Fluid Power Support has been named the 2021 Commerce and Industry Award recipient by the Mexico Area Chamber of Commerce. 

The company will be honored along with the four previous quarterly Excellence in Business recipients at a dinner in October.

The Cookie Club, Color Me Bleu, Missouri Military Academy and Eye to Eye Optometry will also be recognized. One company will be named the E. Warner Williams Excellence In Business Award winner. 

Since the millennium, Fluid Power Support has grown into a state-of-the-art metal fabrication facility mastering robotic welding, laser technologies, power folding, punching, shearing, sandblasting, and powder coating systems. Fluid currently employs 75 individuals.

Once a 5,000 square foot building, the family-owned business is now a recognizable manufacturing construct sitting at 81,000 square feet just off the southern Mexico 54 exit. 

Structures that bear the imprint of Fluid Power Support include The Help Center, the metal arched sign at the Mexico High soccer field, the trellis system at Faurot Field, and the Columbia Farmers’ Market pavilion. 

Fluid meets customer metal fabrication needs by completing projects in entirety or by providing individual component or structural pieces. Fluid builds and ships solar generators to various locations around the US, such as Las Vegas where they employ artificial intelligence to read and recognize customers through facial recognition and provide demographic advertising data. 

Other structures built by Fluid, like the local Goldcrest expansion and Fastenal building, are done in correlation with Ultimate Steel Buildings, a subsidiary of Fluid Power Support.

“If it’s metal, we can build it.” This work ethic and attitude is exactly how life-long Audrain County Resident Mark Korman has kept the company individually owned and family-based while servicing customers from international Fortune 500 companies, high schools, sports teams, rural farmers, and local homeowners. 

Korman and his managers continue to not only invest in their business to offer top-notch equipment, technology, and services to their customers, but they also believe in investing in Fluid employees, understanding they are the heart of the business. 

“Individually owned is different from corporations. Being family-owned means our managers know employees; they know about their families,” he said. “This also means we worry about them. How can we continue to be profitable and put money in the hands of these families? How can we assure they live well enough? Sometimes you lose sleep over it.”

Korman’s commitment to the community can be traced back to his homegrown roots. In high school, he traveled from Community R-6 to the Hart Career Center and studied auto mechanics. His drive to learn continued as he built on these skills, receiving status as a certified pipefitter with the nuclear plant, and breaking into the concrete business, where he worked with a company to pour the floors for the Columbia Mall. 

During his two decades as a local business owner, Korman has learned the importance of collaborating with the community to build a strong workforce. In 2016, Korman assisted the Chamber of Commerce by being the voice manufacturers could relate to and the Partners for Employment and Education Committee was formed. PEEC brings together Mexico business and education leaders to expand students’ knowledge and exposure to career opportunities. 

“We’re all fighting for the same workers all the time; it’s hard on employers,” he explained. “Not all employees today want to grow with a company; they want to move around. Our local manufacturers can work together with the school and community to let them know what skills employers need and how students can be educated to fit these needs. Manufacturers should show people we care about the community and not just about a job.”

The event will be held on Tuesday, Oct. 26 at Heritage Fields. The social begins at 5:30 p.m. and dinner will begin at 6 p.m. with the award presentation to follow. Tickets are $35. Call the Mexico Area Chamber of Commerce for Reservations; deadline is Oct. 15.