LIMA — Many companies profess to have a “family” atmosphere and be family first, but to Ryan Guisinger, Spallinger Millwright Services really lives that motto.
“It’s pretty much the fairest company I’ve ever heard of anyone working for,” said Guisinger, a welder and pressure vessel fabricator at Spallinger.
Spallinger, a millwright, fabrication and welding company, gives him time off when he needs it, offers flexibility and understands when things may come up in his personal life.
The company, located at 1155 East Hanthorn Road, Lima, gets its focus on family honest, as the son of its founder is now the company’s president, and other family members work there as well.
However, the company embraces all its employees as “family.”
“Knowing we’re going to take care of them, they’ll take care of us,” said Tony Daley, in human resources and safety at Spallinger.
A CULTURE OF CARE
During the company’s slow periods, it asks employees if they can take a voluntary layoff, and if they can’t afford it, Daley said, “We’ll make sure they get 40 hours, no matter what.”
“Anywhere we can help them out (we will),” he added.
Danny Justus, a line leader foreman, has worked for the company for almost 10 years and likes “pretty much everything” about his job.
“I like the end result, to see what we’ve built with our own hands,” he said.
He also appreciates the way the company treats him. Some of his colleagues even stopped by the funeral when one of his family members died.
“The company treats me better than any company I’ve ever been at,” he said. “They actually care about employees. … You’re not just another number. It’s like a big family.”
The company is always looking for employees and says its people and safety set it apart from the competition.
It has about 100 full-time employees and 20 temporary ones. About 40 work in the shop and the others are out in the field, Daley said.
When it looks for employees, a willingness to learn is very important, Daley said.
“We will talk to an entry level person with little experience,” Daley said. “If they’re willing to learn, we will teach them and train them.”
The company’s entry level pay ranges from $10 to $20 an hour, depending on the position, Daley said.
STAYING WITH ITS ROOTS
In addition to welcoming employees to the family, the company’s leadership hasn’t forgotten the way the company got its start, said Brian Spallinger, president of the company and son of the founder, Scott Spallinger.
Unlike many other large manufacturing companies, Spallinger still offers repair services to individual walk-in customers, as that’s part of how the company began, Spallinger said.
Scott Spallinger started doing basic millwright work and traveling in 1989. When he got tired of traveling, he forayed into the fabrication side, and the company has slowly progressed into what it is today, Spallinger said.
It’s a “one-stop shop” and has expanded its services as customer demand of it has grown, Spallinger said.
Now, it offers structural steel fabrication, welding, millwright work, sheet metal fabrication, builds pressure vessels and more.
On a recent visit to the shop, employees could be seen welding brackets for Honda, making a canopy for Procter & Gamble, working on I-beams for Apollo Career Center’s expansion and building dump trailers.
Its 80,000 square foot fabrication shop has been expanded in the recent past and was built in 1998, Daley said.
The Lima area has been good to the company, as there’s lots of big industry around, Spallinger said.
About 85 percent of the company’s work is done within 60 miles of the shop, and it employs three truck drivers to take its product to the customers.
It added machining four or five years ago, when it saw customer need for it.
Procter & Gamble is one of the company’s biggest clients and is a “big part of who and what we are,” Spallinger said.
It also has employees helping at Husky Energy Lima Refinery, Honda Anna Engine Plant and other local companies.
“Hopefully we can just keep expanding into those big companies that like to make changes,” Spallinger said.
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