When the fire marshal says you have the cleanest facility in town, you must be doing something right. For Gary Booth, president and founder of Dynamic Metal Fabrication Inc. (DMF), the compliment is more than a housekeeping badge of honor. It proves a commitment to employee well-being and morale, lays the foundation for customer trust and provides an environment that is conducive to producing the highest quality parts possible.
A clean and organized shop floor is something that Booth has taken seriously since day one. When DMF first opened its doors more than 25 years ago, he and his two co-founders made up the entire workforce, so he knows firsthand how important it is to have a good work environment and how that environment affects staff retention. In an industry that is still unfairly categorized as dirty and dangerous, Booth has made it his mission to shed that reputation.
That focus has resulted in happy, long-tenured employees – and new business. When customers walk through the shop, the cleanliness and organization on display creates positive first impressions. To further boost the company’s appeal, Booth is also proud to show off DMF’s impressive fleet of equipment, which now includes two brand-new advanced fiber laser cutting machines from Bystronic Inc.
Hitting goals
Founded in 2000 in Thornton, Colo., DMF has evolved from a 5,000-sq.-ft. startup into a full-service job shop with 63 employees and more than 200 active customers. Beyond its sparkling, modern shop floor, part of the company’s success can be attributed to its ability to offer customers both precision machining work and sheet metal fabrication.
Initially, the three founders pooled their money together to start off with two CNC mills, a used punch press and press brake, as well as a couple of welders. Today, DMF boasts 10 mills, two lathes, four sheet lasers, a tube laser, several press brakes and turret punches, a fleet of welders, multiple sawing machines, a powder coating shop and more.
“We’ve come a long way,” Booth says. “When we first started, I was on the sheet metal side, welding and running the punch press and press brake. My business partner at the time, Gary Sarber, ran the machine shop while Stan Whitaker, our other business partner, ran the front office, managing the books and handling quoting, sales and purchasing.
“We really complemented one another,” he explains. “We achieved our goal of setting up a one-stop shop, which has helped our customers and us, especially when we ran into slow periods over the years. If sheet metal work was booming, the machining could be down and vice versa. Each side of the shop really complements the other side.”
With these complementary skills and offerings, the three co-founders were able to build a long-lasting business from scratch. Two have since retired, however, leaving Booth as the sole owner of DMF since 2019.
“It’s important to note that the company isn’t just me today,” Booth says. “DMF is everybody here within these walls. If everybody walked out the door today, the business would be nothing. The business is everybody here that’s involved, and we have a great group of people.”
Overall, the team at DMF is able to serve more than 200 customers across a range of industries and applications, including beverage canning, material handling and conveying, stainless steel frameworks and custom prototyping. The goal is to service customers’ niche needs, even if it’s just a one-off for a nearby manufacturer whose equipment is down.
“Being a job shop, we handle a wide range of work – from one piece all the way up to hundreds of thousands of pieces,” Booth says. “Our top 10 customers, however, are here pretty much every day, every week. We also do a lot of new builds and prototyping, which is what we founded the business on.”
On the off chance that DMF can’t fulfill a customer’s needs, it’s easy to send them to the competitor down the street. For Booth and team, it’s all about creating and maintaining relationships.
“You never know what the future holds,” he says. “A customer could have a great product, but if it isn’t the right fit for us, we’re happy to send them to another local shop. We have a great relationship with almost every shop in Colorado, and we’ll turn work back and forth when it’s a better fit for one or the other.”
Scaling for growth
In terms of capacity and capabilities, DMF expanded in both areas with investments in a 4-kW ByTube Star tube laser and 6-kW ByCut laser outfitted with a ByTrans automatic load and unload system, all from Bystronic. The machines are intended to drastically reduce cycle times compared to the CO2 laser and various tube cutting equipment they replaced. Only on the DMF shop floor for a few weeks, Booth is already confident in how the new equipment will advance the company and its offerings.
“I’m hopeful that the new machines will be running long after I’m retired,” he says. “The first job we ran on the ByTube was one we previously handled on our saws and then put on the mill. The 200-piece order took three and a half days to run. We ran all 200 parts on the tube laser and in 30 min., it was done, on a pallet and ready to go. And I’m not exaggerating. If I get another 10 jobs like that, the machine will be paid off.
“It’s the only way we can stay competitive,” Booth adds. “To keep work coming in, we knew investing in both of these machines from Bystronic was the way to go.”
The plan for the ByTube is to explore new markets, help the welding department with tighter fit-ups and relieve the machine shop from tube work to open it up for more true machining jobs. For the ByCut with ByTrans automation, it’s all about quality and throughput. Booth already plans to replace two additional CO2 lasers with ByCut machines, all of which will feature Bystronic’s BySoft software. Together, the investments will boost overall productivity while further streamlining the software experience for operators.
“Operator training for the sheet laser and tube laser was done in-house with three of our people, and it was terrific,” Booth says. “The jobs we’ve run on them so far have gone smoothly, so the training was effective. There’s always a little bit of a transition with new equipment, but our operators are loving the machine; everything is going in the right direction.”
For the ByTube specifically, one of DMF’s programmers attended software training prior to the installation at Bystronic’s training center in Illinois. Another programmer went later for training to allow time for the DMF team to develop questions that could be raised in the second training session.
Something bigger
In the 26 years since its founding, DMF has overcome a variety of challenges, but has seen consistent growth, especially in the past two years. Booth attributes those recent successes to new equipment and technology and his team.
“As we’ve moved toward more automation, we’ve been able to generate more product,” he says. “Because of the advanced automation, we may need less people running the lasers, but more people downstream.”
With two new powerful machines and two years of business momentum pushing them forward, Booth anticipates the need for new hires. Despite national labor shortages, DMF has seen promise in hiring entry-level workers. When a potential candidate seems motivated and interested to be a “part of something bigger,” Booth will invest in their training and ensure he’s offering them true ways to advance and grow within the company.
“The gentleman that runs our machine shop started in the grind room years ago and has worked his way up through the company,” he says. “The same thing happened in the press brake area and with our laser operators. They were mostly entry-level hires. I have employees that have been with us since we started that first year. Our employee retention is very high. People stick around.
“There’s something to be said about making something, building something and having your hands on it – being a part of something that’s bigger than yourself,” he adds. “We build products that are used all over the world, and it’s rewarding to be a part of that.”
Driven by new advanced equipment and automation and a commitment to creating strong relationships with employees, customers and competitors, DMF will undoubtedly thrive in the years to come. Booth stresses, however, that it all comes down to growing his team.
“We’re definitely going in the right direction, but only if we can continue to find employees,” he says. “In the last four weeks, we’ve turned away more work than we’d like only because we need more employees.”
He truly believes, however, that the new equipment will help attract new employees. If need be, though, one would assume the fire marshal would be happy to help, too.
Dynamic Metal Fabrication Inc.
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