2014 Economic Impact Awards 16-29 Years in Operation Finalist: Watson Metal Masters Inc.

In 1995, Rex Watson purchased a 10-year-old metal company specializing in small shop items. Upon retooling its operations a year later, Watson Metal Masters Inc. began specializing in stainless steel and nickel alloy tanks and vessels. The company has grown to provide a variety of containers currently used in food service, beverage production, cosmetic, paint and specialty chemicals applications.

Today, under the leadership of 17-year Watson employee and president Bill Schahuber, the company is entering its next evolution. A strong long-range vision, revitalized sales team and new facility have Watson Metal well positioned to continue its current growth trends over the next decade. Since his purchase of the company in 2010 as part of a planned succession, Schahuber spearheaded a growth increase of 200 percent, pushing revenue to $7.5 million in 2013.

However, the short-term increase is just the tip of the iceberg, as the company is reaching out directly to new customers in different ways. It’s a new approach for the 29-year-old company.

“We’ve never had to market – just word-of-mouth and phone sales,” Schahuber says. “Since my taking over, we’ve added two sales people and are looking to hire another.”

Those hires are a small fraction of Schahuber’s seven-year strategic plan that includes the projected addition of 77 new jobs. Those positions will push total employment toward the goal of 150, more than a three fold increase over the current staff count of 47.

The human-resource needs will be driven in part by an ongoing increase in field fabrication, a logical step for a company with the specialized experience that Watson Metals possesses.

“Anything over about 70,000 gallons is too big to transport,” Schahuber says. “In some instances, fixed access makes it easier or less-intrusive to plant operations to fabricate and assemble on-site. This way we can provide up to 500,000-gallon units.”

Even with the growth, there are few growing pains, thanks to Watson Metal’s new $2.4 million facility in the Brookline Industrial Park, 6800 W. Stainless Way in Republic. Representing a 270 percent space increase, the 29,000-square-foot building is slated to open by Aug. 1, and is the first of three phases of measured growth that would push overall square footage to 68,000 in the next five years.

Schahuber says while only half of the new facility’s office space will initially be filled, the move doubles the existing shop space and makes sense based on the current per-acre cost. With a total developable area of up to 120,000 square feet for facility expansion and close access to main transportation lanes, the building allows for continued job expansion and local vendor sourcing.

Watson Metal impacts a variety of local charities that benefit from quarterly donations selected from employee nominations in a quarterly random drawing.

“Everybody benefits,” Schahuber says. “The charity gets the benefit of the donation, the selected employee gets to deliver the check, and gets that good feeling of being able to show [the charity] ‘Hey, I believe in your work and support your cause.’ And I guess the whole company gets that feeling, too.”[[In-content Ad]]