Steve Wiseman is honest. “We’ve forecast about a 15 percent growth this year, but mind you that 2011 was terrible for us.”

The vice president of operations at Nu-Way Industries--part of our Fab 40 list of top U.S. fabricators, to be featured next month--knew that when the AT&T and T-Mobile merger fell apart, the fabricator’s telecom business would suffer. “[Telecom companies] are suffering from a lack of capital to expand their networks,” he said, adding that the Des Plaines, Ill., fabricator has always focused on diversification, “and we’ve been fairly diversified over the years. But you can get caught in some unexpected, opportunistic business.”

Over the past year the company has gained work from new and existing customers, but it analyzes new opportunities carefully. If a prospect offers lucrative work over the next few months, the fabricator can take the job, of course, but it looks at such opportunity with eyes wide open. “You have to look where you have capacity, and you need to make sure you are not going to sacrifice existing relationships for some opportunistic piece of business that’s here today or gone tomorrow. So we look very hard at who a customer is and the potential for growth.”

Such savvy management is a necessity now, postrecession. Many small shops that offered limited services and relied on a handful of customers have shut their doors, Wiseman said. Companies with diverse customer bases, broad services--including engineering and design--have remained, and “now they’re all hungry and looking to grow their business again. It’s become a much more competitive marketplace for everybody.”

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