Dave Hetrick has been a steady presence at Miller Fabrication Solutions for 35 years, playing a critical role in keeping operations running smoothly at one of the company’s key facilities. As maintenance manager at the company’s Sandy Lick plant, Dave combines deep technical know-how with a hands-on leadership style. 

His commitment to his work and to Miller has made him an integral part of our company’s family.

Dave started part time, “doing a little bit of everything” and learning along the way. He’s now a trusted leader and mentor. His ability to navigate challenges, embrace change and quietly lead by example represents the kind of team member every company hopes to have.

In the following Q&A, Dave reflects on his journey, the values that have guided him and why Miller has been more than just a workplace – it’s been the right place. His perspective offers a glimpse into our company culture, which is characterized by a belief that long-term employees like Dave are key to our success.

Q: What do you do at Miller?

A: My main job is taking care of machinery and keeping production running, whatever that takes. I oversee and help implement our preventative maintenance program. I’m also involved in new equipment installs and moving machines – which entails setting them up in their new locations, putting them back together and making sure they’re operational. Other days, I might help one of our team members fix a crane, repair a welder or diagnose a machine that’s down. The goal of the team I lead is to always keep production running as smoothly as possible, with the safety of our team members and production employees as the top priority

Q: What do you like most about your job?

A: The variety. Maintenance, to me, is kind of like working around the house. You do one thing one day and then something else the next day. In that way, it never gets old. The troubleshooting we get into can be a little stressful, but it’s rewarding when you figure out a problem. The victories make it all worthwhile, and variety makes coming to work very easy. I love my job!

Q: What has kept you at Miller all these years?

A: Miller is very family-oriented, so I always had the flexibility to tend to other parts of my life, like activities with my kids and at church. Miller realizes that family is the most important thing – not your job. They’ve never looked over my shoulder or been strict about me keeping a particular schedule as long as I did my job, so I never missed any of my kids’ ball games and was able to do a lot of coaching when they were growing up.

I had some flexibility as I needed so I could be there for my family and my church. I can’t put a dollar value on that, and I wouldn’t trade it for the world.

Miller also taught me a good trade, and Dave Miller, the company’s founder, believed in me more than anyone else ever has. He let me learn on the fly. He encouraged me when I was struggling and helped when I needed help. I made a good living and, more importantly, a good life. I owe a lot to Miller.

Q: What are a couple of memories that stand out from your years at Miller?

A: My father-in-law had been in charge of machine maintenance. When he decided to take a position at another area manufacturer, I asked if I could take over the machine maintenance.

On my first day in that job, our newest machine broke down. I had to take some deep breaths, because I had never worked on that machine. So, my new machine maintenance job was really trial by fire. It was an all-day job to get the machine back up and running, but I figured it out, along with the machine operator’s help and calling for technical support. 

Another memory is the flood of July 19, 1996. When I came into our Sandy Lick plant at 2 a.m. that day, it was sprinkling a little. By 3 a.m., it was pouring rain and by 5:30 some employees were calling off because of the roads being covered with water. Our welding shop was flooded and completely shut down by 7:30 a.m., and water was rising in other parts of the building.

It happened fast – all within hours. The rain stopped by late morning, but by then, we had 46 inches of water in our fabrication shop and 27 inches in our machine shop. A lot of electrical cabinets sat on the floor and many of the motors on the machines sat low to the ground, so our whole facility was completely down.

We had to take off every motor that was in water and send them away to be dried out and have new bearings put in. It amounted to about 200 motors.

Within a week, we had enough smaller machines running that we were making parts again, but it took three weeks of working 100 hours per week to clean up and get the majority of the larger machines and burn tables back to normal production. Two of our older CNC machines needed retrofitted with new controls from an outside company.

Q: What are some things you’ve learned in your career from being part of the Miller team?

A: I’ve learned anything’s possible. One example is a welding job where two of us were supposed to line round kilns that were 13 ft. in diameter and 40 ft. long with stainless steel. The first one took us three weeks or maybe even a month. And then the job got pulled from us and given to another company. The other guy and I were upset we lost that job because, with eight of them to do, it would have been seven or eight months of ongoing work.

But Dave, Miller’s founder, wasn’t worried. He said, “We may get that job back.” Dave was the eternal optimist – sometimes to a degree that you kind of shook your head! But that’s why he was so successful.

Sure enough, the job came back to us, and we finished the remaining six kilns. That taught me to keep on keeping on. A career is what you make of it. It’s about having a positive attitude every day.

Q: What would you tell people about what it’s like to work at Miller?

A: If you come in with an attitude of wanting to learn something – whether that’s being a welder or a machinist or whatever – you will succeed and like it here, because we’ll teach you. As employees, we’re not overworked. You’re just expected to do the best you can. If you do that, you’ll be successful at Miller. For me, it’s been a perfect fit.