No preview available
HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Goderich Signal-Star, 1986-11-05, Page 728B CHAMPION GSS/Wednesday, Nov 5, 1986 Talk to Champion's Chief Executive Officer and President, Bruce Sully, and it quickly becomes apparent why the company is enjoying success in the international marketplace as a major producer of road graders. The'Sully family has, for over 40 years, been providing the leadership that has propelled the family-owned company into the forefront of the dirt pushing business. Today, with sales in excess of m0 million, the company ranks itself as one the world's major producers of road graders, second only to the mighty Caterpillar of the United States. Bruce Sully exudes a genuine confidence that is contagious and as he speaks matter-of-factly about ambitious plans for his company's future, it's impossible not to believe that Champion will be the Number 1 manufacturer of road graders. The way Bruce tells it, everything's in place and it's simply a matter of time. "Sure we have ambitious plans," Bruce says honestly. "If we behave ourselves and if we don't lose track of three fundamentals; building a quality product, offering it at a good price and marketing it professionally, then we will achieve our goal, which is to be the standard of excellence in the industry. If we do that, then it's axiomatic that business will follow." The one common element that fuels the three fundamentals of success is "people power" and Bruce proudly boasts that at Champion "we've got it." As the young sons of Champion's president, Air Vice Marshall J.A. brother r John Sully, Bruce and h is roth immediately got involved in the company, the former in the sales company and the latter, in manufacturing. But for Bruce, a young man bolstered by confidence and driven by dreams, the business was always fun. "My job's never really been a job. It's been a challenge and it's been fun," he explains. "I was the first employee of the sales company and once I took a fellow to Toronto with me on a sales call. I talked to a contractor for two hours straight and he said that if the job was like that he didn't want any part of it. It was hard work but it was also fun, challenging and exciting." The 1950s were challenging times for the road building equipment manufacturer and especially for the fledgling sales company. Bruce Sully discovered that selling graders was one thing; getting municipal governments to pass a motion for payment, was often another matter. , Undaunted and with a good measure of unabashed enthusiasm, Bruce set about establishing the sales company as an integral component of the family business. "I learned from my father that you really can do anything if you Champion's Chief Executive Officer Bruce Sully CEO Bruce Sully Photo by Colleen McGuire really want to," he says. "Desire comes first, You have to want it.. And if it's not morally or ethically right, you won't succeed for the simple reason that you'll always be looking over your shoulder. You need 100 per cent of your energies to succeed." The Sully family has always paid more than lip service to the mission statement ideals of conducting business with honesty and integrity, while striving to be the standard of excellence. In 1958, the company decided that if it was to be a standard of excellence in the manufacturing sector, it would have -to concentrate on a single product; the road grader. That decision may have been the most important in the history of the Developing the offshore market has required a major investment but it has also more than compensated for the seasonality of the Canadian market. "It required a major investment on our part and today we have one of the largest international sales forces in the industry," Bruce explains. 'file key is our distribution network. And the export business has also enabled us to bring down the cost of the product through volume." The Sullys have never entertained thoughts of the clqiir -ny no supceeding, regardless of its endeavors, and Bruce fondly recalls telling a doubting Jack Freeman, who later was.. to become company president, in 1968 that the company, within five years, would reach $50 million in sales. Today Champion builds and sells in excess of 1,000 road graders a year and has grown to become one of the largest privately -owned companies in Canada. The Financial Post ranked Champion 455th in its listing of Canada's top 500 companies. The company was reported to have'an operating revenue of $112 million for the fiscal year ending July, 1985. Champion is a major force in the international market because it is working leaner and smarter as a result of some painful lessons learned in the recession of 1981-82. During that time, the bottom literally fell out of the road grader business. Instead of withdrawing as an international player, Champion made some tough corporate decisions. But the company and its management team reacted swiftly to a n the task of reshapingthe company P Y for the 1980s and 1990s. During the boom years of the • 1970s, the company had grown in several directions and on an October day in 1982, the family quickly centralized the operation, fired several of its corporate staff and set about,to make Champion competitive in what became an extremely tight, competitive market: "We had to make major decisions in the last five years and it's amazing that we did it," Bruce says. "Today, you look at the young leaders of this company and already they've had to cope with tough experiences. Butthey reacted and survived and came out in spades. And we're a far stronger company now as a result." While the company had just markedly trimmed its staff, it was also embarking on a major plan to standardize its product by offering the same engine and power train and thereby substantially reducing the range of graders it offered. Also, during 1982 the company made a committment to Manufacturing Resource Planning (MRP), a formalized program that would Continued on Page 9 company. It banked on its ability to produce .a quality motor grader and market it worldwide. "In 1958 we decided to build only motor graders and even at the time, I think we were the best buy," he says. "We also had to look for other markets. Argentina was the first and in 1968, when I bought the company, we were selling graders in only six countries. We made the decision to expand into the international market and that decision was very important for the business." Today, Champion road graders can be found toiling in over 88 countries around the world, building roads and working on construction and mining sites in places such as Cambodia, Taiwan, Turkey, Algeria, Zambia, South America and Senegal.