Welcome to John Habe IV, PMPA’s New Board President

John Habe IV was welcomed as PMPA’s 2022-2023 president at the annual meeting held in Tucson, Arizona, in October. John has served as a Northern Ohio Chapter Officer and on the PMPA Strategic Planning Committee, Finance Committee and Board of Directors prior to his nomination to the Executive Committee. He is president of Metal Seal Precision Ltd., a company with membership roots dating back to 1956.

The Metal Seal family of precision machining companies, headquartered in Mentor, Ohio, consists of five companies and five plant locations. Metal Seal Precision was formed in November 2011 with the merger of Arrow Manufacturing and Metal Seal & Products. Arrow Manufacturing was founded by John’s grandfather, John L. Habe II. John, the third generation, started working in the shop when he was 13 years old and has a degree in business management from John Carroll University.

John is one-third owner of Metal Seal, along with his two brothers. Metal Seal Precision sets itself apart from many other companies because there are not many precision machining companies which can take on the high-volume machining projects in both turning and milling. He worked hard to put together a corporate structure to build a successful business while also remaining successful as a family unit, each being paid appropriately for his position in the company plus an equal split of net profits. 

John’s Goal for His PMPA Tenure 

Over the years, he has acquired additional companies in machining and other industries. This process has provided John the foundation for his platform during his year as president of PMPA, which is for member companies to better understand their financial statements and profitability. 

Specifically, one area John wants to address is for company owners to better understand EBITDA so that they may have a better handle on real earnings and be able to find inefficiencies in the office, not just in machining operations.

“Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, EBITDA, is a profitability analysis that removes factors that might distort a company’s earnings,” he explains. “EBITDA is a popular way to measure a company’s financial health as well as the ability to generate cash when needed, but is not generally included in regular company income statements.” EBITDA is also valuable for succession planning, which has been a highly requested and regarded topic at the PMPA Management Update Conference and the PMPA Annual Meeting. John states, “How much money does the company make per year? With so many companies considering their succession plan, it’s important to know the true value of your company.” John looks forward to leading discussions to elevate the members’ business decisions and related acumen.

John and his wife, Lisa, have been married for 23 years. Lisa is the president of Interlake Industries, a metal stamping company, as well as other enterprises. John and Lisa have two sons in college and a daughter happily married with two sons of her own.