Process Equipment

Source: Manufacturing Digital

Date :11/04/2008 03:46:19

Distributing abroad, keeping up with changes and providing superior service have all helped Process Equipment Company rise to the top. President Michael van Haaren speaks to Exec

Written by Roxanne Ridge and Produced by Kristin Hurley

When it comes to a fast moving company, it’s hard to beat the performance of Ohio based Process Equipment Company (or PECo). Established in 1946 by Emmert Studebaker, the company was a family run business manufacturing and engineering tooling equipment. Over the years it evolved and moved into the automotive industry producing transmission and engine parts and focusing on the machines that make them. Today, the company offers unique opportunities in design, engineering and assembly, manufacturing, robotic end effectors, gear metrology and production welding.

In 2003, the business was sold and at that time the company had annual revenues of $17 million. In just five years the company has managed to more than double revenue with record sales for three years in a row.

PECo prides itself on the company’s innovation, value, quality, and customer service – but how exactly has the company made such a big success in such a short period of time?

Putting the customer first

Part of PECo’s rapid success has been that it has aggressively expanded the markets that it has gone into. “Today we serve the machining, welding, marking, assembly, gear inspection and robotic needs of the automotive, defense, power transmission, aerospace and commercial and industrial product manufacturing industries,” explains Michael van Haaren, PECo’s president. “And we’ve moved into a lot of those industries over the last few years.”

One of the ways in which they’ve been able to do this is by maintaining relationships with all the clients they work with. If PECo provides good service, the customers will look to them for other solutions and products needed in the future. “We combine superior concept and design and we work with each customer for a substantial period of time – from pre-sale to post-sale to ensure that the solutions and components work,” says Michael.

By doing this, the company is able to stand out from its competitors. PECo provides its customers with both engineered solutions and production components, which in turn help its customers maximize production uptime, increase through-put, improve product quality and lower overall manufacturing costs. "We do a range of things that a lot of companies won’t be able to do,” adds Michael.

A strong business

PECo has been in an advantageous position in the worldwide market. Over the last few years it’s been able to expand overseas because the US Dollar has given it a competitive advantage.

In comparison to competitor companies in Euro based countries, such as Germany, PECo is providing first class products and services at a competitive price.

“We’ve been given a lot of different opportunities and have been marketing abroad to take advantage of them,” explains Michael. “If you look at the Chinese market, our competition is typically European companies, and due to the currency edge, we’ve been expanding our business and supplying into this region.

“We have a sales team who works abroad and we’re looking at expanding further into Germany, Italy and Eastern Europe.” However, this has not always been as easy as it sounds. “The market has been fast moving and the company has had to raise its manufacturing capacity to keep up with the flow of work.

“We’ve really had to keep up with changes in the automotive sector,” says Michael. “And in terms of development, it’s been moving at a rapid rate – which we’ve had to work twice as hard to match.”

PECo has taken a lot of careful moves in terms of business improvements. The company uses lean manufacturing methods and has six sigma principles in place. Four to five times a year the company uses kaizen events to review its performance. They also have a dedicated person who works on continuously improving the company’s manufacturing operations.

“We’re aiming to have sales of $50 million in the next two years,” Michael confidently states. “And we’re sure that the management practices that we have in place are going to help us achieve that.”

Company culture

One of the things PECo has continued to keep up since 2003 is the family like atmosphere. The company focuses a lot on keeping the staff trained so they develop within the company rather than move out. Several engineers who work for the company started off as students on training programs and as apprentices. “We offer a lot of internal training programs to develop our staff,” explains Michael, who came to the company fourteen years ago after working on government-funded research in North Carolina. “And a lot of the training is on the job. Staff can, and do, request outside training and when this happens we sponsor them for the tuition.”

Since 2003, the company has taken on around 30 percent more staff and now has more than 190 employees. While this is impressive, PECo is aware of the general shortage of skilled engineers and machinists. “A lot of our internships and apprenticeships are aimed at helping to tackle the bigger problem of getting good quality skilled and technical people to work for the company. Our staff are technically-qualified and we take a lot of pride in the way they’re able to give great customer satisfaction.

“In return, we offer our people performance bonuses and commission. And PECo has many informal rewards in addition to the formal bonuses.

“We’re constantly on the look out for new potential and people that we can train to the PECo standard.”

Click here to view the corporate brochure on Process Equipment