BRIGHT CLIENT
BURTON
METAL
FINISHING,
INC.
R
FROM THE ASHES ...
esearch shows that about 12 percent of family-owned businesses
don’t survive past the second
generation. However Burton Metal
Finishing, Inc., a family-owned, Columbus-based metal finishing and powder
coating company, not only boasts three
generations of family leadership and
expertise, the business has done so in
spite of facing unsurmountable odds.
Managing a manufacturing company in
Ohio during a tough economy is hard
enough, but keeping your business alive
after watching your family’s life work go
up in flames is almost unbearable. Still,
after a three-alarm fire ravaged Burton
Metal Finishing’s primary facility at 1711
Woodland Ave., Columbus, on Oct. 4,
2013, Scott, Victoria and Dan, the company’s leadership team, never wavered
on the decision they made to rebuild.
that he had to be pulled from the building’s second-story window. Fortunately
he was able to escape unharmed; the
building, however, was another story.
“We knew it was going to be hard to rebuild our family’s company back to the
point it was before, but this is who we
are,” said Victoria Burton, co-owner and
CFO. “Burtons are made of tough material. We just don’t know when to quit.”
The company’s production facility was
built in the 1960s, so when clean-up and
rebuilding began, Victoria said she and
her brothers were shocked to learn just
how much had changed in the way of
building codes and equipment pricing
– and while their insurance picked up a
large portion of the claim, the three siblings were still left to pay a $2 million tab.
employed with no compromise to their hourly
rate, but in doing so, we lost a lot of control
of our company. And, as we were waiting to
reopen, many of our customers had to start
working with our competition. We took a big
hit but we had faith that we were going to
come back bigger and better.
“We say that the Burtons built this company
the first time around, but after the fire it was
rebuilt by the Burtons and the employees,”
she continued. “We are proud of that.”
A second chance
This July, three generations of Burtons, employees, community leaders, friends, family
and supporters gathered to celebrate the
grand reopening of Burton Metal Finishing;
it was a moment the family had been looking forward to for 22 months.
“We had to take it on personally,” explained Victoria. “We applied for loans,
worked with some amazing people and
received help keeping our employees
“I will never forget the morning of the reopening,” said Victoria. “I remember wondering
if anybody would remember us or if they
Scott Burton, co-owner and CEO, was
would even show up. But as I walked down
the on HۙH