Metal fabricator thrives on one-off projects, very short runs

Designed by architect Jason Wieczorek, the Erie sign on the Lake Erie waterfront in Erie, Pa., was fabricated by Gene Davis Sales & Service. The company donated the material and much of the labor that went into making and installing the sign. Images: Gene Davis Sales & Service

While nearly every metal fabrication shop has a low-volume/high-mix business model, fewer take that idea further than Gene Davis Sales & Services, Erie, Pa. The company doesn’t have a daily production schedule, repeat orders, contracts that it can count on to get through lean times, or much of anything that suggests predictability.

Founded as a steel supplier and industrial surplus seller in 1985 by a father-son team, Gene and Dave Davis, the company added custom fabrication to its business plan in 1990. Customers who needed small projects or repairs had few choices in the Erie area, so Gene Davis Sales & Service filled this niche then as it does now. Ben Davis, a third-generation member of the family, estimates that the company serves a geographical radius of about 60 miles.

“We don’t do any real production work,” Ben Davis said. “We take work from hobbyists, farmers, small companies, Fortune 500 companies, essentially anyone.”. While they do occasionally get a project that takes weeks, normal turnaround is 24 to 72 hours, he said. This means that, for the most part, every day’s work is different from the previous and the next.

“We have to be nimble,” he said. “Every day is a whirlwind.”

Erie on Erie

Like many cities along the Great Lakes, Erie was a thriving member of the industrial heartland from the late 1800s until the early 1970s. Neglect, decay, and flight took their toll on many metropolitan areas throughout the region, but many have been rebranded and reborn, and some city centers have been repopulated. As downtown areas get refurbished or entirely restored, it isn’t uncommon for sculptures and other works of art to appear where none existed before. So, when local architect Jason Wieczorek came up with a design for a sign to celebrate Erie and went looking for a fabricator to make it, Davis did what he usually does: He said yes. At Gene Davis, it’s not just an answer, but a reflex baked into the company’s DNA.

Although it doesn’t do large volumes, the shop has a lot of capacity and is up for just about anything. The fabricator is outfitted with three shears, three press brakes, five saws, three rolling machines (two for pipe, one for plate), two punching machines, a plasma machine with an 8- by 20-ft. table, a waterjet cutting machine with a 5- by 10-ft. table, 15 welding machines with gas tungsten arc welding (GTAW) and gas metal arc welding (GMAW) capability, and one spot welding machine. Of course, it does machining—the company has three vertical mills with autofeeds and two manual lathes—so it can machine parts and make tooling. It has several other miscellaneous tools and machines for beveling, drilling, bending, and cutting, and it has a paint booth on-site that has a working envelope of 14 by 12 by 10 ft.

“Greetings From …”

The boxy, 3D shape of the letters on the Erie sign is patterned from the old “Greetings From …” style of postcard, Davis said. The company had already done some 3D sign work of this sort, commonly known as channel letters when illuminated and dimensional letters when they are not.

After cutting the fronts, backs, and sides of the letters on the plasma cutter, the company’s fabricators got to work on assembly, joining the components using GMAW. From there it went out for powder coating.

“The colors separate the sign from the horizon,” Davis said.

On some projects, the legal aspects get a little dicey, Davis said. In some cases, the space is leased, and of course liability comes into play. But, these are small hurdles and they don’t hold back Gene Davis Sales & Service. The company sees projects like this as a chance to use metal fabrication processes to celebrate the city’s rich manufacturing history and help Erie modernize its identity.

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