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Green Bay-based fabrication shop fosters innovative growth

5 Point Fabrication celebrates 10 years in business

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June 1, 2023

GREEN BAY – With a combined 100-plus years of custom metal fabrication experience, the team at 5 Point Fabrication – which is celebrating its 10th year in operation – aims to help customers get what they need done fast, efficiently and affordably.

The local fabrication shop – which gets its name from the five guys who saw a need for a custom metalwork shop and branched out on their own – offers laser cutting, forming, machining and welding.

“We saw the company we were at going in a different direction than we wanted to go in,” Co-owner Ron Herring said. “We saw that, we knew that, so we decided to split off and start this company.”

Hit the ground running
Since the shop’s owners had years of previous experience in the industry, Herring said the transition was fairly easy, made more so by the fact they had maintained a lot of contacts within the industry.

“We continued doing work for the customers we had been doing work for in the past,” he said.

Herring said 5 Point Fabrication is not a high-volume shop, and everything it does is custom fabricated.

He said the company’s work focuses on food, beverage and packaging industries.

Herring said 5 Point doesn’t build machines for customers, but rather creates parts used to put their machines together – a somewhat unique but necessary niche market that has continued to boom.

5 Point Fabrication’s other claim to fame, Herring said, is its Tire Siping machine, EZ Sipe – a process that cuts thin slits across the surface of a tire to improve traction for driving or in this case for racing.

//17bec5072710cda5b8dd81b69f4c6e58.cdn.bubble.io/f1685633824828x176638550545778370/richtext_content.webpRon Herring

Herring said EZ Sipe cuts the process of changing a tire down from an hour per tire to eight minutes per tire. 

He said a handful of employees in the 5 Point shop race on dirt tracks, and this automated machine saves the driver time.
“This process is usually done by hand, so not only are they saving time and money, but they’re also siping more safely and protecting their hands,” he said. “This product, once a hobby, became a solidified and patented product.”

Continued growth
When 5 Point Fabrication started in 2013, Herring said it had one shop.

By 2015, he said the company was already in a position to buy another fabrication company located down the road from the 5 Point Fabrication building.

Herring said this doubled the company’s staff – from 20 employees to 40 – with many of the employees from the purchase staying on staff.

5 Point Fabrication acquired General Machine in 2020, which has become known as GenMac.

A prior customer of 5 Point, GenMac continues to build cheese and meat processing equipment now as a subdivision of 5 Point Fabrication.

Herring said 5 Point has been able to build up its partnerships and customer base by keeping promises and being sustainable – something he said is necessary to stay relevant in the fabrication industry.

Building trust builds customer base, and ultimately creates long-lasting partnerships, something he said 5 Point Fabrication is proud of.

Though price is important, Herring said delivery and quality are often held in higher regard.

“Price is important to a lot of people that buy in our industry, but getting their parts on time and getting the parts that are correct and built with quality usually outweighs the price at the end of the day,” he said. “And I think that’s the key. It’s easy to get a new customer, but it’s hard to keep a customer.”

Herring said 5 Point knows that if you stick to your word, those customers will have faith in your ability, and in time it creates more of a partner than just a customer-vendor relationship.

“There’s a built-in trust factor as the customer knows you’re going to get their parts and the headache will be eliminated,” he said.

Herring said it’s not only the customers and partners that stick around, it’s the employees, too.

Acquiring the two companies, he said, not only gave them equipment, but also employees – and lots of them.

It’s a twofold story that, Herring said, has resulted in the company going from five employees to 87 in a relatively short time frame.

“We are incredibly proud of everything we have accomplished over the past 10 years,” he said. “Our employees have been the driving force behind our success, and we are grateful for their dedication and hard work.”

Herring said the culture at 5 Point Fabrication is laid back, but responsible – with everyone holding each other accountable.

“They put pressure on each other,” he said. “They don’t want to let each other down, and at the end of the day, they are going to have a little fun working.”

Henning said 5 Point’s production floor reminds him of an adult version of high school shop class.

//17bec5072710cda5b8dd81b69f4c6e58.cdn.bubble.io/f1685633858656x136700921248839040/richtext_content.webpCo-owner Ron Herring said much of the success 5 Point Fabrication has had in the last decade is directly related to the efforts and dedication of its staff. Chris Rugowski Photo

“You like who you’re working next to, your co-workers become your friends, you can joke around and mess with each other all while getting work done,” he said. “It’s a culture of collaboration and completion.”

Ups and downs
Herring said the ups and downs the economy has had over the last few years have only amplified their work.

“There were a lot of companies spending money and buying capital equipment and that’s what we built,” he said. “We build capital equipment for companies – so, it’s been booming the past few years.”

Looking to the future, Herring said for 5 Point Fabrication – it looks strong.

“I think when you talk about our customer base and you talk about packaging, food, cardboard, things that in a sense drive the world, those things will never go away,” he said. “People need those products. So, those products have to continue to be made.”
Since a large part of 5 Point’s business comes from the demand for replacement parts, Herring said he anticipates business will continue to grow.

“Replacement parts need to be built and new machines need to be updated – it’s a continuous thing,” he said. “In a sense, it’s recession-proof because the products need to be used by everybody, every day.”

Marketwise, Herring said the majority of customers are local to Wisconsin but said 5 Point has done work with companies throughout the country.

Herring said the company plans on continually innovating and expanding its production lines to meet evolving customer needs.

“Our employees are incredibly dedicated to our mission of providing high-quality products and services to our customers,” he said. “We are excited about what the future holds for our company and employees.”

To learn more about 5 Point Fabrication and its products and services, visit the company’s website at 5pointfab.com.

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