Bill Hewgley, president welcomed the newest two owners to Metalworking Solutions LLC, Nick Burrows and Laurence Richardson.
“Nick and Laurence are two well deserving young men”, said Mr. Hewgley. “They have led the company to new heights each and every year of their tenure with us. They are men of the highest character and integrity and lead the organization by example. I along with our other owners couldn’t be more proud and pleased to have them join us in Metalworking Solutions, LLC owners’ circle.”
In the brief three and half years that these two gentlemen have been paired together as general manager and director of operations respectively, the company has more than doubled in employees, moved from a 30,000 square foot facility to a 75,000 square foot facility and more than doubled manufacturing capacity while increasing overall capabilities.
“Our growth performance over the past few years speaks volumes for the vision and business model that Bill set for the company and laid out for Laurence and I to execute,” said Mr. Burrows, general manager. “That said, I couldn’t have asked for a better person to be teamed with operationally as Laurence Richardson. Laurence’s knowledge and drive have lifted our performance to be as good as or better than anyone in the industry and he has done it in record time.”
Mr. Burrows manages the inside sales, quoting and customer service, finance, and human resources for the company. In addition, he leads the leadership team setting the strategic direction, goals and initiatives within the organization. Mr. Burrows started his career with Array Retail as an intern to the vice president of Operations. He later joined the company full time as director of Business Integration where he was in charge of the implementation of SyteLine, an enterprise resource planning system. Mr. Burrows received his Master’s in Business Administration from the University of North Alabama. He received his Bachelors from there as well with a double major in Accounting and Computer Information Systems.
“I’ve known Bill for a long time," said Mr. Richardson, director of operations. "I have heard him speak on many occasions of building an organization such as Metalworking Solutions is becoming. I am grateful for Bill’s confidence and in providing me with the opportunity to help build the company that he always spoke of. While making money is a necessity, it is not our goal. Our goals all revolve around building and strengthening relationships. We do our best to zero in on caring for our customers, our employees and our suppliers. When all of these relationships are positive, great things continue to occur.”
Mr. Richardson manages all plant operations and personnel. Engineering, quality, production, shipping and purchasing are his responsibility. He has 23 years of experience in the metal fabrication industry. He began his career at Metal Systems advancing through the ranks to plant supervisor. In 2002, he joined Array Retail Solutions and was promoted to plant manager, managing the daily operations consisting of over 100 employees and 300,000 sq. ft. of production space. Prior to joining Metalworking Solutions in the fall of 2010, he served as plant manager at Lectrus from 2006-2010.