Honesty and Success Drive Drummond's Success
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By Fernie Grace Tiflis   
Monday, 15 January 2007
smc Sales growth is not a priority for Drummond.
Sales growth is not a priority for Drummond.
What used to be a small business operating out of a garage near Middlefield, Ohio, in 1979 has become one of the top-three precision-machined plastics manufacturers in the United States today, says Drummond Corp. owner Paul Spangler. Still a family run business, Drummond is now situated in an 11,000-square-foot facility, and offers services to diverse markets that include aerospace, electronics, food processing, hydraulics and healthcare.

Unlike its competition, sales growth is not a priority for Drummond, Spangler stresses. “We don’t lose sleep over projected revenues,” he states. “We’re flexible and we know how to cope. We don’t get upset and hung up over next year.”

After a previous experience working for a big company, Spangler says he thinks meetings are unproductive. “In our 27 years in the business, we probably only had five meetings. We don’t drag people into a meeting; we discuss things on a regular basis – we communicate.”

What makes Drummond stand out in the industry is experience, Spangler notes. “Within our management group, we have over 100 years’ experience in precision-machined plastics,” he states.

Honesty is another factor that drives the company’s success, Spangler emphasizes. “In the real estate business, it is location, location, location,” he explains. “In our business, it is honesty, honesty, honesty. We treat our vendors like [they are] our best customer. We treat every customer as if they were part of our own company.”
Spangler recently spoke with Manufacturing Today about Drummond’s manufacturing process, market changes and vision of the future.

Manufacturing Today: In general terms, explain Drummond’s manufacturing process.
Paul Spangler: Machined plastic components usually start from rod, tubular or sheet materials. The rod and tubes generally range in size from 0.125 to 10 inches in diameter, while sheet materials range from 0.010 to 4 inches in thickness. Rod and tubular shapes are generally machined by lathe turning. Large diameters may be sawed to an oversized length prior to turning, while smaller diameters may be fed as bar stock and cut to length as part of the turning process. Turned components may also involve a variety of post processes in other machines such as machining of flats, slotting or cross drilling. Parts machined from sheet materials are usually saw cut and finished in CNC machining centers. On clear materials such as acrylic and polycarbonate, we can provide polishing for near-optical clarity. Most materials can be marked with logos or other information using our laser engraving processes.

MT: How does the company maintain or improve productivity?
PS: Each component is machined and finished as a custom item to a customer’s drawing. Our initial quote to a customer is based on a written process with estimated setup and run-time for each operation. When the job is run, the actual times are compared to the estimates and a review is conducted to see if any machine or process time can be improved. Repeat jobs are reviewed at least once a year to see if any improvements can be made to offset rising labor and material costs.

MT: How do you think the market is changing?
PS: Delivery times have shortened by at least two weeks in the past 20 years. In order to meet the shorter delivery times, we designed a computerized shop scheduling system that provides a high degree of feedback and flexibility.

In addition, we strive to provide impeccable service and quality at competitive prices. We maintain a modern facility with high-quality, efficient machinery. Most important, we value well-trained, skilled operators and machinists who have an incentive to work productively and minimize errors.
MT: What is your vision of the future?
PS: We would all like to paint a rosy picture, but that is not reality. Who could have ever predicted 9/11 – and yet in one hour it has changed our future forever.

Third world countries will continue to take away jobs that could be performed by people in this country – if they were willing to work. Overall, manufacturing in the United States will be competing with increasing skills and lower wages in other countries as we head to a world economy.

To compete, we must remain flexible in our management thinking regarding technology and adjust our style to meet any unexpected changes.
 
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