Manufacturing Today - May/June 2017 - 140
Slabe Machine Products www.slabemachine.com / HQ: Willoughby, Ohio / Employees: 150+ / Specialty: Metal components / Brendan Slabe, vice president of sales: "[We] keep showing up and good things happen." slabe machine anticipates that aerospace will be a very strong market for decades to come. Passion for Parts family leadership keeps slabe machine products going after nearly 80 years. by alan dorich When employees at Slabe Machine Products approach Vice President of Sales Brendan Slabe with a problem, he offers them a solution and one of the many sayings that he has posted on the corkboard above his desk. Some are from movies, a daily proverb calendar or are quotes from hockey icon Wayne Gretzky. These include "'You miss 100 percent of the shots you don't take,'" Slabe says. "But they are all more or less centered around moving forward and not quitting. [We] keep showing up and good things happen." This philosophy drives the Willoughby, Ohio-based company, which 140 manufacturing-today.com MAY/JUNE 2017 manufactures low-cost, complex components for the aerospace, firearms, medical, valve, commercial, power generation and bearing industries. Slabe's grandfather, Edward E. Slabe Sr., started the firm in 1939 and grew its reputation for machining stainless nickel alloys and exotic metals. Equipped to Serve Today, Slabe Machine is in its third generation of family leadership, which distinguishes it from its competitors. "Not too many of them make it past the second generation," Brendan Slabe says, noting that the company has never lost touch with its roots. Northeast That includes its commitment to strong customer service. "We service our customers as well as they can be," he says, noting that it accomplishes this by acquiring the newest technology and equipment. Slabe Machine recently added robots to its operations, and moved 30 pieces of equipment in its facility to make room for more, including milling and turning machines and multi-access pieces. When the Willoughby mayor, David E. Anderson, visited the location, he commented that the company had the most machines he had ever seen in a building. "He said, 'You get the Golden Shoehorn Award, because you couldn't shoehorn another piece of equipment in here,'" Slabe recalls. The additions will enable Slabe Machine to better serve its prominent aerospace clients, including United Technologies, General Electric and Rolls-Royce plc. "They're all on an incredible ramp and their machines are at the beginning of their lifecycle," Slabe says. "Aerospace is going to be a very strong business for decades to come," he predicts. "We took it upon ourselves to make sure every inch of our floor space was filled with very good equipment." Slabe Machine also retains top talent by providing its employees with competitive wages and benefits. "I know a lot of other shops that don't," Slabe says. "They're just in it to expand their business, merge with somebody else and grab an EBITA number. "We just love our business," he asserts, noting that he gets satisfaction from making things from metal. "I look behind me at the hundreds of machines I have to do that, and it's invigorating. That excitement translates into why we've stayed around."