Forging ahead

In 1971 Ulven Forging was a single company that forged hooks, shackles and logging tongs for timber harvesting. Forty years later, the Hubbard-based metal components manufacturer has evolved into The Ulven Companies, a family of four individual businesses catering to the oil and gas, maritime, and defense industries — as well as other markets that have a need for Ulven’s casting, forging, machining and rigging supplies.

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BY LINDA BAKER

Dan Ulven, president of The Ulven Companies. // Photos by Leah Nash

In 1971 Ulven Forging was a single company that forged hooks, shackles and logging tongs for timber harvesting. Forty years later, the Hubbard-based metal components manufacturer has evolved into The Ulven Companies, a family of four individual businesses catering to the oil and gas, maritime, and defense industries — as well as other markets that have a need for Ulven’s casting, forging, machining and rigging supplies.

In 2012 the Ulven group continues to grow and diversify. The companies already support an array of manufacturing capabilities, from traditional blacksmithing to robotic welding. Now Ulven executives are expanding physical-plant capacity and implementing new marketing and lean manufacturing initiatives. The goal is to become more efficient, help recruit top talent and develop new products for contemporary applications.

“We’ve had tremendous growth, but we lacked good organizational systems and processes,” says president Dan Ulven. Coupled with significant capital investments, the decision to streamline administrative and shop procedures is “generating great results,” he says, noting that in the past year and a half, the company has already boosted sales and “become more competitive.”

Located on 35 acres in Whiskey Hill, Ulven’s family-owned businesses consist of Ulven Forging, Skookum, Wolf Steel Foundry, and Houston Structures. Operating four companies as individual corporations allows Ulven to offer more manufacturing capabilities and product lines while also enabling efficiencies gained through vertical integration, Ulven says. The different companies also reflect Ulven’s strategy of acquiring niche businesses that allow the Ulven group to expand into new industries.

Wolf Steel, for example, was acquired in 1988, adding casting capabilities to the Ulven forging plant. Houston Structures specializes in engineered packages for suspension bridges; the company supplied the vertical cable assembly for the St. Johns and Sauvie Island bridges in the Portland metro area. Skookum, a former competitor founded in 1890, produces blocks and shackles for the offshore oil and gas and the defense industries.

“Early in the company’s history, my father recognized the need to be diversified,” says Ulven, 39, who succeeded paternal company founder Andy Ulven as president two years ago. “Right now, the oil and gas markets are really strong, so we are focusing on that,” Ulven says. But when those markets enter a down cycle, Ulven will have other businesses to sell to. “Everything is countercyclical,” says Ulven.

Photos by Leah Nash

A self-described “smaller to midsize” forging and casting company, Ulven Companies grossed about $37 million in 2011 — a figure Dan Ulven expects to increase about 20% this year. The combined companies employ 175, up from about 120 five years ago. To maintain that growth, Ulven has undertaken several new sales and manufacturing initiatives. These include “reenergizing” the Skookum product line, which has had “tremendous success” in defense — less so in the commercial sector, Ulven says. To help boost that market, Ulven Companies hired a new vice president of sales last year, and Skookum is aggressively promoting products such as blocks used by the utility industry.

Skookum also doubled its square footage a year and a half ago. A major expansion is under way at Wolf. Another development is a series of federal grants Ulven received through the Oregon Manufacturing Extension Partnership to help lead the forging plant through a lean manufacturing and administrative process. “We’re looking at our plant layout, cell layout and how efficiently you can pass that product through your manufacturing centers,” Ulven says. Along with new capital investments, the lean process has already helped boost sales by 37%, he says.

A proud made-in-the-USA manufacturer, Ulven touts the fact that he employs “hard-working Americans who actually make a product and not just a service.” But he also says finding qualified people is the company’s biggest challenge. The company has had several general, site and maintenance manager positions open for a few months, he says. To help grow talent, Ulven Companies recently partnered with Oregon State University’s engineering internship program. One of those interns was recently hired as Ulven’s first industrial engineer and has already helped Ulven Companies save $25,000 a year in natural gas bills, Ulven says.

Ulven himself started working for the company sweeping floors while in high school, then worked his way through the foundry and operations before focusing on new business development. Today the company is solidifying a generational change in leadership. Ulven’s younger brother, Mike, recently became COO, and his father is now chairman of the board. But the Ulven Companies’ focus remains the same: diversity in products, services and types of materials.

“My favorite part of the job is interacting with people and helping customers find innovative solutions,” Ulven says. The company’s versatility, he adds, “allows us to maintain business in good economies and bad.”