Local supplier comes to Honda's rescue
June 24, 2007
By Nancy Crawley, The Grand Rapids Press
Honda was on the phone. It was an emergency.
Could the Bryon Center company pick up a major order?
In hard-hit Michigan, manufacturers know the only answers possible: Yes and right now.
That's just how Center Manufacturing responded.
The story of this Rust Belt manufacturer illustrates one way to stay alive, and even grow, after suffering from the body blows of offshoring and shifting technology.
Honda needed a new supplier of frames for its all-terrain vehicles -- and fast. Its old vendor had abruptly closed a Georgia plant.
Honda was already familiar with Center Manufacturing because the West Michigan metal shaper and welder had been producing parts for its ATVs and motorcycles for more than a decade.
Along the way, Center had built a reputation for high-quality, complex parts, such as steering shafts and bumper parts.
But the entire frame of Honda's world bike ATV was a particularly complicated project.
Center Manufacturing's chief executive, Richard Nielsen, and his staff had to move quickly.
On a weekend, a crew headed to Georgia, loaded manufacturing equipment into four semis and delivered it to Center's second plant, in Allegan County's Leighton Township.
"I am really proud of our people," Nielsen said. "We went in on May 5, disassembled on a Saturday and Sunday, (drove back), reinstalled and trained our people.
"On Tuesday, we made our first shipment" to Honda's assembly plant.
In those precious few days, the staff had to get robot welders, computer-controlled metal benders, tube fabrication and a complicated assembly process up and running.
It was quite an accomplishment. But there was no choice, he said. "The customer would have been shut down."
"It was neat to see the transition," he said. But "the basics were already in place -- we have good quality and excellent engineering."
Center had to increase its work force by about 10 percent, boosting employment to 400. In all, Nielsen estimates the company invested $500,000.
But the payoff was a long-term contract with a prized customer and the expectation of years' more work on future generations of the ATV.
Life did not always look so rosy. In the 1990s, Center was a major producer of metal frames for TV picture tubes for Sony, RCA, Zenith and Toshiba, shipping them all over the world.
"It was 40 to 45 percent of our total business in 2003," Nielsen said.
Then the bottom fell out. "By 2004, it was zero" when the market made a dramatic switch to flat panel TVs, and the rest of the work went overseas.
"We had to replace 40 percent of our sales. It was a real struggle for three years," he said. "We went from six manufacturing facilities across the country to two."
For Center and many other West Michigan manufacturers, the first part of the new millennium was filled with dark days.
This past December, a Chicago investment firm, Industrial Opportunity Partners, bought the business from retiring owner Art Veltman.
The company began its turnaround with an infusion of money for upgrades and guidance from one of the firm's senior executives, Andy Weller, former chairman of truck supplier Transportation Technology Industries Inc. and a top executive with Accuride Corp., the world's largest producer of truck wheels.
Within five years, the investment firm's goal is to boost sales to $75 million or more, up from about $55 million.
"We've been picking up a significant amount of new business over the past six months," Nielsen said.
The ATV frame work was a major boost, adding 15 to 18 percent to annual sales.
Center also builds parts for commercial trucks, as well Harley Davidson and Honda motorcycles. About 40 percent of its business remains interior auto parts, with Lear Corp. its largest customer.
Getting ready
It would be a mistake to say Center's story is simply good luck, said Ray DeWinkle, vice president of the local economic development agency The Right Place.
To become part of Honda's sophisticated supply chain takes a lot of effort and thought, he said.
Instead, the story proves the old adage, "luck is where preparation meets opportunity."
Hiring at Center's two plants should pick up again in late fall, in preparation for "significant" new work coming in the winter, Nielsen said.
In the meantime, he's keeping a wooden sign posted along 84th Street SW outside headquarters.
The "Applications" sign tells job hunters Center Manufacturing is on the lookout for good workers -- and new business opportunities.
