YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – Mark Lamoncha, CEO of Humtown Products, believes helping businesses, employees and young people grow is a measure of success.
“This is what I call valueship,” he said. “That means to me, we do not create someone’s worth. We recognize it, and we make room for it and we help it grow. Some of you here have given us a chance. Others have given it to a student, a founder, a teammate who could not yet see what they might become.”
Lamoncha was speaking Tuesday at YBI’s dedication of the Lamoncha Family Center for Advanced Manufacturing, formerly YBI’s Tech Block 5. The building used to be part of the Vindicator Printing Co. downtown. Humtown is a global leader in 3D-printed sand cores and molds.
“You may never know how far your encouragement actually reaches,” Lamoncha said. “The person you helped will remember it for a lifetime. Now picture what can happen in the center: A founder meets an engineer who helps an idea become real. A student meets a manufacturer and sees a career that they never could have imagined. A startup finds a mentor or a first customer. A researcher finds a team that is willing to test emerging technology.”
Barb Ewing, YBI CEO, said there are more reasons to name the building after the Lamoncha family than she could list in remarks at the dedication ceremony.
“Mark and the family and the entire company is not only a phenomenal resource for YBI but for the community as a whole,” she said. “He really does embody innovation and entrepreneurship and advanced manufacturing. He’s committed to the community and really a great example of just a true community partner that is always looking out for everybody winning, not just how his company can win.”
One example is when Lamoncha learned earlier this year he was going to be named the National Small Business Person of the Year by the U.S. Small Business Administration at a White House ceremony.
“He called me and said, ‘How can I help? How can I serve? What message would you like to take? What can I help to deliver to you?’” Ewing recalled. “And it was his idea to put together a proposal to bring funding that we’re still working on to finish renovations to the [Youngstown] Innovation Hub. It’s that kind of selflessness where he is looking out for everybody else’s best interests, even when you don’t know that there’s an opportunity.”
In 2012, Lamoncha began talking to YBI staff about getting a 3D CN4 printer.
“We started working with [Youngstown State University] and America Makes to come up with a commercialization model to bring 3D printing to one of the most traditional manufacturing sectors there is, the forging and castings industry,” she said. “We were going to change the world, and we did.”
Humtown has been recognized as the world leader in advanced manufacturing technology. The company has 14 of its own machines and operates others in Germany and California. It counts Caterpillar, McLean, Cummins and Magellan Aerospace among its customers.
“He made all of us better,” Ewing said. “YBI alone has secured more than $50 million in funding to support this effort. America Makes has a signature win for advanced additive manufacturing technology, and this technology became the basis for YSU’s role in applied research. But Mark’s innovation in technology leadership doesn’t end there.”
He gamified the shop floor, incentivizing team members’ wages by calculating them based on efficiency, safety and quality factors. He’s also been working with his daughter-in-law on a software platform that gives control of prescriptions back to the customer rather than the pharmacies, she added.
“Where other people see problems, Mark sees opportunities,” Ewing said. “But, most of all, the Lamonchas have been our friends.”
She also credited Sheri Lamoncha, Mark’s wife and director of community engagement at Humtown, for her work.
She is passionate about young people and goes into schools to support career exploration and help students find a path that works for them, Ewing explained. Sheri Lamoncha also developed Humtown’s student-led tour program, where students give tours of the business and teach other children how to design and 3D print.
“Through this program, the students not only learn technical skills, but they learn presentation and communication skills while secretly being instilled with a passion for advanced manufacturing,” she said.
State Reps. Monica Robb Blasdel of New Waterford, R-79th, and Nick Santucci of Niles, R-64th, also praised the Lamoncha family.
And Megan Malara, director of the Youngstown Innovation Hub for Aerospace & Defense, said the family has been a critical partner for America Makes’ efforts to accelerate the adoption of additive manufacturing. They are consistent advocates for the innovation hub’s work to build the region for defense and aerospace, she said.
Stephanie Gaffney, YBI’s chief manufacturing officer, said she’s gotten to know the family over the past 12 years, and they’ve worked together on more than $50 million in casting projects. She said Brandon Lamoncha, company vice president and one of Mark and Sheri’s three sons, is always looking ahead.
“He’s helped Humtown grow by bringing new technology into an industry built on generations of know-how,” she said. “And through every project, he’s been a partner I can count on and a friend that I’m grateful to have made.”
Brandon Lamoncha said he, his family and the company are humbled and grateful for the honor of having the center named for them. He said Humtown employs “a great team of industrial athletes,” and when the world transitioned from analog to digital work, he wanted to ensure those people continued working.
“That was part of the reason for stepping into the space,” the younger Lamoncha said. “More importantly, this was about making sure that the people who make up the Humtown team would continue to have meaningful work and a future with our company, but we didn’t make this transition alone.”
YSU’s Small Business Development Center, YBI, America Makes and others also worked with Humtown to make the transition happen.
Mark Lamoncha said advancement happens when someone sees the value in another person and decides to help them.
“I once said, ‘Honor can be placed in your hands, but significance must pass through them,’” he said. “The name on this building has been placed in our hands. Our responsibility is to pass that on to entrepreneurs, industrial athletes, students, engineers and innovators who will build what comes next.”
Pictured at top: From left are state Rep. Nick Santucci, YBI CEO Barb Ewing; Brandon, Sheri and Mark Lamoncha of Humtown Products; YBI Board Chairman John Reed and state Rep. Monica Robb Blasdel.