Adam Hickey, Ben Peters, Suzanne Hickey, Leo Hickey, and Nick Peters ran the Hickey Metal Fabrication plant in Salem, Ohio during a period of strong business growth over the past three years. Image: Hickey Metal Fabrication
        The inability to find people interested in joining the metalworking industry is a common hurdle for most metalworking companies looking to grow their business. In most cases, these companies do not have the necessary staff to add shifts, so they have to make the most of their existing teams.
        Hickey Metal Fabrication, based in Salem, Ohio, is an 80-year-old family business that has struggled before. Now in its fourth generation, the company has weathered the recession, material shortages, technological change, and now the pandemic, using common sense to run its business. He’s facing a similar labor shortage in eastern Ohio, but instead of standing still, he’s turning to automation to help create more manufacturing capacity to grow with customers and attract new business.
        The program has been successful over the past two years. Before the pandemic, Hickey Metal had over 200 employees, but the economic downturn coinciding with the pandemic in early 2020 has led to layoffs. Nearly two years later, the metal fabricator’s headcount is back to 187, with growth of at least 30% in 2020 and 2021. (The company declined to disclose annual revenue figures.)
       “We needed to figure out how to keep growing, not just say we need more people,” said Adam Hickey, corporate vice president.
        This usually means more automation equipment. In 2020 and 2021, Hickey Metal invested 16 capital investments in equipment, including new TRUMPF 2D and laser tube cutting machines, TRUMPF robotic bending modules, robotic welding modules and Haas CNC machining equipment. In 2022, construction will begin on a seventh manufacturing facility, adding another 25,000 square feet to the company’s total 400,000 square feet of manufacturing space. Hickey Metal added 13 more machines, including a 12,000 kW TRUMPF 2D laser cutter, a Haas robotic turning module and other robotic welding modules.
        “This investment in automation has really been a game changer for us,” said Leo Hickey, Adam’s father and president of the company. “We’re looking at what automation can do for everything we do.”
        The company’s impressive growth and growth-driven operational changes while maintaining a close working relationship with its current customer base are two of the main reasons why Hickey Metal was named the 2023 Industry Manufacturer’s Award Winner. The family-owned metalworking company has struggled to keep the family business going for generations, and Hickey Metal is laying the groundwork for a fifth generation to join the cause.
        Leo R. Hickey founded Hickey Metal in Salem in 1942 as a commercial roofing company. Robert Hickey joined his father when he returned from the Korean War. Hickey Metal eventually opened a store on Georgetown Road in Salem, Ohio, just behind the house where Robert lived and raised his family.
        In the 1970s, Robert’s son Leo P. Hickey and daughter Lois Hickey Peters joined Hickey Metal. Leo works on the shop floor and Lois works as a company secretary and treasurer. Her husband, Robert “Nick” Peters, who joined the company in the late 2000s, also works at the store.
        By the mid-1990s, Hickey Metal had outgrown its original Georgetown Road store. Two new buildings have been built in a nearby industrial park just five minutes away.
       Hickey Metal Fabrication was founded over 80 years ago as a commercial roofing company but has grown into a seven-plant company with over 400,000 square feet of manufacturing space.
        In 1988, the company purchased its first TRUMPF punch press from a closed factory nearby. With this equipment comes the customer, and with it the first step from the roof to further work on the manufacture of metal structures.
        From the 1990s to the early 2000s, Hickey Metal developed slowly. The second plant and the third plant in the industrial park were expanded and connected in parallel. A nearby facility that later became Plant 4 was also acquired in 2010 to provide the company with additional production space.
        However, tragedy struck in 2013 when Louis and Nick Peters were involved in a car accident in Virginia. Lois succumbed to her injuries, and Nick suffered a head injury that prevented him from returning to the family business.
        Leo’s wife, Suzanne Hickey, joined the company to help Hickey Metal a year before the accident. She will eventually take over corporate responsibility from Lois.
        The accident forces the family to discuss the future. During this time Lois and Nick’s sons Nick A. and Ben Peters joined the company.
        “We talked to Nick and Ben and said: “Guys, what do you want to do? We can sell the business and continue on our way, or we can expand the business. What do you want to do?” Suzanne recalls. . “They said they wanted to grow the business.”
       A year later, Leo and Suzanne’s son, Adam Hickey, left his digital marketing career to join the family business.
        “We told the boys that we would do this for five years and then we would talk about it, but it was a little longer,” Suzanne said. “We are all committed to continuing the work that Lois and Nick have been involved in.”
        2014 was a harbinger of the coming years. Plant 3 was expanded with new equipment, some of which provided Hickey Metal with new production capabilities. The company purchased the first TRUMPF tube laser, which opened the door for the production of heavy tubes, and a Leifeld metal spinning machine for making cones that are part of bulk supply tanks.
        The two most recent additions to the Hickey Metal campus were Factory 5 in 2015 and Factory 6 in 2019. At the beginning of 2023, Plant 7 is close to reaching full capacity.
       This aerial photograph shows the Hickey Metal Fabrication campus in Salem, Ohio, including the vacant lot that now houses the building’s newest extension, Plant 7.
        “We all work well together because we both have our strengths,” Ben said. “As a mechanical project person, I work with equipment and build buildings. Nick does the design. Adam works with clients and is more involved in the operational side.
       ”We all have our strengths and we all understand the industry. We can step up and help each other when needed,” he added.
        “Whenever a decision needs to be made about an addition or new equipment, everyone is involved. Everyone contributes,” said Suzanne. “There may be days when you will be angry, but at the end of the day, you know that we are all family and we are all together for the same reasons.”
