Conveying Quality Service
For Century Conveyor, Service is their last name.
By John Paul Quinn -- Industrial Distribution, 2/1/1998
Not long ago, someone suggested to Ron Ferrara, president of Century Conveyor Service, Inc., that he change the name of the company. The reason given was that the word "service" was a carryover from the company's earliest days when it was simply a repair and maintenance service business in the conveyor industry. The well-meaning critic felt that the term implied a certain limitation of the company's scope of activities which have broadened considerably since its founding in 1981.But Ferrara disagreed, reasoning that just as the firm itself had expanded, so had its definition of the term "service."
"Century is in the service business," he says. "That service starts when we first meet our customers and listen to their requirements so that we understand exactly what it is they need. It also entails designing or modifying conveying equipment that will allow for future growth, providing that equipment as a distributor and installing it, and being available to support the customer and the equipment around the clock, 365 days a year. That's how we define service today at Century."
When Ferrara founded the company in Englishtown, N.J. seventeen years ago, its personnel consisted of himself and his wife, Jean, and its physical assets were a used van and an office in the corner of his garage. The focus of the business in those days was emergency repair work and preventive maintenance on materials handling equipment already installed in industrial plants in the surrounding area of New Jersey.
Today the company has annual sales of $8.5 million nationally, employs 52 people, occupies a 38,000-square-foot office and warehouse facility that includes machine, electrical, and custom fabrication shops, has a fleet of mobile service units and an 800-number hotline, and can best be described, according to Ferrara, as a materials handling system integrator.
He explains how the organization grew and evolved into its present form:
"Before starting Century," he recounts, "I worked for 12 years for Unex Conveying Systems, a conveyor manufacturer. I began in the welding department and ultimately worked my way up to field system installation supervisor. But along the way, since it was a relatively small company, I had the opportunity to work in almost every part of the organization and to learn virtually every aspect of the materials handling business from system design to manufacturing and installation."
With that background, Ferrara was able to make the value judgment in 1981 that there was a need in the materials handling field for an independent repair and maintenance service company that could guarantee 24-hour-a-day availability.
After founding Century he worked generally as a subcontractor to various materials-handling firms, doing their service work and small installations. But as time went on, there were more and more customer requests for modifications to existing equipment. This in turn led to requests for help in the design and implementation of more effective materials handling systems within the customers' plants.
"Around that time," says Ferrara, "I drafted a letter soliciting preventive maintenance contracts and launched a direct mail campaign. I offered a free inspection of the customer's materials handling system complete with a written report. All I asked in the way of recompense was that the customer would allow me to bid on the work required. I was sure that if I had the opportunity to work on their equipment just one time, that would convince them to stay with me."
Out of 25 prospects contacted, four took Ferrara up on his offer. It's worth noting that those four companies remain customers of Century to this day.
But then, in the early '90s, a new opportunity developed for Century that would bring the company into the field of industrial distribution. For a number of years, the firm had been installing conveyors for other distributors that were manufactured by Hytrol, Inc., located in Jonesboro, Ark.
Bill Hawthorne, vice president of marketing at Hytrol, recalls how the two companies came together and why:
"Century was installing our equipment for a number of other distributors, and we were consistently hearing about the quality of their installation and service work," he says. "When an opening developed in their area for us to add a new distributor, they were a natural because of their proven track record installing and servicing our conveyors and doing excellent work on both the electrical and mechanical sides."
Once they signed on as a Hytrol distributor, according to Hawthorne, Century moved aggressively to recruit salespeople who had not only the capability to project-manage a job, but also to sell the right system and service it for whatever the application.
As an example of the company's professionalism, Hawthorne cites the case of Fedway Associates, Inc., one of the largest wholesale liquor distributors in New Jersey. Fedway was looking to upgrade two critical areas of its operations -- materials handling and order management.
Century supplied the conveyor system and then went a step further and worked closely with AL Systems, Inc., the company that was supplying the new order management software.
"You don't find too many people who have expanded from installation into the sales and marketing arena the way Century did," observes Hawthorne. "And they made the transition quickly because they knew our equipment, the concepts and components involved that go together to solve the customer's problem."
In fact, Ferrara has developed a philosophy over the years that a project shouldn't be oversold. When asked what he tells new members of his salesforce, he says he stresses focusing on the customer's problem and not on closing the sale.
"I think I'm most proud of the open and honest way we approach a project," he says. "The key to the sale is being responsive."
