The sixth-generation owner talks Black Bros. and beyond…
- Give us your recap of the first half of 2026. How is business at Black Bros. currently?
As we’ve said before, it’s not as busy as (recent) years past — especially that rush right before Covid and right after Covid making for some of our busiest times with a lot of manufacturing and continuous improvements going on. Those things are still real in 2026, but maybe not as intense as they were. You know, we’re always looking to fill up that backlog, and we are very, very close to being full (for the year). So, still chasing orders and trying to provide the best product we can put forward to our customers and anyone that needs our machinery. It probably feels slower this year just because how crazy busy we have been, but we are still optimistic. - What are the biggest operational challenges on the production floor when these times hit? When maybe things aren’t crazy busy.
Every day you eat up overhead — your building, your energy, your insurance, all of that is absorbed into overhead one way or another. Direct labor is the best way to combat that. So, the biggest operational challenge becomes maintaining productive labor utilization while continuing to absorb the fixed cost of running the company. Customer orders naturally provide direct labor opportunities, but when workload decreases our team must identify other value-added projects that improve the facility equipment, processes, and overall operation. It takes strong organization from our president and our supervisors to manage the time correctly, but I think we do that to the best of our ability. - You mentioned being out almost until the end of the year for lead times. What are the most interesting builds we have lined up?
Some big projects for sure — (one order for multiple) 40-feet long by 9-feet wide SIP presses. We’re really excited to take on that challenge and get to building. We’re also getting ready to ship out a big line for the insulation industry that’s been (being built, programmed and tested) in our lab for a long time. That will be another big project of its own to get it shipped out and set up and started up for our customer. It hasn’t been a boring year! Projects like these are good for us and something we need to expect more of going into the future. Things are going to continue being even more automatic, robotic. People want to eliminate as many variables as they can and automation is the number one source for doing so, to repeat a task continuously. We’re excited to attack it! - Parts, service, rolls… I’ve got to ask, how are we looking in these other key parts of the business?
Our Roll Department could certainly use the most work of any to take in more orders. We’ve been active with our marketing campaigns, email blasts, word of mouth to let customers know we are the highest quality option for taking care of your rolls. We provide premium materials to allow your rolls to last longer in any application that you do. And that’s not just limited to rubber, it’s the metal work, our flanges, spot welds, and anything a customer would want to allow their rolls to maintain longer. That’s our M.O. and how we do things. Parts are fine. We are still quoting spare parts list and customers are buying. Our Customer Service Team has been very proactive about getting those parts out quickly. But rolls are probably the biggest thing we want to get going. - Aaron Perryman was recently promoted to Director of Manufacturing. What characteristics does he have that paved the way?
Aaron has a very cool story of challenging himself and putting the work in to keep growing as an employee. He started in 2006 as a machinist. By all accounts he became skilled at that trade very quickly. He then moved to Assembly, was our lead assembler and panel builder forever, and later moved into the electrical engineering role where he learned more about programming, PLCs, things of that nature. Now he is the Director of Manufacturing at our plant, something he should be very proud of. He earned it. He deserved it. Kinda the all-American story. He has the experience to back up what he says. He is knowledgeable and has seen it from the mechanical side, the computer side, electrical side. So he demands a lot of respect. He’s not afraid to get dirty and put the work in or tell you what you need to work on to improve. (He has) just a lot of very impressive characteristics. - All the same, Mike DeLong retired. Is it more scary to lose a guy like Mike or more exciting to give opportunity to a guy like Aaron?
Mike’s another guy who’s been in every department of this company. You name it, Mike’s been there, done that… and helped somebody learn the right way to do it along the way. That’s the number one way to look at Mike: not just his work ethic, but his character. He puts others before himself and is a man of great character. Obviously, losing an almost 40-year guy is never easy, because he’s as close to irreplaceable as there is with his knowledge and his comradery with everyone. But you have to look at the future with excitement or it’s a “glass half empty” existence. And that is not the life we want to live here or the future we want to look forward to. So it’s an awesome opportunity for Aaron to step up and take on a new roll and have a chance to prove himself, too. - Through the WIA, Black Bros. is sending Todd (Phalen) on the Certified Trade Mission in Vietnam. What are the initiatives?
Todd has worked very closely with the Wood Industry Association, which Black Bros. has been a part of for a very long time. He knows the group going over there very well. He trusts that group. Vietnam may be a good opportunity to sell our machinery into and become a key exporter into that part of Asia. More than anything, we didn’t want to pass up on an opportunity that might not come around again. You never know unless you try. We think it’s a calculated move that could pay off. We trust the WIA with the market research they’ve done and the plan they are going to lead forward that it will be beneficial for our company and our fellow American manufacturers.
