Kevin LaComb, Co-President
Kevin LaComb was truly trained in the “Fitzpatrick Way.” Since starting with Fitzpatrick in 1994 as a co-op in high school, Kevin has held numerous positions on the manufacturing floor and in the business office; he is now the Co-President with Derek. With bachelors and masters degrees from Lawrence Technological University, Kevin concentrates on business development as well as the lean initiatives and systems development. As part of his business development role, he is in charge of determining the needs of new customers and writing standards to ensure the customer receives a consistently high level of service. Around here, he’s referred to as the “Communication Czar of Customers.” Kevin excels at working with customers to determine the most economical design from a manufacturing point of view. He also oversees shipping and logistics for many of our out-of-state customers, and he’s one of our customers’ main contacts for job quotes.
Derek Owings, Co-President
Derek Owings is also a prodigy of the “Fitzpatrick Way,” having started at Fitzpatrick Manufacturing in 1993. Before becoming Co-President with Kevin, Derek was our General Manager. Derek previously was a working manager with extensive experience on our shop floor. He’s an expert in turning applications including CNC turning programming and processing. Derek also has advanced knowledge of tooling applications, and customers rely on him for quoting along with Mike and Kevin. As Co-President, Derek concentrates on shop floor activities, internal efficiencies, and the most robust and economic processes for making our customers’ parts.
Mike Fitzpatrick, Vice-President
Mike was born and raised in the machine shop business. His father started the company in 1953 with just two machines and an intense drive to build a successful company. As a young man, Mike learned that in order to grow the company, he had to build a responsible, flexible team that could easily anticipate the challenges of the industry and continuously adapt to new technologies, new processes, and the needs of customers.
Today, Fitzpatrick Manufacturing Co. is one of Michigan’s largest contract manufacturers with more than 100 machines, an 80,000 square foot facility, and an elite team of roughly 95 employees. In 2012, he sold the business to Kevin and Derek. His responsibilities include quoting and working with customers to determine the best way to manufacture a part.
Dave Fernholz, Plant Manager
Over thirty-five years ago, Dave Fernholz started with us as a co-op in high school. Today, he is our Plant Manager and in-house expert on processing, fixture, and tooling design. He’s also a master with cutting tools, Solid Works, and Gibbs CAM. When a customer has a difficult-to-process job, Dave is our go-to guy. He is also the person who watches over the shop floor to make sure everything is running smoothly, concentrating on internal efficiencies as well as the ideal process. In the fall of 2013, Dave took extensive training at Oakland University’s Pawley Lean Institute along with Tim Murphy, and was awarded a lean green belt.
Tim Murphy, QC Manager
Tim Murphy also started with Fitzpatrick Manufacturing as a co-op in high school. (If you’re beginning to see a pattern here related to employee retention, it’s no coincidence). Tim has been with the company for almost 30 years and has college-level training in metrology and geometric dimensioning and tolerancing (GD&T). As the architect and manager of our Quality Management Systems, Tim leads a team of nine inspectors. He has extensive training in GD&T, AS9100, and ISO (in fact, he’s a certified ISO auditor). Tim is also a CQT by ASQ. That’s short for “Certified Quality Technician by the American Society for Quality.” In the fall of 2013, Tim took extensive training at Oakland University’s Pawley Lean Institute along with Dave Fernholz, and was awarded a lean green belt.
Edith Huerta, Office Manager
Edith Huerta took on the position of Office Manager at our facility in 2015. She brought with her 20 years of office management experience, as well as a work ethic and a thorough attention to detail that is second-to-none. She is the go-to person for any and every issue; whether it is customer, employee, or vendor relations, the issue is sure to be resolved with the perfect balance of fairness and compassion. Edith fulfills her role here with the tenacity and dedication that one would hope to find in every employee. She is focused on customer satisfaction and continual improvement that we at Fitzpatrick Manufacturing have strived to achieve since 1952.
Barb Fitzpatrick, Controller / CFO
Barb Fitzpatrick is great with numbers. A licensed CPA since 1991, Barb has many years of accounting experience in the manufacturing sector. As the Controller and CFO at Fitzpatrick Manufacturing, Barb maintains all aspects of our finances and makes sure that the company stays on a path of continuous growth.