Joe Mastro, Century's sales manager, explains the firm's approach this way: "The essence of our business is the design of materials handling systems. The objective is for that system to be as functional and practical as possible. We want to get the job done with a minimum of razzle-dazzle and to provide only what the customer needs. We're not out to sell the equivalent of power windows and automatic window-washers on our conveyor systems. Our commitment is to get the customer's product moved and processed as quickly and efficiently as possible.
"And it's essential to our job to stay out of the customer's way. He's busy and he needs a system that will help him work faster and better; that's why he called us. Sometimes our biggest challenge is being able to improve his system without impacting his everyday working schedule. The real logistics problem is planning our work around his work day."
Part of this focused sales philosophy is reflected in the way Century bids a job. A case in point was how they secured the contracts for conveyor systems at two facilities of Recycle, Inc. in South Plainfield, N.J., and De Quincy, La.
As its name indicates, Recycle is in the business of reprocessing steel, plastic, and fiberboard industrial containers with capacities ranging from five to 500 gallons. The company either cleans the containers for reuse, or shreds and pulverizes them for scrap.
Recently, the company embarked on a major program to convert their processing operation from one that was largely manual to an automated conveyor system -- at two locations a thousand miles apart as the crow flies.
"We screened a number of materials handling companies, but what impressed us immediately about Century was that they were willing to come in and spend a good deal of their time up front without a contract," states Jeffrey Bey, president of Recycle. "Other companies said they'd come in and draw up engineering plans, but we'd pay for that work whether we chose them or not.
"The Century people said they didn't work that way. They spent their own engineering dollars, and said if you like this design, then we'd like to have the job; if you don't, that's okay too. This may not be the norm in their line of business, but that's what got them the contract to virtually build from the ground up two recycling process plant systems totaling 160,000 square feet all told. And they did the jobs simultaneously.
"One other thing," Bey notes. "They were just one of many different kinds of contractors working on the sites, and they were the most responsive and most responsible of all the trades represented in this dual project."
There is a truism in the small-business community that the entrepreneur who starts his own business is his own worst enemy if the business really takes off and grows significantly, because he has grown too used to running everything himself and can't or won't delegate.
This past year, Ferrara brought in not only Joe Mastro to head sales, but also Sheldon Blumengold as chief financial officer. Mastro brings with him 35 years experience in the conveyor industry, and Blumengold has worked for some Fortune 100 names like Gulf & Western and Bristol-Myers-Squibb. In addition, the president's brother, Joe Ferrara, is now the firm's vice president and is responsible for field installation services.
"This has been an opportunity for me to offer assistance in the way of building a structured environment in a time of considerable growth," says Blumengold. "We have weekly meetings at which we discuss everything from employee benefits to the engineering and sales aspects of a new project."
Blumengold has a CFO's critical eye, and he likes what he sees at Century.
"I can see this company growing from $8 million to $15 million by the year 2000," he conjectures. "We have the right people and we are seeing more multilocation projects coming in. I'm talking about 20 to 30 projects going on simultaneously with project value ranging from $50,000 to well over $1 million."
That anticipated growth will probably come as a result of Century's dedication to its earliest commitment: providing service 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
John Heller, vice president of distribution at Neuman Wholesale Drug Co., sees an interesting parallel between his company's operations and Century's:
"We're a pharmaceutical wholesaler open around the clock all year long," he observes. "We're the largest distributor to hospitals in the New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania area, and our territory has a radius of 550 miles from our headquarters location.
"Century came in and revamped the materials handling system here and installed new systems at our other locations. But the quality of the product and of their installation work is not the really important thing. What's really important is their service. Typically, when we have a problem, it's two o'clock in the morning. And they've always been there for us. Their knowledge of the time constraints and obligations of the distribution industry, and their expertise with materials handling systems are unparalleled, in my view.
"And their word is their bond. We don't think of them as a vendor, but rather as a partner -- around the clock, no matter what the weather happens to be like."
What does Ron Ferrara see in terms of the future for Century?
"At this stage in the company's growth," he says, "I perceive my role as that of an organizer, making sure that I have the most qualified people available in the business today.
"I also would like the company to continue its average 22% annual growth, while maintaining or even exceeding the service level we offer our customers.
"Yes, we have grown and become diversified, but the service aspect of our work is what fueled that growth and will continue to do so into Century's next century."
EDITOR'S NOTE: John Paul Quinn is a freelance writer who lives in Connecticut. He can be reached at 203-323-9850.
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