Largest Machine Shop in Texas

On the 26th of September I had the privilege to tour the largest machine shop / plant(s) in Texas. It is called the MIC Group. It is part of the J.B. Poindexter & Co. (JBPCO) that is a privately held, Vietnam Veteran owned diversified manufacturing company with over $1.4B dollars in annual revenue and 6,300 team members. I was given a tour by their VP of Sales Rick Welch who by trade is a skilled engineer, but a well versed VP of Sales in this market. He showed me investment casting to large milling machines that made me feel like a kid in a candy store. This is one of the best ran operation and clean shop floor facilities I have seen in a while and I have visited over 300 plants since 2007.

Why bring this up. One of the issues today is that we need several thing in America. One we need to get back to making things instead of importing things. I have said many times before President Trump came to power that if we had a level playing field America can compete and win anywhere in the world. This team at MIC make things primarily for the oil industry. Two we need to train up a whole new team of manufacturing professionals. We need to get young people into the trades that make things again. We have all these people getting into college and getting degrees that will never make them any money. 4 years of wasted time. This is happening in several industries. In the Aerospace industry there is a shortage of A&P Certified Mechanics. I think the same thing is happening in the manufacturing arena. So, we need to go out and get people interested in making things again.

Back to the plant. MIC has two facilities in Brenham Texas just south of Texas A&M and north west of Houston Texas. A beautiful little town with all the amenities of a large town with a small town feel. There are a host of other manufactures there along with Blue Bell Ice Cream located there as well. Close to a major college and in between Austin and Houston. So you have good old country people making things again. This is what excited me about visiting the plant.

Why visit this plant or take the time to know the company. Right now we have a military budget that is over $700 Billion dollars with a 3% increase for 2019. The US Government is going out and getting new planes, upgrading the M1 tanks, Bradley Fighting Vehicles, new designs for the Army's vehicle fleet, the Air Force is modernizing the fleet and upgrading the legacy aircraft as well. So RFP Request for Proposals are coming out each week. Some of these are full one year contracts with 4 year follow on multiple award contracts that are cost plus instruments. A sweet spot for manufacturing. The iron is hot and they are looking for full manufacturing facilities to increase their manufacturing subcontractors and or prime contractors. The military is building up again.

Example the Reagan Years. The last time we saw this type of build up was during the Reagan years. However, this appears to be a little different. We have a 4.2% GDP along with a stable reduction in regulations that have stifled the manufacturing world for years. Even in the Reagan years. So the iron is hot and we in the business world need to look at companies like the J. B Poindexter group who is a manufacturing organization headquartered in Houston Texas with a diversified portfolio of companies. A Veteran Owned business who hires veterans.

Mr. John B. Poindexter is an American businessman and former Army soldier and Vietnam Veteran. He is the Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of J.B. Poindexter & Co., Inc. and owner of Cibolo Creek Ranch. What needs to get out there is that he is another very successful Soldier who took his skills and grew a company into a Billion dollar enterprise. A lot of people do not know that he was also an 11th Armored Cavalry Officer in Vietnam that went on a rescue mission to save a sister company in the jungles. He was successful in saving his sister company. A classic Army maneuver that is taught at all Infantry and Cavalry schools today. He did so with limited casualties and injuries to his unit and was wounded himself in the battle leading his troops. What was amazing is that he put his unit people in for Army Awards of gallantry in the face of overwhelming enemy odds. In a classic screw up by the Army leadership at the time these awards were forgotten to history. Mr. Poindexter fought for his soldiers and the awards they should have received. When I was visiting the facility I was told that Mr. Poindexter had that same spirit with MIC and it showed in their team. A sense of pride at being with the Poindexter group.

I did not know about Mr. Poindexter when I started down this journey when asked to visit the plant until I asked the question about the organization being owned by a Veteran. I was told that he was a Vietnam hero and that you can find his story on Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_B._Poindexter. A great read. As a prior service infantryman that started his career in a Cavalry unit and going to the 82nd Airborne I went to the Infantry School Library a lot. I remember reading about this rescue mission by a Poindexter. Not a common name. Very small article. However, going to save your sister company and a friend without authorization was a memorable moment. I learned a lot from those days reading in the Infantry Library at US Army's Fort Benning Infantry School. Those days paid me well in tactics during my Army career. I also learned a lot about how successful Army leaders that have bridged the gap from Combat Leaders to compassionate, dedicated, honest and successful business leaders over time.

In conclusion, I really enjoyed my visit to Brenham Texas to the largest Machine Shop in Texas. Great leaders and potential for more capacity to take advantage of the market in Aerospace and Defense today. Although they have oilfield successful past performance today and starting small with only a few DOD subcontracts now. They have the potential and capacity to deliver in the Aerospace Defense community in the future. Something that DOD Contracting Officers and Prime Contractors should take a serious look at.

Allen Shisler, President Access International Solutions and Aviation Solutions Experts.

Information from Wikipedia noted in the article.