Industry Member Spotlight: Barron Industries

This article appeared in the Mar/Apr 2024 issue of MiMfg Magazine. Read the full issue and find past issues online.

Oxford-based Barron Industries is celebrating 100 years of service in the industry, and that legacy of success can be attributed to their forward-thinking mindset, company values and comprehensive solutions for their clients.

What began as a metal casting business has evolved into a global company that provides end-to-end vertically integrated manufacturing processes including welding, CNC machining, engineering, design, rapid prototyping using additive machining, plating, assembly, painting, coating, testing and on-site installation as needed.

“Those steps are usually handled by contract manufacturing companies. It is quite unusual to find a foundry that offers all the different processes in one place,” says Bruce Barron, President and CEO, adding that it saves customers time because they don’t have to work with multiple contractors.

Because their leaders focus on innovative trends in the industry, Barron implemented Industry 4.0 principles in 2003, long before other businesses began doing so.

In fact, due to their ingenuity and marketing efforts, Barron Industries has found itself in a growth spurt. The company is planning to invest $10 million into the community in order to expand their Oxford-based facility by 2025. Space has been added several times but this is the most expansive project in the company’s 100-year history.

One Skill Everyone Should Have

The ability to articulate and present one’s thoughts and ideas clearly and succinctly.

The Best Advice I Ever Got

If you want to be excellent, then you have to be willing to do the things that others don’t: work more hours, take more risks, be willing to fail and recover.

Barron’s grandfather, Joseph Barron, started Motor and Machinery Castings in Detroit in 1923. When he was a young adult, Bruce Barron began working there with his father, who was leading the business by that time.

“The foundry business gets in your blood,” Barron says. “When you work in that environment, when you’re making stuff and you’re melting metal at 3,000 degrees and pouring it into a mold, it’s almost a hypnotic thing. It’s cool. There’s nothing like it.”

When Barron’s father acquired the Oxford foundry, he jumped at the chance to join him in building the business. Barron Industries primarily services the defense and aerospace companies but also has clients in the telecommunications, nuclear, oil and gas and automotive industries. Barron says that many of their long-standing customers are very supportive and that he feels like they are partners with them.

If I Weren’t Doing This

I'd be volunteering to help high school students in math and science and promoting careers in the metalcasting industry.

One of the business’ greatest challenges, however, is attracting and retaining new people to jobs that are available there. To help resolve that issue, they offer a range of training programs, including a CNC machining apprenticeship program, as well as outstanding benefits, a welcoming facility, social events and other incentives.

Although the name, location and structure of the business changed several times over the years, it is still owned by the same family and retains the same values.

Best Part of My Job

Working every day with an incredible team — family — of coworkers all dedicated to the protection of our warfighter

Our Next Goal

Open Barron’s Greenfield Aerospace and Defense Advanced Manufacturing Technology Center next summer.

“I listened to my grandfather and my dad sit around the kitchen table and talk business all the time,” Barron says, adding that two of his brothers currently work at Barron Industries as well. “For me, personally, what makes me happy is to see that we have 80 people working here with good jobs that support their families. It’s like a family here. When people need help, we help them.”

As Barron Industries continues to provide comprehensive solutions to resolve its customers’ challenges, their community will continue to benefit through the creation of more jobs and impactful investments.

Barron Industries is an MMA Industry Member and has been an MMA member company since October 2022. Visit online: barron-industries.com.