Paulo Products

Source: Manufacturing Digital

Date :18/03/2008 05:24:04

Paulo Products is very information oriented and this is seen as the secret to its continuing success. Talking to President Ben Rassieur, Exec learns more

Written by Ian Armitage and Produced by Pat Harlow

Paulo Products Co. delivers engineered heat treating, brazing and metal finishing solutions to a range of customers in the automotive, aerospace and commercial industries.

With five plants operating in three states, the company’s culture is driven by its small family roots, even today. You may find it remarkable in ever changing manufacturing circles, but President Ben Rassieur III leads the business his grandparents created in 1943 and continues the conservative approach to growth that has served the company so well.

He is also committed to maintaining a strong business and is “proud to continue” the family tradition. However, Rassieur did tell Exec that the business is “very different today”.

A committed man who is true to his word, Mr. Rassieur says Paulo Products is all about making sure the customer is happy: “If our customers are successful then so are we,” he says. His strategy is to ensure quality is extremely high by reducing variation and to do that he addresses quality, productivity and service on an almost daily basis.

How does he achieve this?

Well, Paulo has become very information oriented. “We have developed a product information client-server system (PICS), which tracks the development process, production and analysis of production,” explains Rassieur. This system has had the added benefit of enhancing productivity and Ben couldn’t be happier with the results.

“Our PICS tracks every order from receipt, through processing, inspection, shipment and billing,” he adds and from this Paulo is able to build engineering models and process controls that are real time. “These controls reduce part ?variation,” says Rassieur.

PICS is the instructional backbone of Paulo’s quality system and puts vital information about parts at the source that can make sure the job is done right. It also helps the company run parts properly, so it can meet needs regarding quality and service.

Ready to learn

Despite the success, Paulo is still eager to improve and operates in a way that is similar to the way its President runs his own life. He is always ready and shows willingness to, as he puts it, “learn new ways to do the job.” Indeed, one of Paulo’s main business and quality objectives, this has served the company well.

“Our mission is to help our customers succeed,” says Rassieur. “And we will do whatever it takes to achieve that. It is a simple strategy we have: we aim to provide high quality, service and productivity. Why? Well that is how we exceed customer expectation.”

It might be a simple strategy, but it is one countless others have failed to successfully implement. This means Paulo is leading the way in its markets and the ideology is promoted through its leadership skills training, designed around the essential skills necessary to continuously improve service, production and quality standards.

Slow and steady wins the race

Many customers, across numerous industries benefit from Paulo’s highly skilled and diversified engineering staff. “Engineers of various disciplines work here at Paulo,” says Rassieur. “Each engineer plays an important role in the success our customers enjoy, so finding the right people is paramount. Fortunately, over the years, we have been very good at that.”

Despite success on numerous fronts, the company will certainly never get ahead of itself, as everything is measured in the long term. “It is my job to worry about and help us plan for the future,” says Rassieur. “I am never quite satisfied but I am extremely proud of my people and what they have accomplished. I am very excited about where we are going as a business too; we are continuing to expand our ability to make good information and data driven decisions promptly and that is defining us as a business.”

He continues: “We are doing a much better job year over year in terms of quality as measured by on-time delivery, reductions in rejects and so on, although we will continue to measure the business in the long term.”

Ben says this promotes continuous improvement, a phenomenon that is extremely useful in a “challenging manufacturing industry,” although Rassieur does believe the outlook for manufacturing, utilizing the best technology, is still pretty bright in the US.

He is also excited by the hordes of youngsters coming into his organization, although Paulo is pretty particular about who it hires: “We do a lot of assessment upfront and so it is a fairly low percentage – in the ten percent range – of applicants who we eventually hire,” he explains.

Moving overseas?

Talking further about how the industry is developing, Rassieur says there is a lot of growth in Asia in general and rather obviously, China and India. “This is putting a lot of pressure on commodity prices worldwide.” But, he adds, the dollar is currently weak and “that means costs in North America are now more competitive with the so-called low cost areas”. North America, he says, also still has the best technology.

As a result, where many manufacturers have moved overseas following their customers who have options to manufacture abroad, Paulo has resisted temptation. “We have decided that we are better off trying to manage in the areas where we are currently familiar rather than venturing out elsewhere,” explains Rassieur.

“In addition,” he adds, “we have not yet found the right fit for making a move overseas. We have been able to grow effectively in the areas with which we are most familiar and continue to work with customers who are locating some production in lower cost regions, although we have not yet found the situation where our locating there along with them is the best answer to their needs.”

Regardless of where the future lies, Rassieur would love to continue playing an integral role in his clients’ development and success. Within the next five years, he is hoping to introduce a new generation of control systems, which Paulo is currently developing.

Click here to view the corporate brochure on Paulo Products