NIBCO has a decidedly inside edge when it comes to staffing. The manufacturer of flow control solutions known for its commitment to American manufacturing is just as committed to its associate. As of this year, about 15 percent of NIBCO’s workforce is in the company’s 25 Year Club, which honors associates who’ve reached that silver anniversary. Many members of the club continue on, and NIBCO celebrates additional benchmarks at five- and 10-year intervals.

But nowhere is this longevity on display than at NIBCO’s copper fittings factory in Stuarts Draft, Virginia. While 66 of the plant’s 507 associates are in the 25 Year Club, one man is in a club all by himself.

During our tour of the site last September, we met Norman Smith, 82, NIBCO’s longest tenured associate who first clocked in 62 years ago at NIBCO’s copper plant in La Junta, Colorado, which the company opened a few years before Norman started work.

“I was 19 when I started in 1963,” Norman recalls. “My brother-in-law worked there and helped me get my foot in the door.” 

His first job was on the second shift operating a drainage bender, which would have been used at the time as part of manual or semi-manual forming processes.

“We worked on incentive piece work back then,” he says. “So if you wanted to make good money, you had to learn your job fast.”

And Norman did.

“I always remember when I was young, my father told me that when I did go to work, you be there on time every day and give ‘em a good day’s work and they will notice you,” Norman adds.

And NIBCO noticed.

Quickly becoming known for his work ethic and reliability, Norman moved on to other machinery and moved up through the company and across departments, ultimately working in every department except electrical.

Norman even helped Rex Martin learn the ropes. Martin, currently chairman emeritus, served as NIBCO’s president from 1986 to 2005; president and CEO from 1992 to 2018; and chairman of the board in 1995 and later set the stage for his daughter Ashley Martin, who became president and CEO in 2024 and who represents the fifth generation of family leadership since the company’s start in 1904.

However, when Martin began his career in 1975, his father Lee Martin, then president and CEO, sent his son to learn about the manufacturing processes of every plant the company operated.

“Every time Rex and I see each other, we laugh and shake hands,” Norman says. “He spent about three months in Colorado, and I trained him on how to run machines in the tool room and make repairs out on the floor. So we got to be good friends.”

In time, Norman also met Lee and his father, Ross Martin. Ross was the son-in-law to NIBCO founder Casper Schweitzer, the seventh employee of the company in 1919 and became president in 1927.

“They’d come up while I was running my machine and just start talking to me,” Norman remembers. “I was just one of the guys. And that kind of set good with me through all the years I worked here that they could just walk right up and say, how are you doing, buddy? and how’s it going? And it never seemed fake. It was always real.”

Cross-country move

At one point, NIBCO operated two other copper factories, including the original plant at its corporate headquarters in Elkhart, Indiana, and another facility in New York. By 1986, however, the company decided to consolidate all its copper operations to Stuarts Draft. NIBCO originally purchased the Stuarts Draft facility in 1969 through its acquisition of HK Porter Co.

Norman was one of about 30 employees asked to transfer to the plant, a major cross-country move at the time. 

“The speed limit was 55 miles an hour,” he explains. “It took almost three days to drive there.”

When he told his wife of the opportunity, she was hesitant.

“She had a good job working as an executive secretary, and they didn’t want her to leave,” Norman says. “But eventually she said, ‘Tell them, we’ll go.’ ”

Since then, Norman has been a cornerstone of the Stuarts Draft facility, now serving as a process engineer focused on research and development and troubleshooting.

“I work a lot with engineering on new tools and processes,” Norman adds. “I enjoy figuring out problems and helping things run better. I work with another gentleman who’s been with the company a long time, and if we’re having a problem, we figure out a solution to keep everything running.”

Passion and pride

His passion for the work is mirrored in his pride for the company.

“I’ve always had good people to work with from Day One,” Norman says. “And that goes for everyone at NIBCO. I know it’s kind of corny, but NIBCO has been great to me and the company has been there whenever I needed them. And I think I’ve repaid them by working hard and trying to make NIBCO the best copper fittings maker in the world. And so I always stuck with that. And the fact that I’ve been able to help them be part of doing that makes me feel pretty good, and I enjoy it.”

Norman even has had perfect attendance for most of his six decades, missing only a few days over the years.

“I was proud of being there every day, just like my father said,” he says.

Over the years as Norman checked off additional years with NIBCO, he also met Ashley Martin and her mother Alice Martin who held various positions with the company, including chief revenue officer, until she passed away in 2017.

“Alice was great to both myself and my wife,” Norman adds. “It’s like being part of the Martin family when you work here.”

That sense of family extends to Norman’s son, Craig Smith, who has worked at NIBCO for 20 years and is currently a machinist, working in the same department as his father.

“He’s a chip off the old block,” Norman says. “He’s been a person who’s been here every day and he’s worked his way up the ladder and he’s doing quite well. I’m very proud of him.”

Norman says his son laughs when people ask if he’ll be at NIBCO into his 80s.

“But he never does say no,” Norman adds. “But he will tell them that he started when he was a little bit older than I was when I started.”

We didn’t get an opportunity to meet Craig during our trip, but we did find a news story from a local TV station broadcast in 2023 when Norman celebrated 60 years at NIBCO.

“Knowing that a man who is almost 80 years old and still wants to get up and go to work every single day,” Craig said. “For me only being 44 years old I had better get up and get to work. Every day, I look forward to going to him for advice and help.”

Even after six decades, Norman has no concrete plans to retire.

“I’m sure I will someday,” he says. “But I still enjoy the work. I enjoy mentoring younger folks and solving problems. As long as I feel good and useful, I’ll keep going.”