INDUSTRY NEWS
OEM Fabricators Inc., with facilities in Woodville (left) and Neillsville (right), Wis., is a manufacturer and supplier of components and assemblies from medium to heavy gauge capabilities to various original equipment manufacturers.
FABRICATING ITS NICHE
Over a quarter century, OEM Fabricators establishes itself in contract manufacturing
BY KYLE KOPPLIN
Over the course of the last two decades, the “make or buy” decisions routinely faced by
original equipment manufacturers
have generally become much more
straightforward. If a component or
sub-assembly is viewed as a differentiator or a “core technology,”
it typically stays in-house. But if it’s
something that someone else can do
just as well or just as efficiently, it’s
likely that the job may be end up with
a contract manufacturer.
At one time, contract manufacturers were little more than “job shops,”
local fabrication houses that basically
received a finished design from the
customer and focused simply on making it as inexpensively as possible. But
more recently, as equipment manufacturers have off-loaded more complex
components and assemblies, custom
manufacturers have had to take a
step up in design and manufacturing
sophistication and capability.
A good example of one such man-
ufacturer is OEM Fabricators Inc.
Headquartered in Woodville, Wis.,
about an hour east of the Twin Cities,
OEM Fabricators is a 25-year-old
company that designs and manufac-
tures a wide range of products for
original equipment manufacturers in a
wide span of machine markets includ-
ing construction and ag equipment,
transportation, oil and gas, heavy lift
equipment and power generation, as
well as food and drug industries.
