Tom-Cin Metals, Inc. • 800-343-3404 • http://www.tom-cinmetals.com
Reprinted from GRAIN JOURNAL September/October 2011 Issue
From its humble beginnings in 1980 as a farm equipment sales/service/repair shop doing business out of owner Tom Olk’s 28-x-32-ft. garage in Hortonville, WI, Tom-Cin Metals Inc. has grown to become a full-service custom metal fabricator.
The company still is located in Hortonville, but today it occupies a 65,000-sq.-ft. facility and has 54 employees. Throughout its 31-year history, Tom-Cin Metals has followed the principle that there is “no job too big or too small.”
“We started by doing odds and ends related to farm equipment and evolved into custom metal work,” says Mike Olk, Tom’s son and company salesman.
“If a customer wants a special design that is a little out of the norm, we are willing to take on the project, no matter how big or small, and draw it up for them.
“Not every job has a cookie cutter solution, and whether that means changing a scale, hopper, bin size, or auger size, we are willing to do what is needed. Customization is one of our specialties.”
Bill Feltz, executive vice president who has run the company’s day-to-day operation since Owner and President Tom Olk retired several years ago (Tom officially remains as president), adds: “We have design people on staff, so if a customer wants something built, we can draw it up and make it.
“The diversity of our equipment has grown significantly over the years and continues to grow. We truly are a ‘one-stop metal fabricating shop.’ We can custom design, fabricate, and deliver most any metal product.”
Brief History
After its 1980 start working with farm cleaner parts and service and doing small fabrication jobs, the business quickly outgrew the garage from which Tom-Cin Metals began, so it moved to a former lumber facility, doubling the shop size and adding a separate office building with a showroom. By 1986, this facility had become too small, as well, so Tom-Cin purchased a 10,000-sq.-ft. building in downtown Hortonville.
Also in 1986, the company started off in a new direction by diversifying into custom metal fabrication of square steel storage tanks and slide gates.
“We were building a lot of stuff for other people and decided this was a good area to get into,” explains Mike. “We purchased a bulk storage bin design and its engineering from a guy who was retiring and started our own product line offering bolt-together bin systems and gates. It helped the company go in a new direction and opened up new markets for us.”
By the mid-1990s, the downtown facility was becoming crowded, so a 6-acre site south of town was purchased in the Hortonville Industrial Park.
In the spring of 1995, Tom-Cin broke ground on a 22,500-sq.-ft. fabrication facility followed by an equally-sized expansion in 1998 to accommodate the growing business and the resulting need for manufacturing space.
Later expansions increased the building to its current 65,000-sq.-ft. size, providing room for new products and new machinery including three laser cutting machines (with lights-out capability) added in 2005, 2007, and 2009.
Today, all of Tom-Cin Metals Inc.’s manufacturing, sales, and distribution is handled from the Hortonville site, and according to Feltz, no additional building expansions are planned at this time.
Diversifying to Stay Competitive
The main reason the company diversified in 1986 was to deal with the up and down cycles associated with agriculture.
“Owner Tom Olk has a background in agriculture, so he knows about the cycles that agriculture goes through,” explains Feltz.
“His belief and mine is that we have good, dedicated employees who we care about and want to keep employed. So when a big downturn in agriculture occurred, at about the time I joined the company, we decided to diversify into equipment manufacturing. If you are just a manufacturer for the ag industry, you are going to have some tough years.
“We expanded the breadth of our abilities, added more presses and welders, and added lasers and burn tables to cut heavier metal. We brought in sales people and others with backgrounds in those industries. For example, Tom’s son, c Mike [Olk], had worked for someone who erected our equipment, so he had a background in that area, when he joined the business.”
Targeted Markets
Tom-Cin Metals designs, manufactures, and markets products for a wide range of industries ranging from seed mills, feed mills, and paper mills to truck manufacturers, mechanical contractors, and more.
“We take on jobs for all kinds of industries, predominantly across the United States but also overseas,” says Mike. “The market varies in different years, so we have to be able to adapt.
“Historically, our business was at about 70% agriculture, and now we’re at around 30-40% agriculture, an area that continues to go through cycles. Equipment manufacturers go through cycles, as well, but not to the same extent or at necessarily the same time as agriculture.”
“With our highly-trained employees working on state-of-the-art equipment, we can custom-design, fabricate, and deliver most any metal product that a customer desires,” continues Feltz. “All of our welders are certified to the highest standards and take great pride in their work, whether they are welding steel, stainless steel, or aluminum. We are dedicated to producing top-quality products in a timely fashion.”
Quality and Customer Service
“In today’s society, if you don’t do something or build something right the first time, you usually don’t get a second chance, so quality is very important to us,” says Feltz. “I came from the service industry, so I also know that your level of customer service sets you apart from other companies and makes you harder to replace. The bell curve is being pushed constantly, so if you don’t do things right today, you won’t exist in 10 years.
“You have to keep the customer satisfied and respond quickly, whenever an issue occurs. Tom’s view, and I agree, is that you can never afford to forget where you came from, and you must continually meet the needs of your customers.”
“Our quality and customer service set us apart from other manufacturers,” says Mike. “We offer top-quality products at a reasonable price, and we believe that customer service is very important.
“We provide all of our customers, no matter the size of their business, with the highest level of service, to help them achieve their goals.”
Three Square Bolted Bin Wall Styles
Tom-Cin Metals has three pre-engineered bin walls to choose from, each with different design characteristics, to meet varying needs related to storing, processing, and handling dry, free-flowing material. In addition, the company offers custom-designed bins.
• Baffle-style wall–The most common style for feed milling applications, ideally suited for overhead storage of dry, free-flowing materials. This design is very flexible and can be configured in a variety of ways for square or rectangular bin arrangements. It can be set up to allow additional bins, if future expansion is needed.
• Corrugated-style wall–Suited for free-flowing material like corn, soybeans, or other whole grains but not for feed, which can pack into the walls. Like the baffle-style, this design also can be configured in various ways and can be set up for later expansion.
• Double panel-style wall–Provides completely smooth walls for customers handling dry-but-difficult-to-handle material such as pet food. This design uses pre-assembled double-panel wall units connected with hidden structural stiffeners and fasteners, and it automatically allows for future expansion. As an additional option, the bin wall panels can be insulated internally. Because of the additional materials used in this design, it is the most expensive option.
Additional Product Lines
Tom-Cin also offers a full line of convertible slide gates in four basic styles:
• Manually-operated rack and pinion gates.
• Air- or hydraulic-operated gates.
• Electric linear actuated gates.
• Electric-operated gates. Manually-operated rack and pinion gates are easy to convert to this style.
In addition, Tom-Cin manufactures a complete line of microingredient systems in standard configurations ranging from six to 24 bins and in custom designs.
