Fort Wayne’s Gensic Creative Metals has been meeting customers’ needs for 60 years
By Kevin Kilbane | News-Sentinel
Gensic Creative Metals started in business in 1958 in a two-car garage on Pittsburgh Street in east Fort Wayne. Employees now have been shaping metal to solve problems and bring creations to life for 60 years.
“We have the capability to cut, form, bend, roll and weld most any type of steel,” said Dan Lomont, who has owned the company since 1999 with his sister-in-law, Jeanine Moyer. The company, which employs eight people, also can make items from copper, aluminum and other metals and prides itself on providing personal service.
“Ever since I started here, it has been a can-do attitude,” said Lomont, who has worked at the company for 35 years. “We have a lot of fabricators who are highly skilled.”
Both Lomont and Moyer were former employees of the business, which was founded by John and Dorothy Gensic, Lomont said. The company moved in 1964 to its present location of 1205 W. Main St.
About 75 percent of the company’s work involves making industrial specialty items, such machine chutes or guards, Lomont said. About 15 years ago, they also began making items for homes and smaller businesses, such as restaurants, including stainless steel countertops, oven hoods and more.
Customers range from major corporations, such as General Motors, to local restaurants, he said.
In addition to that work, employees also turn artists’ visions and models into metal sculptures, such as the large stainless steel iris at Robert E. Meyers Park at Parkview Field and the metal silhouettes of people on the Barr Street side of Citizens Square, 200 E. Berry St. They also make ironwork fencing and gates.
The artistic work “is the fun part,” Lomont said. But there isn’t enough demand for it to focus solely on those types of projects.
Gensic Creative Metals mainly serves northeast Indiana, northwest Ohio and southern Michigan, but they have shipped projects to Houston and Toronto, Canada, Lomont said. In the mid-1990s, the company also made and shipped tire shredders and other rubber processing equipment to Bosnia and Herzegovina.
They try to complete industrial customers’ work immediately, Lomont said. It typically takes three to four weeks to finish work for smaller customers.
“It is different every day,” he said of what he enjoys about working at the company. “One of the good things about working here is if you have a job you don’t like, it will only last a couple of days and you’ll be on to something else.”
Lomont is concerned, however, about the shortage of skilled labor in this area and the apparent lack of interest in skilled-labor jobs by young people. After going through an apprenticeship and earning journeyman skills status, a person can earn $45,000 to $75,000 per year, depending on their experience and skill level, he said.
Skilled workers interested in working at Gensic or people interested in learning more about apprenticeship programs can contact the company at 1-260-422-7825 or email@gensic.com.
“I’m not sure what will happen in 10-15 years when a lot of us old guys retire,” he said.
Gensic Creative Metals
Sheet metal fabrication serving industrial, small business, home and art customers
Address: 1205 W. Main St., Fort Wayne, IN 46808
Contact: 260-422-7825 or email@gensic.com
Website: http://gensic.com
Owners: Dan Lomont and Jeanine Moyer
