When Mike Welch, president of Southern Fab Co., quit his management position with a global giant in the construction equipment industry 13 years ago, it wasn’t because he didn’t enjoy his job or like the company for which he worked.

For years, he had felt that he could make a difference if he were only allowed to make decisions without the corporate “red tape” and layers of redundancy the corporate world works so diligently to generate.

In 1994, he resigned and joined a small but growing attachment manufacturer as a plant manager of manufacturing operations. Here, he was able to work closely with a small team and implement the process improvements and streamline operations in a manner he had always wanted. The small attachment manufacturer grew and prospered and was then acquired by a much larger company approximately four years ago. Then, in 2006 the company was sold again, this time to a much larger conglomerate.

Suddenly, he found himself in the very position he had left 13 years ago.

This time, Welch decided to start his own company. Southern Fab Co. was founded April 2 in Chattanooga, Tenn., and in four short months has developed products, hired staff and tooled up to enter the attachment manufacturing business.

Southern Fab Co. has started production and distribution of stiff arm and hydraulic weld-on thumbs, wheel loader rakes and construction forks. Future plans include a full line of attachments all designed with versatility, quality and streamlined manufacturing to hold costs down for the end users.

By having served in both large and small companies, the management team at Southern Fab knows what the customer should be paying for and what they end up paying for to offset the overhead and inefficiencies of the giants in the industry.

For more information, call 877/628-8224 or visit www.southernfab.net. CEG

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