When Bryan Schmidt founded TGS Precision 15 years ago, he was living in a dorm room and strategizing a way out of his home state. Monday through Friday, he was attending engineering classes and writing his senior thesis. On weekends, he was flying down to Tennessee to work in a building he leased outside of Knoxville. Focusing his thesis on starting a metals manufacturing business, he learned that Tennessee was third in the nation for its tax incentives and labor rates.
“It was 2011, I was 21 years old, and I had a love and passion for manufacturing,” Schmidt says. “My father and grandfather were tool and die makers in New York state, so I learned the trade at a really young age. Instead of having babysitters, I was programming CNC machines, so I named the business TGS, which stands for Third Generation Schmidt.”
Early on, Schmidt’s business was comprised of nothing more than him and a used Haas VF-2 machining center he paid for with a lien on his truck and a 33 percent interest rate. Within three years, he had amassed a fleet of 15 Haas CNC mills and lathes.
“Every penny I made went into buying new machines,” he says. “I just wanted to keep growing and growing and growing.”
Focus on the future
In a video produced by Haas Automation in 2013, Schmidt’s mother is quoted as saying, “I always knew that Bryan wasn’t a normal child. He was always very focused. If he’s tired or whatever, he always puts that little extra in, and he’s very focused on where he wants to be in the future.”
Thirteen years later, when you ask Schmidt what his vision for the future looks like, he’ll tell you that it’s always been “to be much more than we are today.” It seems simple and straightforward, but it also seems to be an effective motivator. When he first started the business, he understood machining, but had little experience in fabrication, so he focused on what he knew, which was machining services. To achieve his vision, though, he’d need more equipment.
“In 2012, I sent an email to Gene Haas, founder of Haas Automation, telling him that I was 22 years old, had just started my company and had bought three machines but needed like 10 more,” Schmidt explains. “I told him I wanted to meet him, and he actually responded saying, ‘here’s my cell phone number, give me a call.’ I thought it was a scam, but it was anything but.
“So, I talked to Gene on the phone,” he recalls, “and he said, ‘We’re flying you to California next week.’ And that’s what they did. They wrote an article about me, and when I was there, Gene agreed to help me with financing the additional machines.”
Clearly, Schmidt’s bold outreach paid off and gave the budding business the shot in the arm it needed. Haas’s generosity and faith in the young fabricator also resulted in an article and video that garnered the attention of Walt Disney Imagineering Research & Development Inc., the division of Walt Disney Co. that handles the creation, design and construction of Disney’s worldwide theme parks and attractions.
In addition to Disney, which is still a faithful TGS customer, the company provides design, engineering and manufacturing services for many other companies across many industries, such as marine, food service, fitness and more.
The strategic relationship Schmidt established with Haas, however, wouldn’t be the only bond he’d form with an equipment manufacturer. As he expanded into fabrication services, a partnership with BLM GROUP USA soon followed.
Powerful partnerships
With the goal of becoming a one-stop shop for his customers, Schmidt partnered in 2015 with Jason Murrell, who had experience on the fabrication side. Murrell had been a customer of TGS for marine components and is still in business with Schmidt today.
“We wanted to be a total solutions provider for our customers, so we sat down and came up with a plan to vertically integrate,” Schmidt says. “And that’s still our goal today. Whether it’s a one-off prototype or an 80,000-piece run, we can do it because of all the diverse equipment we have in machining and fabrication, which includes a lot of BLM GROUP equipment.”
To fulfill its customers’ wide-ranging needs, TGS invested in a ProBend all-electric press brake from BLM GROUP as well as an LS7 flat sheet laser cutting machine to provide precision tube processing capabilities to customers. The company also purchased an LS5 fiber laser cutting machine and LS7 fiber laser cutting machine, both outfitted with fully automated tower systems.
“The automation in our newest tower is incredible,” Schmidt says. “We received it in March and are still learning how to take full advantage of it, but right out of the gate, it increased our throughput by 30 percent. They’re fast, smooth and user-friendly, and for some reason, there are probably no more than five other similar systems in the United States right now. It’s what we need, though, to stay competitive.”
