Blissfield Manufacturing

Source: Manufacturing Digital

Date :18/02/2008 02:34:42

Having grown to service three main markets, Blissfield Manufacturing is now seeking competitive niches to leverage its core competencies. President Pat Farver explains to Exec

Written by Rebecca Waters & Produced by Kristin Hurley

It all began in the refrigeration business making components, compressors and condensing units. That was in 1946, when Blissfield Manufacturing was founded by O.W Farver. Fast forward to today and the now global company has grown not only to service the commercial refrigeration market but the automotive market, providing power steering coolers and oil coolers for the automotive and the off-highway industries for companies such Caterpillar and John Deere.

This progressive expansion and diversification over the years has seen the company add to its namesake manufacturing facility in Michigan with a new site in Portland, Indiana and a sales site in Madrid, far removed from the humid continental climate of its American parent.

President and COO Pat Farver, puts this global competency down to lean manufacturing. “The only way I think an American company can compete globally is to embrace lean principles.” Because of these lean principles which Blissfield has implemented over the last five or six years, the company has reduced its manufacturing facilities, at one point having just four, in Michigan and Indiana. As a result says Pat, the company has been able to grow and maintain its sales and reduce its footprint.

Pat explains the process: “One of our largest customers, Delphi, worked with us over a period of years to implement a lot of these programmes and teach us tools that we needed to become more competitive. Because of that we were able to consolidate those two plants and basically find more space, do more in less areas, make sites more efficient and they taught us our manufacturing processes.”

Serving niche markets

Blissfield is always trying to find other niches “that we can either make additional products for, or find new markets other than those we currently sell into or that we can sell other items to,” says Pat. “We’ve tried to find competitive niches where we can leverage our core competencies whether it be the welding or the heat exchangers or whatever it is that we do,” he explains.

In order to do this, Pat continues, the company continuously invests in new equipment, with ten percent of its yearly profit invested into new equipment and updating existing equipment. The company has recently just invested in a brand new line for a job they are doing for General Motors. This means it has a new press, support equipment and robotic welders.

Serving markets

Having diversified and expanded its product range over the years, the company has grown to service three main markets, the automotive, off-highway and commercial refrigeration sectors. This has meant that Blissfield has built a large contract portfolio, which includes John Deere, Caterpillar and General Motors.

Although there have been challenges in the automotive market, as a whole it is obviously down, it is a “double edged sword” says Pat. Being a Michigan-based company, there is less and less competition around providing refrigeration products to the market. “Yes the market is slowing down but with fewer companies providing products and services, if we work hard we have more opportunities to get more business.

“The market as a whole obviously is down but I guess we don’t look at that as an excuse, we just work harder,” he avers.

The company is currently working on two large purchase orders, going into ’08, ‘09 and ‘10. One of the largest projects that Blissfield has just finished was with General Motors, providing a power steering cooler for the GMT 900, its full size pick-up truck, which needs about 1 million parts a year. In partnership with Popeland, the refrigeration division of Emerson Corp. the company has a large order for refrigeration receiver tanks and are working with a number of automotive suppliers and some power steering coolers for two or three others.

Serving such markets with everything happening so quickly, you have to be “nimble and quick” says Farver. Projects are reviewed on a weekly as well as a monthly basis. The company has what it calls an R&D matrix where it will put priorities on various projects by product line, depending on what opportunities are there and the ones that will turn into sales faster.

Family values, philosophy

The culture of Blissfield is very much built on its family roots; something that Pat feels is its competitive advantage.

Farver explains that it works hard to sustain such strong family culture, holding regular barbecues and picnics; the company even has its own rock and roll band!

Blissfield also encourages its employees to do community service work such as help out in a soup kitchen - which it will pay them for - and has just implemented a health and wellness programme for all its employees.

“We feel very strongly about our culture and when we make our hiring decisions for people that plays a very large part,” says Farver. “Obviously the technical side is important but equally important, we feel, is to get the right people with the right core values and things like that for our family.”

Pat is now the third generation in the family business - having started in sales 30 years ago - and such succession is increased by the company’s own employees. During the summer Blissfield openly welcomes its employees’ children to come and work during their college breaks, while offering high school or college students internships, giving them an opportunity to learn the business, he explains.

Although it has not been a record year for Blissfield, the company is still profitable, achieving approximately $35 – 40 million in sales despite a challenging year. Pat is upbeat though: “I have a philosophy that you really can’t cut your way to prosperity; a lot of companies continually cut their people, cut back. I’ve been the opposite: I’ve invested in equipment and people.”

In the last 90 days, Pat has added eight or nine people to the business primarily in the sales and marketing department and he is keen to add to this number as the company develops. “You have to get the right people on the bus and that’s really what we’ve been trying to do, and I’m in the right seat.”

Click here to view the corporate brochure on Blissfield Manufacturing