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Biz News
Veteran blends military experience with metal fabrication
IRAQ WAR VETERAN Jason Young has a military mindset when it comes to projects in the shop, a philosophy he’s now applying to 3Up Metal Works, a Milwaukeebased custom metal fabrication company he recently purchased on the city’s north side.
Formerly known as SSO, LLC, Young renamed the fabrication and metals shop to reflect his work ethic and company culture. The name references Young’s rank in the Marine Corps while the logo contains three chevrons, a military insignia designating the rank of sergeant.
The metal fabricator’s product range covers structural steel building components, conveyor systems, catwalks, mezzanines, stairways and more for a variety of industries, including food and beverage, construction, manufacturing and agriculture.
Before purchasing 3Up Metal Works, Young was president of Price Erecting Co., a heavy machine mover and installer based in Milwaukee. Now he’s melding his career experience and military background to set 3Up Metal Works apart from competitors. 3Up Metal Works bills itself as a “true design-build custom fabrication shop,” meaning the company can meet virtually any metal fabrication need of its clients ranging from large fabricated parts to small custom precision pieces, Young said.
Rather than mass producing a product, the company is fabricating between five and 10 components, many of which are custom designed and manufactured.
“We’re not a production shop,” Young said. “This is truly taking someone’s ideas from scratch paper all the way through to a finished product.”
One way Young brings his military background to the metal fabrication space is with attention to detail and what he calls the 80-20 approach – 80% planning and 20% execution. By connecting with customers upfront, 3Up Metal Works can understand functional elements of the product and, just as importantly, how users interact with that product.
In a recent project, 3Up Metal Works reverse-engineered a large cheese grinder for a major food manufacturer in southeastern Wisconsin. Rather than replicate the exact cheese grinder, Young and his team worked with the manufacturer to tweak design elements, which made for a more durable and efficient machine.
“With a cheese grinder, we’re hucking 50-pound bricks of cheese, so it has to have a lot of torque and be able to withstand a lot of pressure on the metal so we’re using a thicker gauge,” Young said.
Education is also an important piece of 3Up Metal Works’ customer acquisition strategy, Young said, adding that customers need information like how commodity prices are changing, lead times and general project timelines, he said.
“Because of being military, there’s always a rank and structure to the process and of everything that goes in place, which is what we bring to the table in our discovery meetings,” Young said.
Within the first seven months of owning the business, 3Up made two hires, secured new customers and doubled its revenue, Young said. He attributes the company’s success to the trusted relationships 3Up has built with customers who understand the value and niche skill set of his custom metal fabrication team.
“We’re not looking to get as many customers as possible,” Young said. “I’m looking to find and retain good customers who understand what we do is unique and the dollar value associated with that uniqueness.” n
3Up Metal Works fabricated stainless steel hangers designed for pipe runs that move product through a food and beverage facility.
3UP METAL WORKS
7420 N. Teutonia Ave., Milwaukee
INDUSTRY: Metal fabrication EMPLOYEES: 5 3upmetalworks.com
— Jason Young, president and CEO of 3Up Metal Works
BRANDON ANDEREGG
Reporter
P / 414-336-7144 E / brandon.anderegg@biztimes.com T / @bandereggmke
the Interview
MUSKEGO-BASED SANITARY FITTINGS recently made its debut on the 2021 Inc. 5000 list, an annual ranking of the nation’s fastest-growing companies. The five-year-old company came in at No. 714 with a three-year revenue growth of 687%, making it the third-highest ranked southeastern Wisconsin company this year. Sanitary Fittings is a customer service company founded by John Zabkowicz that provides stainless steel tube fittings to food, beverage and pharmaceutical industries. John’s wife, Rachel Zabkowicz, who previously worked in corporate finance, took over as co-owner last year and today oversees operations at the fully remote company, while John remains involved in the business. Rachel recently spoke with BizTimes associate editor Lauren Anderson about the company’s origins and recent growth spurt. How did the company get its start?
“We had always talked about starting our own business, but the timing was never right, or it seemed too big of a risk leaving two secure jobs. So, (John) lost his job in 2016 and it made us reevaluate, OK, where do we go from here? At the time, I was fortunate enough to have a great job that could support our family. So, he decided to see what he could do as an entrepreneur. It was actually through a very casual conversation with our brother-in-law, who is in the sanitary fittings business, who mentioned that a lot of manufacturers and distributors were slow to adapt to e-commerce. We did some research and found that to be generally true, and it was not a very capital-intensive way to start up a business. John could do the computer programming, he had a lot of experience with SEO, I have a finance background, … and so it was just an investment of his time to build the website and figure out who the network of suppliers could be. It seemed like a risk we were willing to take, and if it didn’t work out, we could go back to corporate America and carry on as we had been.”
So, it worked out?
“He had his first sale right before Christmas of 2016, and we’ve just seen wonderful growth since then. We have a good network of suppliers that we work with. And we made the decision in 2018 that I would join the business, but we had to develop our exit plan for me and make sure we felt secure with me leaving my job in corporate America. So, I left in spring of 2020 right as COVID was hitting, which was a little bit nerve-wracking. And I became the majority owner a few months later.”
How does your company fill a need in the market?
“A lot of companies have websites, but it was ‘here’s our product catalog.’ There was no pricing online, it was ‘here’s a list of our products, call for a quote.’ And I think a lot of companies still go to our suppliers for a big project, but the niche we fill is ‘I need to buy a stainless steel fitting just to repair my production line.’ They may not want to go all the way to their supplier when they can just search online and see Sanitary Fittings has it in stock, they can ship it out today, and I can get it tomorrow.”
Do you expect to stay remote going forward?
“With the size of team we’re at right now, the remote work seems to be going well. We’re still in constant communication with each other. And because we’ve always operated that way, it doesn’t seem like anything’s missing. Also, I think we all enjoy the flexibility that remote work offers us.”
Does making the Inc. 5000 open up new opportunities?
“Yes, we’re definitely hopeful for that. There’s marketing opportunities and networking opportunities. And hopefully that can continue to help us grow. Being a woman-owned business now, that’s also part of our growth strategy.” n
LILA ARYAN PHOTOGRAPHY
Rachel Zabkowicz
Co-owner Sanitary Fittings P.O. Box 295, Muskego Employees: Fewer than 10 sanitaryfittings.us
