Meet Alex Ferguson

We recently connected with Alex Ferguson and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, so we’re so thrilled to have Alex with us today – welcome and maybe we can jump right into it with a question about one of your qualities that we most admire. How did you develop your work ethic? Where do you think you get it from?

I got my work ethic from my father, he was a lineman for a power company located in south central Montana. there were many times he would get a phone call and would have to abruptly leave dinners early, birthday parties for my siblings or I. But I always knew he was going out, often in the cold, to help keep the lights on in times of need for others. I always looked up to my dad and would sometimes go to work with him just to be around him while he worked. My dad did so much for my family and I will never forget that, that is why I have such a strong work ethic for my family today. I didn’t chose the same career as my dad, I chose to become a fabricator at a young age.

Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?

I always was so interested in learning, and fabrication was something cant learn everything perfectly in a lifetime. Learning everything I could about fabrication became my passion in high school, after graduation I attended Wyotech for Chassis Fabrication. After I graduated from Wyotech i went back home to Red Lodge, MT, I worked as many odd jobs to get out of my student loan debt. I even worked at a underground mine for a road crew, there was almost 200 miles of road underground while I worked there, operating equipment I’d never operated before. I managed to figure it out and learned all I could from the men I worked alongside. I chose to go back to fabrication after my time underground. Starting my own shop wasn’t something I was planning on, I always had my own welder and shop I could work on my own things on my days off. Then one day the local sheriff department asked me to build them aftermarket bumpers for their Tahoe’s. I was not an established business yet, but had to be in order to build these bumpers and start of Royal Fabrication.
Royal Fabrication has been my life for the last 15 years, I’ve managed to build a good reputation for myself and my business in this small town I grew up in. I offer a wide range of fabricated products, anything metal really. I’ve built backbone style staircases, handrails, along with other home applications. I primarily build aftermarket bumpers or automotive accessories. But, once again I love to learn, so I’ve been branching off into more art projects I’ve make a 3D geometric bull head, and working on other projects like that! we just recently launched our first website kind of showcasing all the things we offer (we have been behind the curve haha) but finally made the leap! Royal Fabrication is a small town shop built up the honest way, nothing has ever been handed to me. I’ve been the only person working at the shop for many years, we have now expanded to another employee in the shop with me who is just as eager to lean, and my wife runs the office for me. This shop is my life’s work, and despite it being a small town business, I have big dreams for it.

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?

Three skills that have been most impactful to me in my journey are work ethic, eagerness to learn and confidence.
My work ethic has sometimes gotten me into trouble, I often work through dinner times. Working with my hands is my form of being present in this crazy world. when I’m welding nothing else matters, Its just me behind the welding helmet trying to lay a better weld then I did before always.
Eagerness to learn, we forget we have the smartest computer in our pocket! With the eagerness to learn you are able to answer your own questions, we have it so easy, with a couple quick google searches you are able to learn any question you have. yet I still run into people who struggle to answer their own questions. With an eagerness to learn you are unstoppable. I’ve often said knowledge is the only thing that cant be taken away from you, money, fame, things can all disappear, but knowledge cant be taken from you.
Confidence is key! to have a successful business the more confidence you have in your self and your work, the more your customers have the confidence in you to do the job. Even if you are at times biting off more than you can chew, which I have done many of times! But with those 3 Keys you are able to problem solve, learn and achieve the project no matter how underprepared you started.

My advise to folks starting their journey is to keep your ego in check, be slow to speak but quick to listen. because you never know what you might learn about someone, and in that you gain respect. Having humility gets your foot in the door, having the confidence you can achieve it seals the deal.

Do you think it’s better to go all in on our strengths or to try to be more well-rounded by investing effort on improving areas you aren’t as strong in?

A combination, I think through becoming well rounded in what I do in fabrication, makes you a stronger fabricator. Metal fabrication has so many aspects to it from understanding the strength of the metal (metallurgy) to understanding what kind of forces your product will be under. I feel like my lifelong learned knowledge I’ve acquired from home projects to automotive, or even working on semis has made me a better fabricator. I feel more comfortable working on a project when I understand the many avenues of it. I also enjoy being able to lathe, mill, draw on cad myself, I am not just a welder, or even a fabricator, I love working with all the metal tools, (I can afford) haha! Also, understanding how that motor runs, the torque it puts out, or even what the vehicle is being used for helps you understand how to fix, fabricate or machine what has been broken in the best way, hopefully with out it breaking again. I believe my well rounded knowledge about vehicles, and fabrication combined has helped me manufacture an aftermarket bumper that can withstand a tremendous amount of force and let the driver walk away without serious injuries. And keeping your vehicle safe, because we understand today having a vehicle, especially a newer truck is an asset and isn’t cheep to fix. so its nice to add a little protection to that asset. Being in Montana, and a free range state, Montana has a lot of wildlife on the roads especially at night. I had a customer send me the aftermath of their vehicle hitting a cow on a backroad. the vehicle was certainly totaled, but rarely do people walk away from hitting a cow and he was not seriously injured. Hitting any kind of wildlife is tremendously sad and I hate when it happens, but it is something that is a constant on these Montana roads unfortunately.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.shoproyalfabrication.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/royal_fabrication/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RoyallyFabricated

Image Credits

All photos taken by myself, or my wife Elexa