Barron Industries Honors Military at Centennial Celebration

Barron Industries celebrated 100 years as a family-owned business with a tribute to its biggest customer – the United States military. Located in Oxford Michigan, Barron manufactures precision machined castings and assemblies for aerospace, defense and other commercial industries. To commemorate its centennial year, the company held an open house including a display of a 23-foot Stryker Engineer Squad Vehicle ( ESV), a flyover by a military training aircraft and a flag raising by the U.S. Air National Guard Honor Guard.

Barron Industries President/CEO Bruce Barron addressed the more than 250 people who attended and thanked employees, suppliers and customers who have supported Barron over the years. He thanked the community by presenting the Oxford Fire Department with a check for the purchase of emergency response training equipment. Barron attributes the company’s success to its family culture.

“It’s a testament to the family culture of the company and the people that we have who are genuinely interested in not only seeing the company be successful but in satisfying the customer,” said Barron. “We also try to treat the customers like family, which means they’re very important, and when they have a need, we try to respond to it. If there’s a problem, we don’t sweep it under the rug – we address it, we work together and we resolve it.”

Also giving remarks were Congresswoman Lisa McClain, United States Representative for Michigan’s 9th District, and Oakland County Economic Development Manager Dom Holmes who presented Barron with an honorary proclamation.

Holmes said Barron received the county’s Impact Award for workforce development and has been named Oakland County Business of the Year.

“The leadership team here is resourceful, and deliberate, has taken advantage of numerous resources to make sure that the teams here are prepared and successful. “On the job training programs, Oakland County Business Resource Network and other programs, creating a USDOL registered apprenticeship program… all these different innovative things they are doing to stay at the forefront and train their workforce to create a better tomorrow for their families that depend on Barron Industries.”

Holmes calls Barron a shining example of what opportunity looks like in Oakland County.

“This is a company that’s also active in the trade mission arena, taking their products to different states and overseas,” he said. This company also has historical success in the federal contracting arena which is something we try to help other companies in the county understand.

Congresswoman Lisa McClain (R-Michigan) congratulated Barron on its success. “A hundred years of keeping their business alive, keeping it flourishing and growing… in this day and age, over a hundred years is really a remarkable task,” she said.

McClain who is a member of the Armed Services committee also stressed the importance of what Barron’s 80 employees do to keep our military safe.

“They always say thank you to the people who manufacture, whether it’s food, whether it’s tanks,
or whether it’s technology, to keep them safe to be able to do their job,” she said.

She also thanked the company and its employees for their contributions to the state.

“It is the small business that gives us our social programs,” she said. “Without you, we wouldn’t have what we have. So thank you for staying in Michigan because I realize that’s a choice.”

Founded as Motor and Machinery Castings in 1923 by Joseph H. Barron, the company has flourished through three industrial revolutions. What began as a Detroit iron sand foundry producing castings up to 60 tons, has evolved into a global manufacturer of precision investment castings and machined components for aerospace, defense, space, automotive, energy technology and other commercial industries.

Barron Industries can be traced to casting components for Henry Ford out of Detroit in the ’20s. Born in the second industrial revolution with the assembly line, the manufacturer witnessed and employed the third industrial revolution with automation, and now is an active player in Industry 4.0. Throughout its history, the company has striven to constantly innovate and meet the needs of its customers, employees and community. Ahead of its time, Barron implemented Industry 4.0 in 2003 when it installed a cloud-based ERP system that fully integrated and automated all business functions.

Barron says that innovation will continue to be the company’s focus for the future.

“Like the first century, innovation will continue to be our focus in our next hundred years,” said 3rd generation President/CEO Bruce Barron. “It’s exciting because of all the technology that’s available to increase speed of production while reducing cost, and we’ll remain in the forefront of technology in our industry.”