Full Circle

After a childhood spent on his family’s dairy farm—finding ways to get his chores done more efficiently—Kurt Schrom was hired as Metal Services’ first employee. After a short stint at the company, he worked for decades at larger manufacturing plants, building a skillset in lean, talent development and continuous improvement. Now he’s back at Metal Services, this time as CEO of the Blooming Prairie metal fabrication company.

Suzy Frisch’s excellent feature about Schrom and Metal Services in the current issue of Enterprise Minnesota® magazine details how his background is ideal for working with company founder and owner Dennis Heimerman to implement strategies for growth, automation, and continuous improvement.

Heimerman started Metal Services in 1984, and Schrom was his first hire. The company initially focused on repair work for the farmers in the area. It also produced some parts, giving Schrom a chance to use his welding skills.

In 1985, Schrom left Metal Services and joined Blount Forestry because he was recently married and wanted a job that provided health insurance. He began on the night shift at Blount’s Owatonna site, which manufactured timber harvest equipment. “There were a lot of us young farm kids there,” he says. “There was a lot of energy and hard work. People didn’t need to get motivated because they grew up being motivated.”

At Blount, Schrom worked his way up to supervising the night shift. He kept his eyes on opportunities for lean manufacturing, which his boss at the time was already practicing in the mid-1980s. “I liked the activity around build-to-order. We would build this model one day and another model the next day, and you could see the order board filling up,” he says. “It was strategic – we focused on having the right inventory, the forecasting, and worked hard with vendors so they’d want to be our partner.”

Schrom continued to move up at Blount: he became production manager at a Wisconsin cylinder plant, and then returned to Owatonna as the general operations manager of the company’s forestry division. He led the organization through lean transformations and engaged suppliers in Kaizen events as he worked to improve quality, safety, cost, and delivery.

When Caterpillar bought the division from Blount, Schrom was named facility manager at the LaGrange, GA plant. He was charged with implementing some of the lean principles he’d used in previous positions. The different structure of the Georgia plant presented new challenges, but the Schrom plugged along. He learned to be patient and realistic about what could be achieved.

Caterpillar sold the division in 2019. Schrom reached out to Heimerman at Metal Services, which had grown into a thriving manufacturing company. Heimerman had been thinking about bringing in an outside leader and was impressed with Schrom’s experience at large, complicated manufacturing operations.

Recognizing that Schrom could make a significant difference at Metal Services, Heimerman brought him on board in March 2020, just as the pandemic shutdown took effect. Schrom spent eight months evaluating the company’s performance data before making changes.

Metal Services has three divisions: metal fabrication production with capabilities in laser cutting, pipe bending and component manufacturing; repair; and millwright that primarily serves agricultural processing plants. Under Schrom, each division is now its own profit center with separate strategic reviews and objectives.

The company’s growth objectives are tied to a three-year plan that includes adding new services, implementing new technologies and automation, expanding marketing and deepening ties with existing customers. The overall revenue goal is to grow from $8 million to $15 million in three years. Schrom is also focused on talent development, working to build a pipeline of people who can step into bigger leadership roles going forward.

Frisch gives readers more detail about Schrom’s experiences with lean, customer relations, and talent development. The article, available here, also provides specifics about Metal Services’ achievements with Schrom at the helm.

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