It wouldn’t normally make sense for someone to turn down business upon opening a new facility, but when FABCON opened its doors 15 years ago in Mahanoy City, Pennsylvania, that’s exactly what Robin Brown did.
“We weren’t ready and I didn’t want to tarnish our reputation by taking jobs before we could produce the material,” says Brown, now a National Sales Manager. “FABCON had a great reputation and my reason for waiting was simple: I knew that before we worked with major clients and the design community, it was important that we were confident that we could deliver exactly what was expected.”
That meant getting the plant and employees up to speed to be sure quality products were produced in a timely way.
“The jobs we accepted were specifically chosen because we knew we could do them well,” says Brown.
The strategy paid off. Within months, Brown and the company began to gain the confidence of major clients, grow organically and expand into the eastern part of the country.
Humble Beginnings
There is always a learning curve at the beginning.
“At one point I thought we were at a clear disadvantage because we were the new kids on the block,” says Ernie Wargo, plant manager. “But now I’ve got staff that have been together for 15 years and we’re in a much better position now.”
Wargo says the Pennsylvania plant is the only one that FABCON built from scratch.
“We identified past issues and our intent was to avoid those things here with this plant,” says Wargo. “We reaped the benefits from implementing some changes. Not to say that everything was perfect, but it helped,” laughs Wargo.
Mark Gasper remembers the beginning. He started as a drafter and now works as a sales engineer.
“This company has come a long way,” Gasper says. “We had to survive some struggles and learn how the east coast market is different than the Midwest. We had a completely different product.”
The product offerings and many other things were about to change.
Talent Pool
To help get the plant up and running, several transplants were borrowed from other locations. People like Chris Desrosier.
“I like to take something new and help make it successful so it can run smoothly,” says Desrosier.”
Desrosier has been involved with just about everything on production, including safety. Lucky for him, he had good help along the way. Like former boss, Mike Hayden.
“I have a lot of respect for Mike,” says Desrosier. “He runs things with discipline, just like learned in the Marines.”
Morgan Denton was another transplant. He came from Minnesota to head up drafting and engineering.
“I was impressed at the level of tenure from the start,” says Brown. “Precast is a niche business and FABCON had a large and talented pool of leaders, including Denton.”
“As we gained more experience, people became more willing to help each other,” says Gasper.
The team grew in numbers and strength. It was the team that would persevere through changes, big and small.
Product Changes
One of the first big changes was the switch from 12-inch hollow core sandwich panel to VersaCoreÔ.
“We were able to fill the hollow core and not have to put that two-inch outside layer on which was extremely important from a cost standpoint,” says Brown. “We were able to evolve to 8-inch, 10-inch, 12-inch and 12-inch sandwich thickness with R-values ranging from 10 to 24. That was key to our success.”
Another key change was offering wide bed panels. Stock at the time was an 8-foot wide panel. FABCON is now the only facility that offers panels up to 13.6 foot wide. It has helped bolster the warehouse and distribution market significantly.
Different finishes became more and more important to architects and other customers. Exterior top and bottom side finishes like steel form, sandblast and exposed aggregate broadened the offerings and made FABCON’s products even more attractive to existing and new customers.
“Architects and general contractors liked the new products,” says Gasper. “The codes keep changing so we made changes, too.”
Success and Steps Forward
For 15 years, the client roster grew with names like Whiting Turner Contracting Company, March Associates Construction, Inc., Home Depot and Prologis.
The next 15 years promise more change, and if leadership has its way, more growth. Analysis and preliminary planning are underway for potential plant expansions in New England, Canada or Southeastern USA. Several factors including shipping and labor costs, availability of raw materials, geographic and commercial/industrial market potential, competition and our continual expansion with National Accounts customers will drive growth decision making.
“Freight costs impact our business so as we capture different markets, we need to open up overflow plants that are closer to jobs in that area,” says Brown.
“I see continual improvement over the next 15 years,” says Gasper. ”We’ll have a new product line in the future based on the energy codes and constant change in construction. I think the team will still be here and it will be great.”
Abundant optimism, hard work and the right players will see them through.
“A lot of us have been here for 15 years so we’re in a much better position now to deal with these challenges,” says Wargo. It’s all about communication and planning.”
FABCON PA By The Numbers:
Number of Buildings Constructed: 950
Revenue: $765 million
Number of Customers: More than 350
Key Clients: Whiting Turner Contracting Company, March Associates Construction, Inc., RC Anderson LLC, OPUS East LLC, Home Depot, Prologis,
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