Joe
Cogliano ■ DBJ
Cutting
Edge: Chuck Biehn is CEO of CB
Manufacturing, which posted more than $25 million in revenue last year, up 15
percent from the prior year. Biehn is holding a knife used by a food processor
to cut chicken.
For
years leading into the recession, CB Manufacturing in West Carrollton had been
carving itself out a nice slice of the metalworking cutting tool and industrial
knife markets.
But
as the economy tanked, its revenue dropped more than 20 percent. And to top it
off,
Charlie
Biehn, the company’s founder, passed away in 2009.
That
prompted Chuck Biehn — Charlie’s son and the current CEO of CB Manufacturing and
its parent, Biehn Co.— to look for the silver living.
“It
was our chance to take out a clean sheet of paper and start over,” Biehn
said.
So
about two years ago he set out to reinvent the 120-person Biehn Co., for which
CB Manufacturing is the flagship operation.
For
starters, Biehn invested in a more strategic marketing and sales plan that
included exiting certain markets — and shedding underperforming business — and
going more heavily into others such as companies that cut scrap metal and do
slitting work.
Biehn
also was inspired to improve operations across the company so he ramped up
in-house training, such as lean processes, and pushed execution by putting more
emphasis on key performance indicators.
“The
company really has a focus right now,” he said.
That
mix of changes seems to be the right recipe for success at CB Manufacturing,
which posted more than $25 million in revenue last year across all companies
combined, up 15 percent compared to the previous year. It also marks the second
consecutive year of double-digit increases.
Based
in West Carrollton with a Miamisburg mailing address, CB Manufacturing makes
industrial knives and blades used in recycling, cutting up scrap plastic and
tires and metal; film slitting; and food processing.
For
example, its products are used by some plants that cut McDonald’s Filet-O-Fish
into individual patties. Other affiliated companies provide razor blades and
thin industrial blades; heat treating; industrial hand tools; and sourcing
services from low-cost countries.
A
major thrust of the new plan was that making metalworking cutting tools wasn’t a
good niche for it to be in, so the company sold that business and put more
efforts into industrial knives and heat treating. It also quit introducing as
many new products in its catalogue division that sells utility knives and
similar hand cutting tools.
Biehn
felt the risk was low because CB Manufacturing used a variety of analytical
tools to determine where it will see increasing sales; its costs and margin per
order; return on marketing costs; and other metrics.
“For
example, it greatly increased our business in the food cutting sector as we
recognized that this was an area we are very competitive in and had not been
chasing it as hard as we could be,” he said. “There was some risk in some of
these changes but the data doesn’t lie and you have to follow it.”
Ray
Attiyah, author and founder of Mason-based business improvement firm
Definity Partners, sees an increasing number of
manufacturing leaders using more analytical tools in their businesses.
“When
used effectively, most leaders are able to confidently make bolder bets while
leaders who are busy looking in the rear view mirror are left to make reactive
improvements and risk becoming a commodity,” said Attiyah, who also owns more
than a dozen companies.
While
things are going well now at CB Manufacturing, success didn’t come overnight.
Biehn’s biggest challenge was changing the culture, and that started with
attitudes.
That
meant shedding some negative workers — whom he refers to as people with a “can’t
do, loser” mentality — and putting more effort into making sure new hires were a
better fit. In addition, performance evaluations were changed so the No. 1 item
was attitude and cooperation with others. That’s weighted higher than knowledge
or production output.
“I’m
constantly talking about compassion for others in the company, how attitude
makes the difference in how to approach problems,” he said.
Also,
Biehn himself had to come in every day in the right frame of mind to set an
example.
Communication
was another key to getting workers to buy into his new vision.
Biehn
put the company’s financials on display for employees — so they knew “the good,
the bad and the ugly” — and began holding regular town hall meetings and sending
out bulletins.
He
admits his company still has its share of problems — personnel issues, letting
down a customer occasionally, machines breaking down — but says that happens
everywhere. The key to CB Manufacturing being more successful than most is the
new focus and positive attitude.
“You
just have to keep doing the right things, and do it over and over again to show
people you’re serious about changing the company,” Biehn said. “Today it’s a
much happier place to work.”
