Ray Anthony

Source: Supply Chain Digital

Date :6/25/2008 7:04:20 AM

Guided by an industry veteran, Ray Anthony International is standing very tall among Florida crane companies

Written by Kevin Doyle and Produced by Rich Gentile

There is no accounting for the why and the when of inspiration. The trick is to seize the moment when it strikes and make something of it. That’s precisely what Ray Anthony did more than 40 years ago when he first ventured into the crane business.

These days, Anthony is the owner and President of Ray Anthony International, a Florida-based multi-million dollar crane company with cranes of every size imaginable capable of completing tasks ranging from the very small to the gargantuan. The company has nine primary sites, with six in Florida, and is the second crane company Anthony has built from the ground up.

Anthony left school after the 11th grade to serve three and one-half years in the Navy. Following his discharge from the service, he went to work for his uncle, first as a truck driver, then as a backhoe operator.

Inspiration struck when he was cleaning up his father’s scrap yard. “He had passed away and I went to clean it up. I found that some of the stuff was too heavy to move so I went out and got a crane. Then people started renting my crane and I said ‘Hey, this could be a pretty good business’ so that’s what I decided to do,” Anthony says.

Anthony seized that opportunity and “with a lot of hard work and lot of good people dedicated to the work” set his first company, Anthony Crane Rental, on the road to success. “I had a lot of good people, that’s the story. There wasn’t any genius about it,” he says.

One of those good people was the father of current CEO Dick Ferchak. “Dick’s father was with me from the beginning and Dick Jr, has been with me since high school,” Anthony says.

A graduate of the University of West Virginia, Ferchak says “I grew up in the business, like Mr. Anthony said. In 1985 I started working for him in high school and grew from there. In college, I worked the cranes and drove trucks, then started as a dispatcher in Arizona after college and worked my way up.”

Couldn’t stay away

When Anthony sold his first company, he was required to observe a five-year non-compete period. During that time he bought a number of other businesses, including a marina and an airport.

“When my five years were up, I said let’s get back in the crane business. You do what you know and, if you know what you’re doing, you have a better chance to be successful,” Anthony says.

Anthony says he’s had to adapt with the times, which can be a bit disconcerting for someone who executed many of his early deals with little more than a handshake.

“It’s tougher today because of some of the people you’re dealing with. It used to be you could shake hands and go do the job. Now there are attorneys and lawsuits. And contractors are holding their money back now, sometimes as much as 90 days, so you have to be able to carry that load for awhile,” he says.

Anthony says there seem to be fewer job-ready operators and more training involved. And, he says, newer on-board computers are a distraction and more trouble than they’re worth. “You’re better off hiring a computer operator than a crane operator. And, we have to hire computer mechanics because the problems usually aren’t with the cranes, they’re with the computers,” he says.

Equipment upgrades

Ferchak estimates the company will spend US$50million on new cranes alone this year. A little more than 10 percent of that outlay will be in the form of one 800-ton mega-machine that arrived in late May. “It’s the biggest hydraulic crane in the country and we have it. That’s going to be one very popular piece of equipment,” Anthony predicts.

Ferchak says that crane will allow the company to perform jobs that require a reach of as much as 400 to 500 feet, such as high-rise air conditioning installation, oil rig work and wind turbine repairs.

“There aren’t a lot (of wind turbines) in Florida now because they’re trying to design them to withstand hurricanes. But, they are working at it and we’ll be able to repair them,” Ferchak says.

The company is equipped for jobs as small as placing trusses for single-family homes and as large as the upcoming move of a generator weighing one million pounds into place at a power plant coming online in West Virginia.

That will require every bit of the company’s expertise and equipment, including the 800-, 650- and 500-ton cranes and a gantry system.

“The move will take close to three months starting from North Carolina, then by rail to Chattanooga. Then we’ll pick it off a barge in southwestern Pennsylvania, offload it again, then haul it to the site and set it,” Ferchak says.

People first

As a matter of routine, every job site is inspected before a crane ever arrives. “Each location has its own crane specialist. We inspect the site for everything, especially ground stability. You need to know what’s underneath you before you bring a crane in,” Ferchak says.

Approximately half of the company’s 315 employees are operators. All receive training and certification through the National Crane Certification Organization (NCCO). “Experience is a key for us. I’d say we’re close to 12 to 15 years per guy and we’ve had guys come back who worked for Mr. Anthony in the past who have more than 30 years in the business,” Ferchak says.

“Having people who understand the business is crucial. We have good guys on top and great guys on the bottom. When people come back and say ‘I want that operator,’ then you know they’re doing a good job,” Anthony says.

Looking ahead

Based on first-quarter figures, the company projects a 33 percent revenue increase from 2007 to US$55million this year. Plans call for an aggressive expansion campaign designed to double its size in five years and, Ferchaks says to branch out through the Southeast and along the Gulf Coast”.

Ferchak cites Anthony’s work ethic and personality as reflective of the company as a whole.

“What I want to stress is that Mr. Anthony’s commitment and his work ethic is no different today than when he started. It takes hard work to succeed and he instills that into everybody every day. He knows every person in this company by name and he’ll grab a pair of gloves and go into the yard and help. His work ethic is what makes this company, what drives this company,” Ferchak concludes.