Foundations of Steel

D+M Metal Products began in 1946 with Davis & Moelker – two enterprising men with experience in metal forming. Moelker left the business shortly after helping found the company, so Davis ran D+M for the next 30 years until he sold the business in 1977 to Dale Buist.

1946     Davis & Moelker founded D +M
1977     Dale Buist purchased D + M Assets
             8 employees
             8,000 square feet for production

Fabrication in the Family

When Dale bought D+M, there were 8 employees working in an 8,000 square foot building. Three years after his father bought the company, Bob Buist began working on the shop floor learning how to weld and operate the machinery. Bob was there when D+M bought their first CNC Turret and computer in 1981. He saw firsthand the opportunities that came with the new machinery and learned to operate it as well.

1980     Bob Buist joined D+M
1981     Purchased First Amada CNC Turret and computer

Sparking Growth

That first CNC machine sparked D+M’s rapid growth. By 1984 they had moved to a larger building and were running two shifts. D+M became one of the first metal fabrication shops in the area to invest in a laser system – an investment that allowed them to do more for less. Eventually, D+M bought the building next door and combined the two into one larger facility that allowed them to bring in more machinery to do jobs internally that they used to outsource.

1984     Moved to West River Dr.
            • 18,000 square feet building
1988     Added Turret Dept
            • 6500 square feet
1992     Purchased Cincinnati Laser System
1994     Combined 4994 and 5020 buildings for total of 58,000 square feet

From Father to Son

In 1997, Dale Buist passed away and Bob Buist stepped into the leadership position. After working on the floor, Bob knew the metal fabrication business inside and out, and had seen the value of continuous improvement. He focused on adding more and better machinery while continuing to hire, teach and maintain a valued staff of engineers, operators and other workers.
In 2007, Russ DeVries, who had been with the company for years, became a part-owner of D+M. To this day, Russ, Bob and the whole staff of D+M provide metal fabrication of all sorts to the Grand Rapids community.

1997     Transferred Ownership to Bob Buist
2000     Purchased JobBOSS computer system, OTC Robot, Romer CMM
2002     Purchased 4kw Amada Laser System
2003-2007 Added or replaced various pieces of equipment
2007     Russ DeVries took an ownership position in D+M