Such quality doesn't come cheap, of course. And while companies talk quality, they usually buy on price. "That's what we run up against all the time," says Will-Burt sales director Ken Lazar. "There are companies that will pay us a premium price knowing they'll have no rejects, and they will get parts on time. That's our niche, really. Still, it forces us to come in high on bids sometimes. But if we are close enough in pricing, they will ask us to take a second look. We don't like to cut our bids, but if it's a question of our manufacturing process, we go in and see if we can improve it. We have that kind of rapport with our customers. They do appreciate quality. It's not all on three quotes and a cloud of dust."
Wheeler himself has got the religion. In 1988 he proposed a new profit center, the so-called quick turn department. With a team of eight tool-and-die makers, QT can crank out parts overnight -- taking them from raw material to finished products -- for customers in a jam. That kind of 24-hour service commands a price premium approaching 40%.
A year and a half ago Wheeler tried to get this program approved. Featherstone knew it made sense -- he just didn't know how to do it. "When you say QT, you're saying you'll have the material you need regardless of what the customer wants this minute," he explains. "I needed someone who knew systems and production and could coordinate all this." That person turned out to be the new executive vice-president, Dennis Donahue, who'd learned those skills at Atari and Worlds of Wonder.
"QT is finally working," Wheeler says. "I said we can do $2 million a year in QT parts, and I think we'll turn $1.2 million this first year. I put my neck on the line for this thing, but it's what's expected. You'd better be a believer in Will-Burt or get the hell out. If you're just here for a job, you're not going to make it. You have to get involved every day and be a part of it."
In the factories, Donahue is discovering the value of involvement. Last October a team from Honda came through Will-Burt at the tail end of a whirlwind tour. They had visited some 20 U.S. manufacturers, searching for a company to make gears for Honda's Gold Wing motorcycles, produced in Marysville, Ohio. Before the visit, they sent Will-Burt the prints for the parts.
"We knew this could be a major contract for us," says Larry Murgatroyd, who heads the gear department. "We thought we could show them the machines we'd be cutting their gears on. But then the guys in the plant and I decided to go a step further, and actually manufacture some gears. It wouldn't take much time or material to do it, plus it would help us in time studies. So we took their prints and made about 12 gears, and we had them sitting there when the Honda people came through.
"One of the gentlemen spoke mostly Japanese, and we couldn't understand him. But he kept holding this gear and turning it around in his hand. It turned out he wanted to take it back to Marysville and put it on his desk -- as the first gear for the Gold Wing made in the United States. So we put the Will-Burt name on it, and Made in the U.S.A. Around here we have the freedom to do things like that. Management doesn't shut you down and act like you don't know what you're talking about. They're willing to listen to anything."
To get the employees even more involved in decision making, this year Featherstone launched a two-year cross-training program he calls the "Mini M.B.A." The University of Akron's Jeanneret is leading the instruction, which embraces everything from accounting to inventory control. Featherstone is negotiating with the university's president to award the graduates credit toward associate degrees in manufacturing.
What astounded Featherstone was the turnout. He expected 15 people. Instead, 54 signed up. They are welders, machinists, metal punchers. By and large, they are the younger workers, the ones betting their future on Will-Burt. "It's remarkable," he says. "Four years ago I couldn't get 10 people to stick with basic blueprint reading on a voluntary basis, and they see blueprints every day. Now, I've got 25% of the factory guys taking these classes on their own time. And they're pretty much the same people. It's a long process to teach people what ownership is all about, but education is really working."
His problem now is trying to figure out what to do with his fledgling "M.B.A.s." "When they finish, they'll want to move up in the company," he says. "They'll come out educated, and I've got to be ready for them -- I'm putting a demand on myself. But I'll tell you, after what I've been through, that's a very pleasant challenge."
As a start, Featherstone has purchased a 35-acre site on the outskirts of town and hopes to break ground next spring for a new factory. The company's sales have climbed back to $20 million. And for the second year in a row since initiating the ESOP, Will-Burt expects to be profitable. Featherstone has bid on the Honda job and on a major contract with Volvo to stamp truck panels. "If we get those jobs," the ever-optimistic CEO exults, "we're going to explode."
BY THE NUMBERS
1986 1990
Employee turnover 30%-40% 5%
Manufacturing efficiency* 65% 90%
Hours of product rework (per month) 2,000 400
Product rejection rate 35% 8%
Work force literate in math** unknown 100%
Daily absenteeism 8% 2.3%
1986 1990
Share valuation*** $24.60 $27.16
*1986 is base year; measurements are speed and productivity, tracked by computer from time cards and job tickets
**As tested by the University of Akron
***The value of shares is set annually by Ameritrust Corp., a Cleveland bank
