An almost 120-year-old Fulton, Illinois, manufacturer said just-in-time production and domestic manufacturing helped it grow during the pandemic and ongoing tariffs.
FULTON, Ill — A Fulton, Illinois, steel product manufacturer that opened in 1906 said its business model helped it grow during the pandemic and ongoing tariffs.
Fulton Corporation’s warehouse hums with the rhythm of steel cutting and stamping as workers turn steel coil into dustpans, wrecking bars and mailboxes. Owner Dee Willoughby’s family became involved with the company in 1969. Willoughby started working for the family business in the 1980s and watched the retail landscape transform.
“Walmart, Home Depot, and Lowe’s barely existed,” he said. “They now lead the marketplace.”
Fulton Corporation now supplies major hardware companies, including Ace Hardware, True Value, Walmart and Lowe’s. Years ago, Willoughby met Walmart co-founder Sam Walton at a trade show in Chicago. Walton liked the company’s “red barn mailbox” and sold the products for 17 years. After the two businesses parted ways for a number of years, Fulton Corporation’s products once again line the store’s shelves today.
On the factory floor, steel is cut, bent, powder-coated and baked. The products are boxed before they are delivered to store shelves across the U.S. Willoughby said quick turnaround is an important aspect of the company’s business model.
“We will ship to our key customers within five working days. That’s really kind of unheard of in our industry,” he said.
Fulton Corporation buys its steel, paint and other materials from American companies and operates as a just-in-time manufacturer, producing only what it can sell.
“My goal is that when we walk through the warehouse that it’s empty because that means that we’re making it, we’re shipping,” Willoughby said. The company keeps only two weeks’ worth of finished goods in its warehouse.
Vice President of Operations Brent Kubee said that the model helped the company grow through the COVID-19 pandemic and tariffs.
“It’s been an opportunity through crisis to be able to learn and be able to grow, and actually in those seasons we’ve made some of the biggest growth moves,” Kubee said. “We became more resilient, or we’re able to learn new opportunities to do our business better.”
“Tariffs, whether you’re for them or against them, the reality is they help the domestic manufacturer,” Willoughby said. “I’m already established. I don’t have to build a factory. I don’t have to buy equipment. I don’t have to bring it back from China. I just need to make more stuff, and so that’s what we’re really good at.”
Willoughby said the company’s success is rooted in how it treats people as much as how it moves product.
“Our secret sauce is service,” Willoughby said. “Whether it’s serving an employee, a customer, a vendor, our community. We strive to do it well.”
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