Jason Bramblett’s second act as an owner of a metal fabricating company has turned into an impressive performance.
Bramblett has been involved in the metal fabricating industry since the late 1980s, and in 1999 he started a fab shop with a couple of college friends. After almost 20 years of being one voice of three trying to manage a manufacturing business and also experiencing the death of his best friend, one of the co-owners, Bramblett wanted to strike out on his own. It just so happened that he knew of a shop that had been put on the market.
At the time, Jaeger Fabrication was a seven-employee shop in a 12,000-sq.-ft. facility. It was profitable and had a loyal customer base, but the owner hadn’t upgraded any equipment in a long time. He obviously had been looking toward retirement, and making expensive investments in a business he intended to sell really didn’t make sense.
But the sale made sense for Bramblett. He was going to get his shot to call all of the shots.
“This was one of the beauties of going out on my own. I could do it my way,” Bramblett said.
Bramblett took over full ownership in 2019. At that time, Jaeger Fabrication had almost $1 million in revenues. In 2024, the shop is on pace to reach $4 million. This is how the company has made the transition from a small shop to a growing metal fabrication business with plans and capacity to continue its recent success.
Step 1: Quick Turnaround
Bramblett has a straightforward philosophy for the metal fabricating business: Provide good-quality work with shorter lead times than the competition, supported with good communication along the way.
“If you think about it, it’s like taking your car to get worked on. You want the work done right. You want the price to be fair. And you want your car back quickly,” he said.
At the time of the purchase, Jaeger Fabrication only had a heavily used punching machine, which the new owner described as “limited at best.” To deliver on the goal of much shorter lead times than nearby service centers with fabricating services, the shop needed better cutting capabilities than the old punch press could offer.
With more than 30 years of metal fabricating experience, Bramblett knew he needed a laser. He had worked with the technology since the mid-1990s, but most of his experience was with CO2 lasers. That’s why he was considering a used laser cutting machine until he met with a representative from Automated Solutions, a distributor for BesCutter/Han’s Songu laser cutting machines.
Pour lire l'article complet : A metal fabrication company’s 5-step transformation process (thefabricator.com)
