HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Goderich Signal-Star, 1986-11-05, Page 1169CHIIMP!LIN
GSS/Wednesday, Nov. 5, 1986
People power
aurice expan
When Bruce Sully became
president of Champion Road
Machinery Ltd. in 1968, the
man he picked to head up the
company's sales division was
Maurice Jenkins.
For 18 years, Jenkins was
responsible for Champion's sales and
service retail operation in the
provinces of Ontario and Manitoba
until 1985 when he was appointed as
the director of administration for
Champion, while retaining some
involvement with the Manitoba
operation.
A,i e-iilpiiiVee of the Sheaffer Pen
Co. prior to 1967, Jenkins welcomed
the challenge of organizing
Champion's used parts department.
"Bruce happened to think I could do
it but it was a speculative deal
then," he recalled. "But I've made
progress by joining Champion."
After the death of Air Vice
Marshall J. Sully, Bruce Sully
purchased the company, became
president and appointed Jenkins
manager of the sales company.
Appointed general -manager
shortly after, the sales division
expanded under Jenkins' direction to
include branches in Toronto, North
Bay, Carleton Place and Manitoba.
"The head office was Goderich but
there was a branch in Toronto, we
were opening up in North Bay and
we opened later in Carleton Place.
Six years ago we purchased an
existing distributorship in
e
the sales
Establishing Ontario as a home base
helped Champion to expand
Manitoba," he explained.
Each branch was a self-contained
unit responsible for the sale and
service of graders in that area.
Many employees from Goderich
were :eved into the North Bay and
Carleton dace aeaiersilips while tik
company took on the existing staff
when it purchased the Manitoba
dealership.
The dealerships were a necessity
to serve the growing Ontario market
and to establish the name Champion
in the industry.
"When Bruce established the sales
company in 1946, his job was to
promote Champion in Ontario and
snowblowers across North
America," he said. "The grader had
many competitors and Champion
had to make sure the price was
right, especially in the tender
process. We had to be low bid and
we had to establish the name and the
product."
It was a difficult time for
Champion but the product became a
standard in Ontario and today, 40
years later, the sales division boasts
a staff of 11 salespeople and 80
service and support staff.
But for Champion, proving itself in
Ontario and building a solid base
was a necessity.
"If we had not established Ontario
1 -d • a. t ivy road nut
as the 'mine ua�c and
become a leader in Ontario, we
would never have expanded to
become the supplier to Canada,"
Maurice said. "It made good _`
business sense to establish in
Ontario and compete with home
established competitors, mainly
subsidiaries of foreign countries."
Champion made great strides in
the industry when it made the
commitment to a single product. The
motor grader. With a single-minded
approach and a commitment to
excelling at one product, the
company began to dominate the
market.
Today the sales company and its
branches handles other product
lines, such as loaders, chip
spreaders, asphalt spreaders and
pothole patchers, which are
compatible with the needs of the
IViSlOf1
construction industry and suitable to
the government marketplace.
Today the sales division head
office is located in Toronto and the
Goderich office, which was opened in
December 1978, is now a branch in
the system.
Bruno Lapaine is the director of
sales in Goderich while. Paul Stahl,
and three regional managers, look
after the sales of graders and parts
to all distributors across Canada.
"There are distributors_ across
Canada in every province and
Champion is recognized as a
worthwhile line because it's
e„-��171.iii ala" mid n is c.00d value because
of the market share," Maurice said.
"Dealers will acknowledge that
Champion is the number 1 line
here."
Now employed by Champion,
Maurice is director of administration
with some responsibility to the
Manitoba dealership. The company,
in his view, will prosper because of '
its unique approach and quality
product.
"I was fortunate to work with this
company. It is an unusual family-
owned operation and you would have
to go a long way to find one that has
the same concern for its
employees," he said. "I would like to
see the company more prosperous
but world competition iso keen that
selling is extra tough. But, we have
an exceptionally good road
grader.[ i"
Profit sharing will
prove itself Sully says
Bruce Sully has always wanted
Champion Road Machinery
Ltd. to be a profit sharing
company.
And while that dream was realized
in 1980 when the company introduced
a profit sharing plan for the first
time, the recession of the early 1980s
literally eroded any resources that
could have been applied to the plan.
Still, company president Sully
strongly suggests the concept will
become a reality for employees.
"The timing was bad but it's
something I have wanted to do for
years," he said. "People will be
suspicious until it's a regular thing
but it will prove itself."
The concept was introduced to
employees at a special meeting in
the Goderich and District Collegiate
Institute auditorium in 1980. The
first profit sharing payout came in
November 1981 for the fiscal year
ending July 31, 1981.
Maurice Jenkins, who is
administering the plan and
overseeing changes that will be
introduced to make the plan more
equitable, lauds the concept and its
potential.
"The conceptis excellent. It is
meant to assist the employee and it
encourages participation by the
employee," he explained. "Really,
the principle of profit sharing is to
involve the employee as one who
shares in the profit. They are
participants."
The plan was not introduced under
the guise that productiyity would be
a goal but that, Jenkins says, comes
about when the employees see they
benefit from quality work. The plan
also requires the company to report
regularly on profits which fosters
better communication of Champion's
financial affairs as it relates to
profit sharing.
Champion is in the process of
revamping the plan and .Jenkins
says it is much more promising.
"Under the terms of the former
plan, Champion had to be better
than average to trigger profit
sharing. It was difficult for the
employees to understand," he said.
The revised plan will be
retroactive to the fiscal year August
1, 1985 to July 31, 1986 and if a profit
is realized in the plan,, a payout
would be made this fall after the
Bruce Sully unveiled the company's profit-sharing program in 1982.
A revised plan will be going into effect.
audit.
While employees may have been
skeptical about the former plan,
Jenkins says the new formula will be
more realistic and involve all
Champion employees.
"We have great hopes for the plan
for 1987 but we need the employee
confidence," he said. "Under the
new formula, all Champion
companies will be combined and all
employees, both in Canada and the
United States, will share alike.
"It's a more equitable system but
the employees will be asked to help,
foster the concept.
Profit sharing has been a dream of
Bruce Sully's for many years and
under the terms of the revitalized
plan, it is a dream that will come to
fruition. [