Ironmen’s diversification plan

Ironmen is equipped to do GMAW, GTAW, and arc welding. The shop also has CNC machining and forming equipment and two industrial band saws. All images courtesy of Ironmen.

Winkler, Man.-based Ironmen Industries has been in operation for 10 years serving a variety of businesses. Its success has been evident, given how the company has grown, but as every fabricator knows, serving as a subcontractor or job shop for other companies can be a precarious existence. While Ironmen had been quite successful, principals David Krahn, his father John, and brother Johnny knew that having their own product would better secure Ironmen’s future.

The purchase of JobJon Portable Solutions and the sanitation needs that have arisen with the COVID-19 pandemic have created a situation where Ironmen can keep on an even keel at its facility despite dips in other industries.

Family Synergies

When Ironmen first opened its doors, David Krahn believed its focus would be on potato equipment.

“My father had a number of connections in that field, and the first job we quoted and landed was the fabrication of storage facilities with a wash plant,” said Krahn.

David had been developing his management skills at a steel flashing manufacturing company, while brother Johnny was trained in fabrication of structural steel and farm equipment.

“I had no formal training in office management but had an aptitude and a keen interest in it,” said Krahn. “When Dad asked if we’d be interested in starting up a business, the combination of our interests seemed a perfect recipe for it. It was an idea my brother and I had kicked around for a while. Our father’s experience allowed us to qualify the business for our customers.”

The combined contacts of the three soon led to opportunities coming their way. Few were in the potato equipment industry, but the work kept the company busy.

“We soon had jobs that were bigger than our shop could really handle, but we took it and figured it out as we went,” said Krahn. “And we found that we worked well together. That was something that we couldn’t be certain of until we launched the business. We ended up being very diversified because our customers saw how effectively we operated and what our combined experience brought to the table for them.”

The business started in a 3,200-sq.-ft. space – a spot that soon became too small for the work that was coming in. But a fabricator across town was shutting down and asked if Ironmen wanted to buy its equipment.

The mobile hot hand wash station solves the challenge of sanitation at construction sites and public events. JobJon Portable Solutions’ engineers were able to winterize the unit while keeping the design compact and rugged.

“The equipment sounded great, but we had no place to put it,” said Krahn. “So we purchased the equipment and leased that same shop to tide us over in the four years while we made plans for a new, 16,000-sq.-ft. shop of our own.”

Oil Opportunities

While Ironmen ended up doing a number of random jobs and plenty of miscellaneous repairs, when they moved into their new facility an oil business job got them involved in building trailers. Soon they were certified to build and put custom-designed trailers for bin haulers and other specialties on the road.

“All the oil equipment we were doing was mobile equipment,” said Krahn.

When the first oil-related contract came in, it was with an innovative company that wanted a manufacturer for the R&D projects it was working on. “If we hadn’t built that new facility, we wouldn’t have been ready to do this work. In the oil business, there is always a risk of setting up for that work and not being prepared for what comes after, because it will dry up. But we’d set up for general fab work, so we were ready.”

Krahn said that the work that came created record years for Ironmen. The company built another 28,000-sq.-ft. shop and added a separate mechanics shop in back that came with the purchase of lots around the original 16,000-sq.-ft. building.

Securing the Future

While the oil industry work served Ironmen well for some time, the company continued to branch out into more structural steel projects. However, when the pandemic hit, some jobs dried up quickly.

“We were looking at having to think of laying people off at the beginning of the year,” said Krahn.

At the same time the Ironmen team had been considering the purchase of JobJon Portable Solutions, a manufacturer of high-end portable restroom facilities, and realized that going ahead with that purchase would stabilize their work flow concerns.

The unit has a 100-gal. freshwater capacity and can be lifted into any work site. The product was designed and put into production within two months.

“The company we bought had been operating since 2007,” said Krahn. “The restrooms are fully heated so they can operate through the winter. The key for us in the purchase is that it was a company with orders on the books, and it gives us our own product line, which is where we felt we needed to be in the long run. The fab world is a difficult one to be in. It’s hard to keep experienced employees, and every job is unique when you’re running a job shop. An in-house product solves that problem.”

Innovating for the Pandemic

The portable restrooms were only the beginning of a diversified product line that Ironmen feels potentially could serve various industries. Krahn said he felt like the best way to make a statement in the marketplace was to introduce a brand-new product immediately. The Ironmen team saw that a mobile hot hand wash sanitation station would be a valuable addition to the product line.

“We had the JobJon R&D team jump on that concept quickly,” he said. “Within two months we had it designed and in production.”

The mobile hot hand wash station solves the challenge of sanitation at construction sites and public events. JobJon Portable Solutions’ engineers were able to winterize the unit while keeping the design compact and rugged. The unit has a 100-gal. freshwater capacity and can be lifted into any work site.

“The crane hook is the only innovation we’ve made to the hand wash unit since we designed it,” said Krahn.

The purchase and new product development dovetailed perfectly with changes in the company.

“We were just moving into our new, 28,000-sq.-ft. building so we could lay it out for production of our products from the outset,” he said. “The existing orders meant that we could hit the ground running, and we’ve even added 20 people to our team.”

Learning on the Job

Krahn’s been learning quickly what it means to manage a product line.

Ironmen has 52,000 sq. ft. of shop space with large cranes and small cranes across the complete shop. The company also carries a large inventory of steel.

“The whole R&D process is new for us, as is the quality control process,” he said. “We’ve managed quality control on other projects, but that was always based on someone else’s specs. It’s a different thought process when you make the design and build decisions. Now it’s up to us to get the look and quality level we want, as well as the price point that can be marketable. We understand that we could go to market with a cheaper product, but we take a long-term view of our products and want to make sure our quality can stand the test of time.”

The other interesting challenge has been sourcing part suppliers.

“Winkler is a really unique area in that, while it’s not a large city, it has a great range of industries that can work together,” said Krahn. “We have been able to source a lot of materials right here, which is great for keeping our supply chain short and keeping more people employed right here in our hometown.”

When asked what he feels keeps Ironmen competitive, Krahn doesn’t hesitate.

“We’ve never turned down the small jobs,” he said. “It’s a difficult choice sometimes, but the small jobs are the ones that got us where we are today. It would feel wrong to close our retail desk. In fact, when we set up our manufacturing line for the JobJon products, we maintained a separate welding area dedicated to custom repair work. It would have been easy to turn down those jobs when we were booming, but because we didn’t, we are able to count on that work during these lean times.”

With the new product lines Ironmen has the best of both its client bases in mind. Watch for more from this dynamic company in coming years.

Editor Robert Colman can be reached at rcolman@canadianfabweld.com.

Ironmen Industries, ironmenindustries.com

JobJob Portable Solutions, jobjon.ca

With the purchase of JobJon and the development of the hot hand wash stations, Ironmen was able to hire 20 people in the past few months.