        The family part of this family business doesn’t just describe the blood relationship between the company’s executives. The benefits associated with the family business also guide Hickey Metal’s decisions and play an important role in its growth. The family certainly relies on modern management practices and manufacturing techniques to meet customer expectations, but they are not just following the example of other companies in the industry. They rely on their own experience and knowledge to guide them forward.
        In any situation at work today, you can scoff at the idea of ​​loyalty. After all, layoffs are common in manufacturing companies, and the story of the worker jumping from one job to another for a small raise is familiar to most metal fabricators. Loyalty is a concept from another era.
        When your company turns 80, you know it started from that early era and that’s one of the reasons this concept is so important to Hickey Metal. The family believes that only the collective knowledge of employees is strong, and that the only way to expand the knowledge base is to have experienced employees.
        The construction manager, the person who sets the pace and is responsible for site performance, has been with Hickey Metal for several years, mostly 20 to 35 years, starting on the shop floor and working his way up. Suzanne says the manager started with general maintenance and is now in charge of plant 4. He has the ability to program robots and operate CNC machines in the building. He knows what needs to be sent where so that at the end of the shift it can be loaded onto a truck for delivery to the customer.
        “For a long time everyone thought his name was GM because that was his nickname during general maintenance. He worked for so long,” Suzanne said.
        Growing from the inside is important to Hickey Metal because the more people know about the company’s processes, capabilities and customers, the more they can help in a variety of ways. Adam says it came in handy during the pandemic.
       “When a client calls us because they might not have material or they have to change their order because they can’t get something, we can adjust quickly because we have layoffs in several factories and construction managers Jobs know what’s going on, what’s going on,” he said. These managers can move quickly because they know where to find job vacancies and who can handle new job requests.
       The TRUMPF TruPunch 5000 punch press from Hickey Metal is equipped with automatic sheet handling and part sorting functions that help to process large volumes of metal with minimal operator intervention.
        Cross-training is the fastest way to educate employees on all aspects of a structural steel company. Adam says that they are trying to satisfy the desire of employees to expand their skills, but they do it according to a formal plan. For example, if someone is interested in programming a robotic welding cell, they should first learn how to weld, since welders will be able to tune the welding characteristics of the robot better than non-welders.
        Adam adds that cross-training is useful not only for gaining the knowledge needed to be an effective leader, but also for making the shop floor more agile. In this plant, employees usually received training as a welder, roboticist, punch press operator, and laser cutting operator. With people able to fill multiple roles, Hickey Metal can more easily deal with the absence of employees, as it did in the late fall when various respiratory diseases were rampant in the Salem community.
        Long-term loyalty extends to Hickey Metal customers as well. Many of them have been with the firm for many years, including a couple who have been clients for over 25 years.
        Of course, Hickey Metal responds to simple requests for proposals, just like any other manufacturer. But he aims for more than just walking in the door. The company wanted to build long-term relationships that would allow it to do more than just bid on projects and get to know purchasing agents.
        Adam added that Hickey Metal has begun doing what the company calls “workshop work” with many clients, small jobs that may not be repeated. The goal is to win customers and thus get regular contract or OEM work. According to the family, this successful transition is one of the main reasons for the rapid growth of Hickey Metal over the past three years.
        The result of a longstanding relationship is a level of service that Hickey Metal customers find hard to find anywhere else. Obviously quality and timely delivery is part of that, but steel fabricators try to be as flexible as possible to keep some parts in stock for these customers or be in a position where they can place orders for parts and deliveries can be made as soon as possible. in just 24 hours. Hickey Metal is also committed to supplying parts in kits to assist its OEM customers with assembly work.
        Customer parts are not the only items Hickey Metal has in stock. He also makes sure to have enough materials on hand to ensure regular supplies to these key customers. This strategy really worked at the beginning of the pandemic.
       ”Obviously during COVID people were going out of woodworking and trying to order parts and get materials because they just couldn’t find it anywhere else. We were very selective at the time because we needed to protect our core,” Adam said.
        Sometimes these close working relationships with clients lead to some interesting moments. In 2021, Hickey Metal’s longtime customer from the transportation industry approached the company to act as a manufacturing consultant for a commercial vehicle manufacturer that wanted to open its own steel fabrication shop. Adam said several of the client’s executive representatives assured that this would be beneficial to both parties as the OEM looked to consolidate some of its smaller metal fabrication service providers and do the work in-house while maintaining and possibly increasing Hickey Metal’s share. in production.
       The TRUMPF TruBend 5230 automatic bending cell is used to carry out time-consuming and complex bending projects that previously required two people.
        Rather than viewing customer requirements as a threat to the future of the business, Hickey Metal Fab has gone further and provided information on what manufacturing equipment is right for the job its OEM customers want to do and who to contact to order equipment. As a result, the automaker invested in two laser cutters, a CNC machining center, a bending machine, welding equipment and saws. As a result, additional work went to Hickey Metal.
        Business development requires capital. In most cases, banks must provide this. For the Hickey family, this was not an option.
       ”My father never had a problem with spending money on business development. We always saved for it,” Leo said.
        “The difference here is that although we all live comfortably, we don’t bleed the company,” he continued. “You hear stories of owners taking money from companies, but they don’t really have good collateral.”
        This belief has allowed Hickey Metal to invest in manufacturing technology, which has made it possible to maintain additional business, but is unable to truly increase second shifts due to labor shortages. The mechanical operations in plants 2 and 3 are a good example of how a company can transform in one area of ​​production or another.
       “If you look at our machine shop, you will see that we have completely rebuilt it. We have installed new lathes and milling machines and added automation to increase productivity,” said Adam.