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ricated assemblies that required multiple machining and fabrication processes. Their end to end service model continues to be the backbone of Taurus Fab’s operations and expansion as they diversify the indus- tries they serve.
Adaptability: Generations of manufacturing com- panies have found great success by developing a process, refining that process, and then repeating that process over and over. Pushing their skills and capabilities to 5-axis machining is one of many ex- amples of the Taurus team’s adaptability to grow their business. With so many global factors affecting sup- ply, demand, regulations and the work force, I think adaptability is more important now than ever before. Our kids are learning the hard reality of adaptability now as the COVID-19 pandemic shut schools down, leaving schools scrambling to switch to a distance learning model. Many American manufacturers flexed their adaptability by quickly repurposing their manu- facturing facilities to produce health care equipment and supplies. The team at Taurus Fab have demon- strated a consistent ability to adapt to new challenges as they’ve grown their business. Shops who remain overly focused on specific industries, or specialized workflows are the shop that are most likely to come and go with industry trends. In contrast, the shops that commit to an adaptable culture are more likely to survive industry and global challenges.
a dishonest evaluation in a machine shop could be someone’s emotional desire to own a high-end 5-axis machine without any hard evidence it would do profit- able work. Similarly, it’s not uncommon to see a shop misevaluate a new machine or process out of the fear of the unknown. Beau seems to have a solid grasp on seeing opportunity, setting goals or requirements, and making honest evaluations that lead to clear deci- sions.
Invest in yourself: You don’t start a business with- out deciding to make an investment in yourself. Five years ago, Beau made the decision to leave a well-re- spected and established four-wheel drive component and service business partnership with his brother to invest in himself and start a manufacturing-specific business. In the five years he’s run his new business, Beau has aggressively invested not only in equipment but also in talented employees and their training to get the most out of all parts of this shop. I asked Beau how he decides when to start evaluating new capa- bility or capacity and he smiled and replied, “It’s like the field of dreams. Build it and they will come.” He explained that it is often not easy to pencil out a clear ROI (return on investment) on specific equipment, but it can be clear that the overall shop profitability goes up when the overall shop capability goes up.
COVID-19 Impact: The true impact of the COVID pandemic will take years to fully assess. Beau and his leadership team’s response to the pandemic fall out
is an impressive example of how they run the busi- ness. With their biggest customers putting a freeze on orders and accounts payables it would have been a predictable reaction to close the shop down and wait for things to get better while hoping the COVID shut- downs would be short. Hope is not a common practice of successful business leaders and it clearly wasn’t the plan for Beau and his team. Beau’s initial actions were to adjust shifts – including paying some of his team to stay home – reducing the employee to square foot shop ratio to 1000 square feet per employee. They were also fortunate to be able to keep the shop moving by leveraging newer customer relationships in the food processing and transportation industries that were less impacted by the pandemic. These are just a couple examples of Beau’s leadership team’s ability to be adaptable, invest in their people, and make deci- sions that I believe will set them up for many years of growth and success.
Decision making: Going all the way back to my first meeting Beau when he was first evaluating CAM software, it was obvious that he had
clear requirements and was able to
make a decision efficiently and con- fidently. I asked Beau how he goes about making decisions on some of the big investments he has made. He essentially said once he decides he wants to add a capability, he evaluates what is available and make a decision. He also said he doesn’t let himself
get caught up in over-evaluation. His response reminds me of the phrase “paralysis by analysis”. If your goals are clear and evaluations are honest, decisions are often not overly difficult to make. Unfortunately, all too often people don’t set clear goals or make honest evaluations. An example of
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