Business Profile - Fourman Enterprises

Hauser High School graduate and local business owner, Gary Bailey, has owned Fourman Enterprises for nearly 20 years. With the help of his wife, Lisa, his daughter, Sarah, and more than one dozen employees, Bailey’s machining and fabrication shop has built a reputation that reaches far beyond the Bartholomew County and Indiana state line.

He recently spoke about the types of services Fourman Enterprises offers, the challenges he faces and his hopes for the future of the business.

What is the origin of the name?
It is named for Ron Fourman, the original owner.

How would you describe the services you offer?
We are a full service machine shop, a fabrication shop and hydraulic cylinder repair shop.

What types of projects are common to your shop?
We build mezzanines, machine basis, tables, basically anything a customer wants us to do. That is in the fabricating area. And, of course, we rebuild hydraulic cylinders and make new ones as well – for farm equipment or special machinery that is in industrial plants. There are just a million uses for hydraulic cylinders.

How many employees do you have?
Right now we are at 16.

How would you describe the rapport you have with the Hope community?
I would say it is good. I’ve been on a few boards. I’m not now, and probably, at my age now, I wouldn’t because it is a lot of work being on those boards.

What is the most unique project you’ve had come through your shop?
There’s been a lot. We’ve machined some bumper brackets that ended up on the Tesla electric car. Our customer was a castings company that was making them for Tesla directly and they needed some machined and so we ended up machining thousands of them. We have also made some exhaust parts for Harley Davidson. We do a lot of specialty items for Cummins Engine Company that they test.

What would you say is the biggest challenge of being a business owner?
I would say our biggest challenge is to overcome the big cities we work for as a small town company. When you tell someone from a big city we are in a little town, sometimes they think, “Well, do you have a dirt floor?”

How many clients do you serve annually?
About 250.

Are they mostly local? Regional?
We have a couple of things we do in Mexico. Most of our stuff is either in Mexico or East of the Mississippi. And we have done some things for a Canadian company as well.

What are your hopes for the business and where it is going in the future?
We have done really well for the past few years. I would like to maintain the size it is now, I would accept some growth, but we aren’t out beating doors down to get that growth. I am comfortable with the size of it now.