By BRENT MARTIN
St. Joseph Post
A St. Joseph manufacturer has expanded into Iowa, hoping to expand into the Defense industry.
Van-Am Tool and Engineering has acquired a 75,000 square foot factory in Waverly, Iowa from GMT Manufacturing.
Van-Am CEO Keith Mills says initially the company traveled to Iowa to buy equipment, but then discussed the acquisition. The Iowa plant will be known as Van-Am Defense Systems with its first customer being Lockheed Martin.
“So, we service quite a few different markets and we plan to continue that, but it’s nice to have some diversification across markets,” Milles tells host Barry Birr on the KFEQ Hotline. “So in any particular downturn, you still have supporting work so that your revenue doesn’t take a dive if one industry doesn’t do well.”
Van-Am began in St. Joseph in 1981 and employs about 120 workers in the city. It has 18 in the Waverly plant. Mills says the two facilities will be able to work together as the company expands its customer base.
Mills says many of the company’s customers hope to ramp up production not only this year, but next.
“Right now, we have to figure out the labor shortage,” Mills says. “Personally, how do we recruit effectively? And then there’s a training piece of it. So there’s a lot of pieces that go into building this out. But the demand’s there at least from what we are seeing. It’s now satisfying that demand in a timely manner.”
To meet the demand, Van-Am needs more high-skilled labor. That could prove difficult Mills points out the company has an immediate need for 15 high-skilled workers.
“It doesn’t sound like a lot,” Mills says with a chuckle. “But 15 skilled tradesmen, it’s tough to fill. We’re doing it, but it’s one or two at a time, three at a time. But we can’t just call up and say, ‘Hey, we need 15 people over here immediately. Hop in, let’s go.’”
Mills says Van-Am has 50 primary customers, mostly within the two-and-a-half hours from St. Joseph. The company serves up to 150 businesses total with some as far away as Ireland.
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