Article Reference: MLive.com: Everything Michigan
By Nancy Crawley, The Grand Rapids Press
Honda was on the phone. It was an emergency.
Could the Bryon Center company pick up a major order?
In hard-hit Michigan, manufacturers know the only answers possible: Yes and right now.
That's just how Center Manufacturing responded.
The story of this Rust Belt manufacturer illustrates one way to stay alive, and even grow, after suffering from the body blows of offshoring and shifting technology.
Honda needed a new supplier of frames for its all-terrain vehicles -- and fast. Its old vendor had abruptly closed a Georgia plant.
Honda was already familiar with Center Manufacturing because the West Michigan metal shaper and welder had been producing parts for its ATVs and motorcycles for more than a decade.
Along the way, Center had built a reputation for high-quality, complex parts, such as steering shafts and bumper parts.
But the entire frame of Honda's world bike ATV was a particularly complicated project.
Center Manufacturing's chief executive, Richard Nielsen, and his staff had to move quickly.
On a weekend, a crew headed to Georgia, loaded manufacturing equipment into four semis and delivered it to Center's second plant, in Allegan County's Leighton Township.
"I am really proud of our people," Nielsen said. "We went in on May 5, disassembled on a Saturday and Sunday, (drove back), reinstalled and trained our people.
"On Tuesday, we made our first shipment" to Honda's assembly plant.
In those precious few days, the staff had to get robot welders, computer-controlled metal benders, tube fabrication and a complicated assembly process up and running.
It was quite an accomplishment. But there was no choice, he said. "The customer would have been shut down."
"It was neat to see the transition," he said. But "the basics were already in place -- we have good quality and excellent engineering."
Center had to increase its work force by about 10 percent, boosting employment to 400. In all, Nielsen estimates the company invested $500,000.
But the payoff was a long-term contract with a prized customer and the expectation of years' more work on future generations of the ATV.
Life did not always look so rosy. In the 1990s, Center was a major producer of metal frames for TV picture tubes for Sony, RCA, Zenith and Toshiba, shipping them all over the world.
"It was 40 to 45 percent of our total business in 2003," Nielsen said.
Then the bottom fell out. "By 2004, it was zero" when the market made a dramatic switch to flat panel TVs, and the rest of the work went overseas.
"We had to replace 40 percent of our sales. It was a real struggle for three years," he said. "We went from six manufacturing facilities across the country to two."
For Center and many other West Michigan manufacturers, the first part of the new millennium was filled with dark days.
This past December, a Chicago investment firm, Industrial Opportunity Partners, bought the business from retiring owner Art Veltman.
The company began its turnaround with an infusion of money for upgrades and guidance from one of the firm's senior executives, Andy Weller, former chairman of truck supplier Transportation Technology Industries Inc. and a top executive with Accuride Corp., the world's largest producer of truck wheels.
Within five years, the investment firm's goal is to boost sales to $75 million or more, up from about $55 million.
"We've been picking up a significant amount of new business over the past six months," Nielsen said.
The ATV frame work was a major boost, adding 15 to 18 percent to annual sales.
Center also builds parts for commercial trucks, as well Harley Davidson and Honda motorcycles. About 40 percent of its business remains interior auto parts, with Lear Corp. its largest customer.
Getting ready
It would be a mistake to say Center's story is simply good luck, said Ray DeWinkle, vice president of the local economic development agency The Right Place.
To become part of Honda's sophisticated supply chain takes a lot of effort and thought, he said.
Instead, the story proves the old adage, "luck is where preparation meets opportunity."
Hiring at Center's two plants should pick up again in late fall, in preparation for "significant" new work coming in the winter, Nielsen said.
In the meantime, he's keeping a wooden sign posted along 84th Street SW outside headquarters.
The "Applications" sign tells job hunters Center Manufacturing is on the lookout for good workers -- and new business opportunities.
Article Reference: MLive.com: Everything Michigan
