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About us
Advanced Welding, Fabrication & Design was built on a simple idea: there had to be a better way to do business in structural steel.
Before founding AWFD, Aaron O’Brien and Neil Foskey came to the steel industry from very different backgrounds.
Aaron entered the trade following his service in the U.S. Army and developed his career across structural steel detailing, fabrication, and erection. Neil came from the automotive and motorsports world, where years spent as a technician, race mechanic, and crew chief taught him the value of preparation, efficiency, and solving problems before they become costly.
Their paths first crossed early in Neil’s welding career and later came together again at Marion Metal Works. By then, both had gained enough experience to recognize many of the same challenges within the industry—and enough perspective to believe they could do things differently.
Aaron saw an opportunity to create a company where customer service was a founding principle rather than an afterthought. Neil shared that vision and brought a complementary approach centered on efficiency, problem-solving, and making the most of the resources available.
In 2011, with the support and financial backing of Aaron’s wife, Heather, and her family, Advanced Welding, Fabrication & Design was established.
What began with an opportunity to build a different kind of steel company has grown into a commercial and industrial operation with capabilities spanning in-house drafting and design, structural steel fabrication, and erection and installation.
Through that growth, the philosophy behind AWFD has remained remarkably consistent.
We believe the best time to solve a problem is before it reaches the fabrication shop or the jobsite. That means looking beyond individual drawings and considering the entire project—how the steel will be detailed, fabricated, transported, assembled, and erected.
It means asking questions when something doesn’t look right.
It means communicating with customers, engineers, contractors, fabricators, and installers rather than treating each part of the process as though it exists independently.
And it means understanding that efficiency and quality are not competing ideas. Done correctly, efficiency eliminates wasted effort and allows more attention to be placed where it matters most: accuracy, constructability, safety, schedule, and the needs of the customer.
Today, Aaron and Neil are equal partners and co-founders of AWFD. Their backgrounds and areas of expertise are different, but that difference has always been one of the company’s strengths. Each approaches problems from a different perspective, and both share the same expectation: do the work right, take care of the customer, and never stop looking for a better way to build.
For over 15 years, AWFD has continued to grow around the principles on which it was founded—practical experience, attention to detail, accountability, customer service, and a willingness to solve difficult problems together.
That’s our story. And we’re still building it.
Neil Foskey
Co-Founder | Advanced Welding, Fabrication & Design
Neil Foskey’s path to the welding and fabrication industry was anything but conventional.
Before entering the welding trade, Neil built his technical foundation as an ASE-certified automotive technician and later worked in SCCA motorsports as a race mechanic and crew chief, including professional Spec Racer Ford and endurance racing.
His years in racing shaped a philosophy that still influences how he approaches business today. In Spec Racer Ford, where competitors work within a tightly controlled set of rules and equipment, success comes from preparation, consistency, attention to detail and getting the most from the resources available. Neil brought that same mindset to fabrication: efficiency isn’t about cutting corners—it’s about eliminating waste and focusing resources on the things that create value.
After a struggle with addiction brought his automotive career to an end, Neil entered recovery and found an opportunity to start over in the welding trade in 2007. He progressed quickly, eventually running the day-to-day operations at Marion Metal Works, where he reunited professionally with Aaron O’Brien, whom he had met at his first welding job.
Recognizing that they shared a vision for building something better, Aaron approached Neil about starting their own company. With the support and financial backing of Heather O’Brien’s family, Advanced Welding, Fabrication & Design was established in 2011.
Neil initially managed the family-backed business and was later entrusted with an ownership interest. Today, Neil and Aaron are equal partners and co-founders of Advanced Welding, Fabrication & Design, continuing to build the company around the principles that brought them together in the first place.
AWFD has grown into a company focused primarily on commercial and industrial work, bringing together in-house drafting and design, structural steel fabrication, and erection and installation services.
Neil’s mechanical and motorsports background continues to shape his approach to fabrication and leadership: understand the entire system, anticipate problems before they become expensive, continually improve the process, and never waste an opportunity to make something better.
He also remains committed to supporting welding education and the next generation of skilled tradespeople—a reflection of his appreciation for the people who gave him opportunities throughout his own unconventional journey.
Aaron O’Brien’s career in structural steel began after serving in the U.S. Army, which he joined directly out of high school. After leaving the Army, his father, a machinist with more than 30 years in the trade, helped him get his first job in the steel business and introduced him to an industry that would ultimately become his career.
Over the following decades, Aaron gained experience in structural steel detailing, fabrication, and erection. Working across each discipline gave him a perspective shaped by drawings, the fabrication shop, and the realities of putting steel together in the field. He learned to look beyond what a drawing says and consider how a structure will actually be fabricated, transported, assembled, and erected.
Aaron and Neil Foskey first worked together early in their welding careers and later reunited professionally at Marion Metal Works. Through those years, Aaron saw an opportunity to build a different kind of steel company—one where customer service was a founding principle, not an afterthought.
Recognizing that Neil shared that vision and brought complementary skills, Aaron approached him about starting a company of their own. With the support and financial backing of Heather O’Brien’s family, Advanced Welding, Fabrication & Design was established in 2011.
Today, Aaron and Neil share equal ownership of AWFD, with Aaron focusing primarily on the technical and operational side of the company. His detailing background helps bridge the gaps between engineering, drafting, fabrication, and erection, identifying potential conflicts and constructability issues before they become expensive problems in the shop or field.
Aaron encourages employees to question assumptions, speak up when something doesn’t look right, and work through problems together. In structural steel, getting the details right ultimately affects the people who depend on the finished structure.
After decades of working alongside engineers and solving structural problems in the real world, Aaron is now pursuing a degree in Civil Engineering with a primary focus on structural engineering. Rather than a change in direction, it is a continuation of the career he has already built—combining formal engineering education with decades of practical experience.
Aaron O’Brien
Co-Founder | Advanced Welding, Fabrication & Design
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