To make the most of all of TGS’s BLM GROUP equipment investments, BLM GROUP sends its staff to the TGS facility for training, and Schmidt sends his staff to the BLM GROUP North American headquarters in Novi, Mich., for advanced training. If there’s “a message to get out into the world,” he says, it’s to not be intimidated by the equipment.
“The tower isn’t overly complex,” Schmidt adds. “You load it full of raw material, reserve empty shelves for finished goods, run the raw material through the machine and it sorts the finished goods on a different shelf. Before that, material handling was a very manual process at TGS. We made it work, but this investment isn’t just about throughput. It’s also about the safety the system provides and the support BLM GROUP delivers.”
When Schmidt talks about his business, it isn’t uncommon for him to start singing the praises of BLM GROUP. He stresses the importance of the partnerships he’s established between TGS and its equipment providers, which, of course, also includes Haas Automation.
“Without BLM GROUP, we wouldn’t be where we are today,” he says. “They understand the value of keeping the machines running. They actually value the partnership just as much as we do. We’ve experienced one-sided relationships from other manufacturers – they’re great until they get the sale, and then you’re nothing more than a folder in their cabinet.
“With BLM GROUP, it’s a long-term relationship, so we’re excited about the next 20 years,” he adds. “When two ends work together, you can accomplish anything.”
In addition to the training received with new equipment, TGS sends its staff to BLM GROUP once a year for training. Knowing that technology is consistently marching forward, Schmidt wants his staff to always be up to speed. He says professional development is a big part of the company culture. And it’s also a big part of his vision for the future: “being much more than we are today.”
Place of pride
There isn’t a day that goes by where the company’s mission and vision aren’t top of mind for Schmidt, his business partner and the entire workforce at TGS. In an ambitious nutshell, he defines that mission and vision as being passionate about manufacturing, delivering the highest quality products possible on time and, again, being much more tomorrow than they are today.
“Today, we’re in a 50,000-sq.-ft. facility with 110 employees, but the vision is to have 150 employees by next year and, eventually, have multiple sites and worldwide recognition,” he says. “We’re working with the local counties to build a 125,000-sq.-ft. building, which we’ll move into on a 2029 or 2030 timeline. We’re growing, and we aren’t going to lift our foot off the pedal until we see God or the checkered flag.”
Schmidt says company growth will come in the form of expanding capabilities – and customers – with an even higher diversity of cutting-edge equipment. Based on the rock-solid partnership established between TGS and BLM GROUP, the plan is to buy more machines in the near future.
“If I win the lottery, we’re going to buy everything BLM GROUP has in stock for the next 20 years,” he says. “It’s just too much fun. The equipment is reliable and the support is there, so why would we stop?”
Schmidt also sees growth in the form of acquisitions of other shops that have a good portfolio but no exit strategy. “Think of all of the folks that are in their 60s and running a fab shop that their kids want nothing to do with,” he says. To position TGS for the expansion Schmidt envisions, the company is investing in its team from a leadership and training standpoint.
“We’re really proud of what we’re building,” he says. “There’s so much passion in the building, and that’s something you can’t teach. That passion is why we say we have no limit for growth.”
Passion, in fact, is one of the five core values that TGS lives by. Every employee has a card in their wallet that reminds them of their collective foundation: teamwork, innovation, integrity, passion and safety. Putting an emphasis on those values, the company has gone two years with no lost-time accidents.
“Everybody in the organization is so proud of what they’re building,” he says. “And it isn’t just me; it’s the whole team. Everyone is proud to be a part of this company. No one’s just an employee here, which is part of why it’s such a great place to work.
“We aren’t the cheapest, but we’re a good company and we’re good people,” he concludes. “That should be who you want to work with.”
Techgen Media has been covering BLM GROUP technology and equipment for as long as the publication house has been in existence. Check out the BLM coverage over the years in our archives.
