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May 5, 2023
GREEN BAY – Brad Hurckman, president and CEO of Hurckman Mechanical Industries (HMI), is the third generation of the Hurckman family to lead the Green Bay-based mechanical systems company.
“My grandfather, Frank Hurckman, was a salesman in town earlier in his career, but he was a forest worker by trade,” Brad said. “As a forest worker, he worked with metal, which led to him working as a salesman for a local metal company in the early 1950s. When the owner passed away, (Frank) didn’t see eye to eye with the new leadership, so he started his own company.”
Brad said Frank and his son-in-law took over the company, but that led to other difficulties.
“They didn’t hit it off,” Brad said. “So, they decided to go their separate ways.”
That led to Frank starting Hurckman Metal & Roofing – which started off in an office located on Pearl Street in Green Bay.
Expansion over the years
In 1967, the business was renamed Hurckman Metal Incorporated and relocated to Winford Avenue.
Five years later, Frank retired and Brad’s father, John, took over the company, eventually moving it to Donald Street.
“My father took the company from a small, fledgling company into a more dynamic operation,” Brad said. “I credit him with creating the systems and culture in the company itself – he did a wonderful job.”
In 1983, the company went through another name change to Hurckman Mechanical Industries Incorporated – following the acquisition of Lindsley Plumbing and Heating Company.
The company also acquired the Carrier dealership of Hurckman Heating and Cooling and the TAC dealership of ConTech Network – which are divisions of Hurckman Mechanical Industries.
In 1994 Hurckman Mechanical Industries’ corporate office moved to 1450 Velp Ave. and remains at this location today.
The transition into the third generation of Hurckman leadership began in 2005 when Brad took over as president.
Today, HMI’s services include engineering, design, fabrication, installation and service of complete mechanical systems to a wide range of industries, including food, dairy, industrial, healthcare, institutional, educational and marine.
“Business has been solid, considering everything we’ve gone through,” Brad said. “It’s been a period of continued growth. We’re in a growth period, and I don’t think these guys plan on stopping. It’s the next generation up now.”
Keeping up with industry change
Jake Warden – who has been with the company since 2015, now serving as HMI’s new chief operating officer – said new technologies, like computerized building information modeling (BIM), have been the major contributors to moving the industry forward.
“There’s always been a gap between how an engineer draws it and how they think it gets installed versus the craftsmanship and how it actually gets installed,” he said. “Right now, the building information model is supposed to bridge the gap between how you draw it out and how we install it.”
Warden said HMI doesn’t use blueprints or paper much anymore.
“It’s all digital,” he said.
Warden said he believes there are still strides to be made in the industry.
“It’s come a long way in the eight years I’ve been here, but we’re still not quite there…,” he said. “There’s huge potential. We all recognize what it could be and are eager to get there.”
Warden said despite the emergence of technology, there is still a human element at play that HMI focuses on and emphasizes.
“The computer models can’t tell you everything about the built environment, so we rely on our experience and problem-solving abilities to make the systems function at peak performance levels,” he said.
Looking forward
Brad said the foresight of the first generation of Hurckman leadership continues to hold strong today – highlighting his confidence in where HMI is headed with the new management team now on board.
“I think we have done a wonderful job of putting great people into key positions,” he said. “I’m encouraged, excited and hopeful the next generation is going to do a better job than any of us ever did – it’s an exciting time for us. They are young people, they’re hungry and they want to grow and develop the company.”
In his time with the company, Warden said he has already seen the company make the adjustments needed to stay successful in times of change.
“In less than eight years, Hurckman has almost quadrupled in size,” he said. “With that comes growing pains, and you must find the efficiencies.”
When he started, Warden said he was the first of a newer generation to come in.
“Not everybody used computers as efficiently – Excel was a newer thing and everybody had their own forms,” he said. “We found a way to bring that all in one location – we found uniformity. We’ve structured things a little bit differently. We’re finding those shortcuts and more efficient ways of doing things and standing on the quality of work we’ve already been doing.”
Brad said he isn’t under any expectation there will be a fourth-generation Hurckman at the company, but he certainly isn’t opposed to the idea.
“I’m third generation, and I have daughters who are the fourth generation,” he said. “That would be something to see – to have one or both of my girls in the company at some point. For me, that would be interesting. If we build a good company and culture, there is no better thing than the essence of that. If (my girls are) a part of that idea when they’re of age and ready, more power to them. From a selfish standpoint, that would be cool for me to see.”
