After tackling the com- pany-wide issues, the new Grede next began the long process of familiarizing employees at the plant operations level with the other unique facilities around the company. The company organized a “best of the best tour,” with operations managers going around the country to see what each of the 15 facilities has to offer and learning where they might improve their operations. “The trips are designed


around practice—looking at a practice and being able to benchmark against other facilities,” said Bill Harvey, Columbiana’s plant manager. Harvey said the Colum-


Administrative Structure


Following is a look at the people that preside over Grede’s 15 facilities in seven states and approximately 3,200 employees.


Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer Douglas J. Grimm


Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Louis Lavorata


Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Todd Heavin


Vice President of Human Resources William R. Goodin


Vice President of Business Development Paul Suber


Vice President of Sales & Marketing Anthony Lovell


biana management was particularly impressed with the finishing room technology in use at other plants, including diamond cutting wheels and lean finishing cell practices. In general, Harvey said he felt an immediate camaraderie with the employees at the legacy Grede plants. “What I caught in my eye was the sense of dedication


and motivation and refinement the [metalcasting] industry has had to go through,” he said. “People were motivated. I saw efficiency.” Randy Priem, general manager of Grede Iron Mountain, Kingsford, Mich., has taken the best of the best tour as an opportunity to familiarize himself with what the new, larger company can do. “I picked up an


appreciation for the wide variety of prod- ucts we do offer the marketplace,” he said. “We have pretty much anything [customers] are looking for, from lost foam [in Columbi- ana] to large castings in Browntown to high [production] in Reeds- burg, [Wis.].”


Building Additions According to releas-


es issued by the com- pany, the new Grede secured a $60 million line of credit shortly after the merger of the two legacy companies was finalized by the courts, and it has since


22


won supplier awards from customers Cummins Inc., Columbus, Ind., and Navi- star Inc., Warrenville, Ill., and a quality certification from Caterpillar, Peoria, Ill. From the plant level,


signs also are positive. Priem said Iron Mountain already has received new work from other metalcast- ing facilities in the Grede network. And both Iron Mountain and Columbiana have reported an uptick in support from upper man- agement since the merger of the two companies. “Over the past five years,


our capital expenditure has been non-existent,” LeCroy said. “Since the merger, that’s changed. The total capital spending by the corporation has increased significantly,


and it was time for it. You’ve got to reinvest to stay competitive.” LeCroy’s plant hasn’t yet applied for capital for a


capacity expansion (although the business unit is in the process of transitioning to an additional shift as the economy rebounds), but it has received renewed support on maintenance, capital projects and necessary infra- structure items (e.g. forklifts). The plant also is hoping to bring in-house some technology (e.g. laser scanning) that LeCroy has seen at other Grede plants. “There have been few changes [at our plant],” LeCroy


said. “But we’re bigger now, and we have more resources.” Company executives admit obstacles still exist. While its total employee count has increased, the new Grede will be evaluating all of its operations going forward to determine whether it will have to perform further consolidations and layoffs. Grimm said he does not expect either, and when the dust settles, he believes the company could eventually produce annual revenues of $850 million. “The market is go-


Doug Grimm, the former chief executive of legacy Citation, was tapped to lead the combined companies. He has been involved in numerous mergers during his career.


ing to dictate how big our market share gets,” Lovell said. “But the purchasing community is smart, and they don’t want to let anyone get too big.”


MC MODERN CASTING / August 2010


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