| “We grew
Metalogic from a welding and fix it shop to a strategy for successful
niche-market manufacturing,” said Kevin Jensen, co-owner of Metalogic,
Inc., located in Flippin, Arkansas near the state's northern border with
Missouri.
At right: Brothers Keith Jensen and
Kevin Jensen, co-owners of
Metalogic
and Universal
Pultrusions >>>
Established by Kevin and his brother Keith Jensen in September of 1990,
when the business began the co-owners did much of the fabrication and
repair work themselves. "We are 'solution finders'," Kevin explained.
"When things wear out or get broken, we figure out how to fix them. How to
make it work."
This skill with problem solving, coupled with the drive to 'make it work'
harvested a prosperous clientele for the entrepreneurial duo, who were
soon serving an OEM/private-label list of manufacturers that has grown
over the years to include Taylor Made Ambulance, Allen Engineering, Ranger
Boats, Bass Cat Boats, Champion and SeaArk while at the same time
retailing products thru Cabela's and Bass Pro Shops.
"Mainly, we have been manufacturing specialty stainless steel grab-rails
and transom ladders," Kevin explained. "It took us about three years, from
the time we started, to make the transition from a general fix-it metal
shop to a custom stainless steel fabricator."
Establishing a reputation for exceptional quality, on-time delivery and
fiduciary responsibility, watercraft production manufacturers came to rely
on Metalogic, and demand for their products steadily grew.
By 2004 with Metalogic under their belts, Keith and Kevin decided to
branch out. Building on Keith's previous experience in the fiberglass
industry, the brothers acquired a pultrusion manufacturing facility,
located in Marshall, Arkansas, which -- as the crow flies -- is only about
25 miles south of Flippin, but by the thoroughfare of winding Ozark
Mountain by-ways, constitutes nearly an hour of travel time.
Though he has now relocated to the Marshall community, Keith made the
drive from Flippin twice a day, five, or six, or sometimes seven days a
week for nearly four years to the facility he and brother Kevin dubbed
Universal Pultrusions, LLC, while Kevin kept things running at Metalogic.
"Pultruded fiberglass composites are more like stainless steel than
anything else," Keith explained. "And that was one of the things that
attracted us to this business. The durability of the products produced.
"We now manufacture the only fully pultruded foam-core door panel in the
world," Keith elaborated. "Our proprietary manufacturing process is the
key to our unique fenestration system which includes pultruded doorframes,
borrowed lites and louvers that are corrosion defiant yet perform as good
as or better than steel."
This penchant for strength and quality, coupled with a strong appreciation
for customer service and a tenacious eye to ROI, harvested steady growth
for the sister-companies and by the 4th quarter of 2008, UniPul was coming
into its own.
Metalogic, however, was experiencing the side effect of major cut-backs in
the marine industry, resultant of slow consumer sales, and to counter this
downturn the brothers began strategizing further expansion plans.
"The world of pultruded composites is burgeoning," Keith explained.
"Re-gearing is the smart thing to do. In part because of the economy but
mostly because of the industrial manufacturing trends now storming the
horizon."
While Metalogic will remain vital with a
renewed focus on specialty machine shop services and re-tooling to provide
die-fabrication services to sister-company UniPul, the brothers are also
looking to take on a bigger share of the fiberglass-reinforced-polymer (FRP)
manufacturing industry.
“We are thinking possibly of manufacturing pre-fab building components for
small, utility-type buildings at UniPul,” said Keith. “Then doing assembly
in conjunction with Metalogic, perhaps opening a third facility to
accommodate that.”
|
This idea of building the businesses
together, as a team effort, is fundamental to what the brothers see as
their overarching success which, in light of the fact that nearly 90% of
all business start-ups fail within the first five years, and considering
that 'working with family' is at the top of most 'things that never work'
lists, what the Jensen brothers have accomplished is beyond remarkable.
"We just got tired of making money for someone else," Kevin grinned. "And
when we work together, at least we know that we can depend on each other.
There's no second guessing or worrying that someone is going to leave you
in the lurch."
Heading the list of those vital to this corporate cooperation is Kevin's
wife, Susan Jensen, who has served as the affiliation’s chief financial
officer since day one. Others key to the combined companies' management
team include:
Darrel Horton, UniPul Production Manager, has been involved with
pultruding composites since 1986 and, as Keith regards him, is the
company's living encyclopedia of pultrusion wherewithal.
Margaret Ratchford, UniPul’s Customer Service Director, started with the
company in accounting in 2006, mastered the complex process involved with
accurately quoting customers who each have a unique set of specifications
for the doors they wish to procure, and now shares responsibility with the
production manager for setting delivery lead times.
Christine Beems, the company’s Communications Director, started with the
firm in February of 2008 and is responsible for the two companies’ six
websites, product catalogs, technical materials, advertising strategy and
exhibit coordination.
Brian VonDette came to UniPul in March of 2009 with an extensive
background in fiberglass technology including accreditation by the
American Composite Manufactures Association (ACMA) as a Certified
Composite Technician Instructor (CCT-I). As National Sales Director, Brian
works with over 20 regional sales representatives across the United States
and throughout Canada, providing training in the technical aspects of
pultruded composite materials from an industrial point of view.
“There is simply nothing on the market that can touch pultruded fiberglass
in terms of corrosion free durability,” Brian said.
"Having a solid business is all about direct, candid, person-to-person
communication," stressed Kevin. "We were raised on farm. Our parents moved
us all to a cattle ranch in April of 1967. It became our family business.
The nearest highway was 5-miles away. We had to learn to depend on each
other and work together to take care of things in order to survive."
"We had a good upbringing," agreed Keith. "And a great life as youngsters.
We fished in the creek and went hunting." Both sports, along with mushroom
hunting and mule wrangling, remain as favorite avocations of the brothers
today.
"You go where you're looking," Susan Jensen emphasized, citing an
equestrian adage to summarize the self-motivated attitude which permeates
corporate decision-making.
"We learned responsibility and accountability," Kevin concluded. "We
learned to appreciate the land and have respect for it, and when you do
that everything else falls into place." ~~~ |
