Past Winner Stories
Williams Manufacturing Corporation
www.williamsmfgcorp.com
In spite of challenges that included an arsonist's blaze that destroyed its building, inventory and machinery, Williams Manufacturing Corp. continues to grow at a significant pace. The Anderson-based maker of garage door screen systems boasts annual sales of more than $1 million and has its product in such major retail outlets as Home Depot, Lowes and Menards.
The challenge of a new and unique product allowed for rapid growth and solid profit margins. The product, primarily a garage door screen, was designed to sell through distributors and home centers. Selling to major home center chains such as Menards and Home Depot requires a significant amount of time, research and persistence. Designing one model as a DIY (Do-it Yourself) product required many functions to bring the product to market including Point of Purchase packaging, UPC coding, displays, brochures, manufacturing capability, financing, etc. These preliminary steps had to be done prior to any revenue received or any sales made.
By September 1997 Williams had Menards, Home Depot, Lowes and Mills' Fleet Farm as customers for its DIY product for the 1998 spring season. In March 1998 the company was burned to the ground by an arsonist who poured gasoline throughout the building to hide a burglary. The fire was so hot that it burned through fire files, destroying protected back up documentation. Every bit of inventory was destroyed as well as the machinery and tooling to manufacture the product.
After the fire Williams relocated to a different city and had to-train a new workforce. Due to the magnitude and destruction of documentation in the fire files, the settlement with the insurance company took two and a half years. This created cash shortages since the fire also prevented the company from receiving any revenue because it could not produce any product. In spite of all that, the company continued to grow.
The next challenge was to buy a building, buy new equipment, try to not lose customers for the long haul, hire employees, find sub-contractors to build product and maintain enough cash to survive.
Dealing with the aftermath of the fire has been the most challenging part of the business process. From day one after the fire, the first goal of the company was to contact every known customer, vendor and friend of the business to inform them of the fire and what was being done to proceed with operations. A strong relationship with buyers helped Williams traverse a very difficult situation. The second goal was to get its own facility to manufacture product. After several weeks of searching, the company found a building 25 miles away. It purchased the building in May of 1998 and proceeded to buy machinery and tooling.
Customers who had contracts for large projects were patient for the first few weeks after the fire, and then they had deadlines to meet. There were a number of orders that had to be canceled. The goal, however, was to not lose or alienate customers for the long haul. Today Williams Manufacturing is growing at such a pace that sales are expected to double next year. The company has won back customers like Home Depot and many dealer/distributors and some of its best customers, such as Menards, continue to increase purchases year after year. The future looks very bright and promising for Williams Manufacturing.
The challenge of a new and unique product allowed for rapid growth and solid profit margins. The product, primarily a garage door screen, was designed to sell through distributors and home centers. Selling to major home center chains such as Menards and Home Depot requires a significant amount of time, research and persistence. Designing one model as a DIY (Do-it Yourself) product required many functions to bring the product to market including Point of Purchase packaging, UPC coding, displays, brochures, manufacturing capability, financing, etc. These preliminary steps had to be done prior to any revenue received or any sales made.
By September 1997 Williams had Menards, Home Depot, Lowes and Mills' Fleet Farm as customers for its DIY product for the 1998 spring season. In March 1998 the company was burned to the ground by an arsonist who poured gasoline throughout the building to hide a burglary. The fire was so hot that it burned through fire files, destroying protected back up documentation. Every bit of inventory was destroyed as well as the machinery and tooling to manufacture the product.
After the fire Williams relocated to a different city and had to-train a new workforce. Due to the magnitude and destruction of documentation in the fire files, the settlement with the insurance company took two and a half years. This created cash shortages since the fire also prevented the company from receiving any revenue because it could not produce any product. In spite of all that, the company continued to grow.
The next challenge was to buy a building, buy new equipment, try to not lose customers for the long haul, hire employees, find sub-contractors to build product and maintain enough cash to survive.
Dealing with the aftermath of the fire has been the most challenging part of the business process. From day one after the fire, the first goal of the company was to contact every known customer, vendor and friend of the business to inform them of the fire and what was being done to proceed with operations. A strong relationship with buyers helped Williams traverse a very difficult situation. The second goal was to get its own facility to manufacture product. After several weeks of searching, the company found a building 25 miles away. It purchased the building in May of 1998 and proceeded to buy machinery and tooling.
Customers who had contracts for large projects were patient for the first few weeks after the fire, and then they had deadlines to meet. There were a number of orders that had to be canceled. The goal, however, was to not lose or alienate customers for the long haul. Today Williams Manufacturing is growing at such a pace that sales are expected to double next year. The company has won back customers like Home Depot and many dealer/distributors and some of its best customers, such as Menards, continue to increase purchases year after year. The future looks very bright and promising for Williams Manufacturing.