Meet the metal fabrication company that grew 24% in the midst of a pandemic

This story is the follow-up to a feature published two years ago. Read the original story, How RC Industries Consistently Grows a Metal Fabrication Business.

When we met with RC Industries in July 2019, the company had 160 employees working three shifts. They’ve overcome plenty of adversity in that time—much like all of us have—and managed to keep headcount the same while increasing revenue 24%. What are the reasons for that success? We caught up with Chris Curtis, Owner of RC Industries, to talk about it.

The big picture

RC Industries is known for its long-lasting toolboxes, which make up about 55% of its revenue pie. Custom metal fabrication accounts for the other 45%. “We make a really good product with the best value proposition in the industry,” Curtis said. “Longevity is key, and it’s double the life of our competition. When the customer cares about quality, we earn that business.”

The company’s growth in custom metal fabrication is largely due to the boom in walk-in van production (UPS, FedEx, Amazon, being key examples). To keep up, RC Industries relies on equipment from Cincinnati Incorporated.

RC Industries’ CI story

As a teenager, Curtis became familiar with Cincinnati machines. That familiarity led to loyalty, and he brought it to RC Industries when he acquired the company in the mid-1990s. You can jump to our previous story to see the dozen machines RC had on its floor in 2019, but for this article, we’ll focus on a specific capability: lasers and automation.

In August of 2020, it was time to bring in a new CL-900 laser and MARCH 10-shelf automation tower to meet the increased demand (which brought RC’s running total to two fiber lasers, two CO2 lasers and two MARCH towers). For the buying process, Curtis simply didn’t look anywhere else.

“We just went right to CI,” he said. “We’ve had a wonderful experience with our other CL-900 laser. It’s been hugely productive. We have great relationships with CI up and down the chain and our team knows the equipment, so it was simple. They gave us a good proposal and took care of us.”

An unstoppable team

Together, the CL-900 series and MARCH tower have allowed RC Industries to keep up with demand. Their latest fiber laser is a more powerful 8,000 Watt machine (compared to the other CL-900, a 6,000 Watt), and the MARCH is equipped with over/under offload carts to support its 10 shelves.

“The new equipment has fit in nicely with our material mix,” Curtis said. “We do a lot of reflective material like aluminum and stainless. The nLight light source handles that material well; it’s great with handling back reflection.”

RC Industries still puts its old CO2 lasers to work with short runs, remnants and drops. The new CL-900 replaced a slab laser, and the difference is stunning. “The new machine is 100% better across the board,” Curtis said. “Productivity, reliability, ease of maintenance, cost of use, safety.”

The endless staffing battle

It won’t come as a surprise that RC Industries deals constantly with labor shortage issues. Turnover is slightly higher than it’s been in past years, but the company is proactively fighting it. “It’s been a struggle finding quality people,” he said. “But we’ve also been able to keep most of our people, and we’ve adjusted our compensation to be competitive.”

So, while turnover is up, it’s still lower than the industry average. Above all, Curtis and his leadership team work hard to make sure the company is a great place to work. The effect has been quantifiable. Revenue in 2021 is up 50% over 2020, and 24% over 2019. The company holds a 98% on-time delivery rate, with a lead time of about 4 weeks.

Overall, improved technology and processes have allowed RC Industries to grow while maintaining headcount. They’re working smarter and more efficiently than ever.

Our story continues

When we asked him to predict the future, Curtis saw one with CI in it. “We saw a number of new products at FABTECH 2021 that would make a difference here,” he said. “We’ve been closely following the development of the new CLX laser. The ground up redesign has really improved CI’s laser product offering. Similar story with CIberDash. We’re going to schedule a demo and give that software a try. And finally RoboForm. We could use a small automated cell to complement our larger automated cell.”

Whether you’re ready for a laser + automation tandem, a better press brake or productivity-boosting software, the team at CI is here to help. Talk to us and discover what Chris Curtis has known for three decades: you won’t find people and machines like this anywhere else.