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STEEL FABRICATOR’S REVIEW
SUMMER 2008
With a new building designed for growth, D&A Fabrication is in the
D & A Fabrication
midst of their fifth year of operation. At the helm of the company are DAN WACHA and DOUG GERICKE. The two were introduced previously
Partnering for Growth
as coworkers at a now defunct fab shop; when the shop closed its doors they chose to join forces and pursue careers in the same industry–only this time in the pilot seat. The newly incorporated business recently purchased a Peddinghaus PCD1100 drill line. With room to expand and big plans for the future, they found the machine once thought of as the unattainable “Cadillac” of fabrication an easy purchase. With the new ability to turn over large projects in short amounts of time, the sky is now the limit.
D&A Fabrication in Urbana, Iowa is a company on the move. Small businesses can turn into big businesses with the right leadership and an aggressive attitude towards growth. Sometimes it can be hard to imagine growing when you take into consideration how difficult it is simply to get started, however when you have minds like the owners of D&A Fabrication in Urbana, Iowa growth is not an aspiration–it’s an expectation. D&A Fabrication is owned and operated by Dan Wacha and Doug Gericke. The two describe themselves as “just a couple of steel guys” who decided to start D&A after their previous employer ceased operation. When Dan was asked why they chose to stay in steel fabrication the answer was simple “I just have always worked in steel fabrication, there’s never been a day I’ve ever wanted to do anything else.”
Getting Started with D&A
THEN– Using magnetic based drills D&A was limited in projects, capacity, and production.
The beginnings of D&A fabrication were modest; two guys with hand held magnetic based drills. Their 20 x 60 ft. rented warehouse space lacked heat and other amenities. The group found themselves fabricating in the Iowa elements: “We were supposed to have windows with glass, but there must have been 20 or 30 missing. You’d be working in snow and when the temperature dropped below zero you just had to work though it.”
NOW– With the PCD D&A can process up to 10,000 tons annually.
After spending some time establishing themselves, D&A bid on a project that would prove to be their big break: the showroom of a local car dealership. This project added to the company’s reputation and they found themselves getting bigger bids and better jobs. Several employees had been a part of production for some time, and D&A found it appropriate to take the next big steps towards growth: a quality machine investment.
Time to Grow The old shop was not meeting their needs and a new building was erected. Bigger jobs kept coming in and with new growth came new issues: difficulty finding quality skilled labor and the ability to push large jobs out in a short amount of time. Some of the more profitable jobs with shorter lead times proved hard to accommodate. Speaking with Dan and Doug you get the feeling that these guys are not just content with “good enough”. These guys are movers and shakers who expect success. They realized that automation would be the next big addition to their production processes and now looked to take that step. D&A Fabrication invested in a Peddinghaus PCD 1100 drill line–the Advantage. When asked what prompted them to choose the PCD they