Metal Solutions: from tin-knocker to sheet-metal engineer

UTICA — Joe Cattadoris, Sr. was a tin-knocker from the Mohawk Valley. In construction slang, a tin-knocker is someone who works in sheet metal. Cattadoris enlisted in the army in 1942 and later moved to the Air Corps to work on aircraft sheet metal. In 1943, he flew “The Hump” between India and China in what he described as “a flying sheet-metal shop,” patching up bombers so they could return to base.

In 1945, the Mohawk Valley tin-knocker and his small crew modified the bomb bay or weapons bay of the “Enola Gay” and the “Bock’s Car” to accommodate the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Cattadoris was famous enough that Tokyo Rose mentioned him in her broadcasts.

Nine years after the war ended, Cattadoris and his partner Henry Niemczyk invested $800 to open a sheet-metal shop in New Hartford, which they called New Hartford Sheet Metal Works. The partners split up in 1983, and Joseph M. Cattadoris, Jr. joined the business. He was employee number six. The company specialized in producing custom-fabricated products for area customers.

Three decades later, the business — renamed Metal Solutions, Inc. and now located in East Utica — “… still bends sheet metal, but we’re no longer just tin-knockers; we’re sheet-metal engineers,” Metal Solutions President Joseph Cattadoris, Jr. says with a smile. “We have embraced lean manufacturing and expect to get our ISO-9001 certification by next April.

The company has grown from six to 46 employees, running two shifts, with annual revenue of $6 million. We’re still a small-lot production facility, but today we rely on computer-driven, sophisticated machinery to cut and form our products,” says Cattadoris as he points to a $600,000 laser-cutting machine.

“Metal Solutions offers high-quality, fast-turnaround prototypes, engineering assistance in product development, innovative production solutions, short lead times, and quick production of parts,” continues Cattadoris. “We have customers in a number of industries, including mass-transit buses and trains, air conditioning, air filtration, refrigeration, metal cabinetry and furniture, and lighting.” Metal Solutions set up a second company — Lumivations, LLC — a decade ago to manufacture both LED lighting and reflectors.

Metal Solutions is located at 1821 Broad St. in a 100,000-square-foot building. The company occupies 50,000 square feet for office space, manufacturing, and inventory storage and leases the remaining 50,000 feet to a tenant — Precise Kit Promotions. Cattadoris and his sister, Catherine Anne Thiaville, created a real-estate company called Jaychlo, LLC in order to buy the building five years ago from Yale Solomon for $1.2 million.

Solomon holds the paper on the mortgage. Thiaville is a stockholder in Metal Solutions, owning together with her brother 68 percent of the stock. Two silent partners own the remainder. The Lumivations stock is split 50/50 between Cattadoris and an outside partner.

The growth of Metal Solutions has not come without a few bumps. In April 2012, Daimler announced that it was getting out of the transit-bus business in North America because of the poor economy. The move included closing the manufacturing plant in Oriskany, while continuing operations related to parts and field service.

“Orion was our biggest customer,” says Cattadoris. “Even before the announcement, we had been working to diversify our customer base. Our years of production in the mass-transit field helped us to develop special production systems and to organize Metal Solutions to react to volatile schedules and parts-demand on short notice. Our personnel adjustments to the Orion announcement were short-term, and we re-staffed within a few months.”

“Metal Solutions’ growth is due in large part to our employees’ knowledge and dedication,” says Cattadoris, 50, whose educational background is in physics and mechanical engineering. He has served as company president since 1996, overseeing production, developing new customer relations, and providing technical assistance to customers.

Thiaville, 46, who is a certified public accountant, joined Metal Solutions in 2003, having worked previously as a senior auditor for an area accounting firm and as the CFO of an area engineering firm. She is the company’s vice president, responsible for financial and human-resources operations.

Kristen Sheppard, the business manager, Richard Garrett, operations manager, and Frank Girardi, business-development manager, round out the executive team.

“Finding qualified candidates to work at Metal Solutions is a [major] focus,” says Thiaville. “We want to find motivated employees.” Cattadoris adds that even before a candidate joins the company, he/she must pass a math test that covers not only basic math but also trigonometry. Once a candidate joins the firm, he/she enters a 10-week apprentice program … Training is part of our company culture, whether it’s internal [or external] … with agencies such as the Mohawk Valley Applied Technical Corp.”

Metal Solutions’ president and vice president are focused on leveraging the experience and knowledge garnered over six decades. “We have a stable base of customers,” says Cattadoris. “This gives us the opportunity to reach out of the area in search of new business … Our company still has the entrepreneurial spirit of our father and the technology to let us compete.”

Cattadoris has two teen-age children with aspirations to be in the business and carry on the family tradition.

Contact Poltenson at npoltenson@cnybj.com