Congratulate Matt Barlow on 25 Years at Hapco!

Long before February 10, 1997, when Matt Barlow began working  at Hapco, Inc., he was a neighborhood paperboy. Then a local contractor hired him to seal and coat asphalt around town. After working seven years as a carpet installer following the asphalt laying job, work dried up. It was then he knew it was time to move on to bigger and better things. 

After learning that his dad—who worked at Hapco for over 40 years—needed some help in the shop, Matt was hired by Hapco to start working right away. He started out handling shipping and receiving operations. 

Fun Fact: The shipping table he used on the job every day is still right where it was 25 years ago. 

It still has the old-school, hand-written shipping labels and everything. While it wasn’t the most glamorous job, Matt was just happy to be working inside at Hapco rather than on the floor at Tarpco. 

From there, Matt transitioned to working on hand welders and government boxes, a role in which he learned to change elements and brushes as well as assemble wiring harnesses and government box components. This position sparked an interest in him to learn more about the diagnostics of hand welders. 

Since graduating to work on robots, Matt has made several trips to Switzerland to learn from Leister and BAK. His last trip to BAK headquarters was in July 2013, which was five years after Hapco switched over to BAK exclusively. Since BAK was so similar to Leister at the time, it was an easy transition for Matt to oversee. 

Once Hapco made that transition, Matt took a deep dive into the world of electrical systems and heat sources with the BAK engineers. Thanks to his time working on diagnostics and repairs, Matt has expert-level knowledge of the BAK machines that Hapco uses in its daily operations. 

When Matt isn’t on the job, you can find him bowling with friends every Thursday at the local bowling alley. He’s bowled a total of ten -300 games in his career—a pretty impressive feat. 

From humble beginnings as a neighborhood paperboy to reaching his 25th year as a valued Hapco employee, Matt Barlow has experienced great success in his career—a direct result of his dedication, patience, and hard work over the years. We’re grateful for Matt and his commitment to making Hapco the best place it can be for the past 25 years and counting!