Bringing Quality to the Table

By Sheila LaMothe

For the average person, the term “high five” conjures up images of achievement, success, and victory, likely with a sports connection. For Missouri-based Hi5 Metal Fabrication, the meaning of the term most commonly linked to that celebratory gesture has a different twist.

While variations of the high five date back to the 1920s, several stories claim to have sparked the origin of the modern-day gesture. However, it’s Major League Baseball that boasts the most widely accepted claim to the modern high five. As recounted in the ESPN “30 for 30” episode entitled “The High Five”, it occurred on October 2, 1977, at Dodger Stadium during the last game of the regular season. In the sixth inning, Dodger Dusty Baker hit his 30th home run, making the Dodgers the first team in history to have four players with at least 30 home runs in a single season. As Baker rounded the bases, teammate Glenn Burke waited on deck, his hand held high over his head welcoming Baker back to the dugout. Not knowing what to do, Baker smacked it, and the celebratory high five was born.

Decades later, a young Dawn Yates was introduced to the furniture industry, working for her mother at a local manufacturer. She would explore other career paths, but ultimately her passion for the furniture industry led her to launch her own commercial furniture company in 2008. According to Dawn, five specific groups are essential to the furniture industry: end users, furniture dealerships, architectural and design firms, sales representatives, and vendors. With a desire to welcome everyone to her company from the very first interaction, Dawn combined the informal salutation for hello and the number five, representing the groups of people that make up the industry, and Dawn’s version of the high five was born—Hi5 Furniture Company.

With commercial furniture being a large and diverse industry, Dawn decided it would be in the company’s best interest to target a specific product category. To this day, Hi5 Furniture is committed to one intentionally chosen segment of the industry: tables. While this may seem like a narrow focus, take a moment to rethink that assumption. Tables are everywhere—corporate spaces, hospitality venues, classrooms, lounges, and much, much more. Offering customization capabilities that allow designers to bring their inspirations to life, in their words, Hi5 designs and manufactures tables for everywhere you LEARN. EAT. GATHER. That’s a lot of tables!

Dreams Do Come True
Dawn, leading the company with her husband Billy, had a long-range plan of starting a metal fabrication company. At the time, the furniture operation was not able to produce and powder coat components for their products entirely in-house. They had to order parts from local fabricators, then send them to another vendor to be powder coated. This approach came with a slew of challenges—challenges the couple felt other manufacturers that outsourced part of their production experienced as well. Dawn and Billy dreamt of having a partner that could provide complete parts for their furniture company, as well as for other companies seeking a true solution to their fabrication needs.

In early 2019, Dawn and Billy purchased 10 acres of land and a 90,000 square foot building in the Kansas City area. That October, Hi5 Furniture moved into the new building with the intention it would someday also serve as the home of their metal fabrication company.

Fast forward a couple of years, and as was the case with so many companies, the COVID-19 pandemic impacted the Yates’ plans to realize their dream of opening a fabrication company, but not in the way you may think. “People started working from home and students were learning online, which had a drastic impact on the commercial furniture industry. To make matters worse, the supply chain was completely disrupted, and we struggled to get parts from our fabrication suppliers,” recalls Dawn. While many businesses were closing their doors, the Yateses decided it was time to bring their dream to life, opening their fabrication operation’s doors in November 2022 under the name Hi5 Metal Fabrication—reflecting the synergies between the two companies and continuing their welcoming spirit. And, let’s face it, it’s a memorable name.

Fabricating Success
Starting up a business during COVID, one might assume Hi5 Metal Fab’s first projects were making parts for pandemic-related necessities, but that is not the case. Dawn and Billy became that complete solutions partner they longed for, fabricating steel parts for Hi5 Furniture, supplementing that work making handrails, retail store fixtures, and miscellaneous parts for other industries.

Metal fabrication is a fairly general term, encompassing a wide range of processes to support the needs of countless industries. Like many fabricators, Hi5 offers laser cutting, forming, welding, and machining. However, having personally experienced the delays and frustrations that can come with outsourcing parts, on-time delivery of the highest quality parts was, and continues to be, top priority for Dawn and Billy. The full-service fabricator differentiates itself by offering a full slate of value-added services including design engineering and prototyping, packaging, and nationwide shipping options. Dawn shares that their customers often consider Hi5 as part of their own in-house capabilities, which reflects the vision she and Billy had for the business.

“Our experienced engineers can assist as little or as much as needed,” Dawn explains. “If a customer doesn’t have a drawing, no problem. Our team can create them from whatever inspiration the customer may have, be it a hand drawn sketch, photo, etc.” The Hi5 team can also suggest the best material type and gauge for the intended use. And, using their 3D printers, customers can review a prototype and make any necessary design changes prior to production.

Totally Tubular
Tube and pipe fabrication is key to commercial furniture manufacturing. With a background deeply rooted in the industry, it’s no surprise that these materials are an important contributor to Hi5’s fabrication operation. Their fiber laser is equipped with a rotary index, turning a machine most commonly used for precise and clean edge cutting of sheet metal into an advanced industrial tube processing machine capable of cutting a wide variety of shapes and sizes quickly and easily with minimal scratching.

After being laser cut, oftentimes it’s off to the tube bending machine where round, square, and rectangular tubes, even angle iron and C-channel, are precisely bent into traditional angles and radius bends, as well as more complex and ornamental shapes.

Crossing the Finish Line
A full-service operation like Hi5 Metal Fab wouldn’t be complete without the ability to deliver finished parts. Always keeping their early days of outsourcing top of mind, having powder coating capabilities for their furniture components, as well as for their external customers, is particularly important. With a need to quickly change colors and effectively powder coat small quantities, the couple decided a batch operation best fit their needs. “We have already doubled the size of our wash bay, powder booth, and oven—and that’s just in the past two years,” shares Dawn. “I’m expecting to double them all again next year,” she adds.

While Dawn and Billy feel the real value to customers comes when they are able to fabricate and finish parts with one purchase order and one pickup or shipment, they do offer custom coating services. This is most common when fabricating capacity is tight, or in rare cases, they don’t have the necessary equipment to produce a part.

With the increase in demand for powder coating, in 2024 Dawn and Billy set a goal to elevate the powder coating knowledge of their team. In her search for resources, Dawn came across PCI’s Powder Coating Week. “The more I read about PCI, the more I was convinced Powder Coating Week is where I wanted to send our people,” she recalls. “Having PCI as a resource has been such a blessing. To see the team get so excited to learn and implement new techniques from PCI has been fulfilling for our team as well as for our bottom line,” Dawn adds.

Managing Growth
While Hi5 Furniture is a more established and larger operation than its “little sister” Hi5 Metal Fab, it took a big hit during the pandemic and is just now returning to
pre-pandemic levels. Meanwhile, the fabrication business increased by 100% in 2024, leading to the addition of labor and engineering resources to accommodate the growth spurt. Looking forward, Dawn and Billy anticipate controlled growth in their existing markets and have the space and ability to expand at their current location. While they don’t have specific plans to target new markets, growth within their customer base may lead them into new industries.

With a demonstrated commitment to their customers, ability to overcome challenges, and the success of both businesses, I’d say Dawn, Billy, and the Hi5 family are well deserving of a celebratory high-five.

Sheila LaMothe is editor of Powder Coated Tough.