland.
While working for a Cleveland company, he helped set up some industrial equipment at a plant in Columbiana. After that job, he decided he knew the steel industry well enough to run his own company, so he created Specialty Fab in 1994 with two employees.
shilling@vindy.com