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Published:3/1/2008

Highlighted in Yellow

On a Saturday morning as I was passing through the break room, I noticed someone had left copies of a magazine article on tables for people to read. Curious, I picked one up and scanned it. Portions of the article had been highlighted in yellow. The article was the cover story of the February 2008 issue of Inc. magazine. It was titled “How had it come to this?” It was about a company, Reell Precision Manufacturing (RPM), that primarily produced hinges for laptop computers and sold them to companies like Toshiba.

As I scanned the highlighted areas, it was obvious that the person doing the highlighting was pointing out all of the similarities in the article between RPM and Raker. Many of the story’s details were so similar that it was eerie; the article could have been about Raker. RPM was founded in the '70s by three partners. There was mention of “a parking lot in the front and a pond on the side,” of direction statements on the walls stating that people are the heart of the company and that the company “was committed to provide a secure opportunity to earn a livelihood and pursue personal growth.” As the author of the article laid out the background for the story, every similarity to the history and current state of Raker was highlighted: Wherever you go, you see graphs, charts, logs, and diagrams. The walls of the production area in particular are plastered with scorecards and Kaizen trees, reflecting the company’s recent embrace of lean manufacturing. RPM employee comments were also highlighted: Two years ago, I felt like I owned Reell. By the time I left, it was just a job. 

I took the article back to my office to read.

The incident of someone distributing an anonymous article to illustrate a point of view didn't surprise me. Raker is going through trying times, and emotions are running high. For most people, change is stressful and difficult, and Raker is trying to meet it head on. Our January safety theme was “Stress Management,” the Raker Safety News was dedicated to tips on handling stress and I had worked all day Friday kicking off a T-shirt campaign to create a “Bring It On” attitude. Why is it that one of the ironies of life seems to be the people you try to help are the most unaware and least receptive?

I’m under a lot of stress myself. I've said many times in the last two years that my job right now is the most difficult it has ever been. Raker is trying to transition ownership, adapt to being a larger company, and continue to grow and be profitable in the most unfavorable business environment the company has ever experienced. Any portion of what's on my plate, let alone the whole plateful, is enough for one company to deal with.

As I read the article, it was interesting to observe what wasn’t highlighted. The page that laid out the issues RPM dealt with on the business level and that explained all of the decisions that led RPM into its current situation didn’t have a yellow mark on it. The text left untouched described in the same eerie way the exact same scenario Raker has gone through. There was this quote: If the company didn’t go after the business and instead held the line on its traditionally high margins, there was a danger that business would suffer and people would have to be laid off—a step the company had managed to avoid since its founding.

And this one: Our strategy was to build a bridge from where we were to where we wanted to go … we didn’t want to lay people off, and we wanted to get to the next level (with new high-margin products)… but the market didn’t let us do it. A combination of the volume, the price pressure, the volatility and the massive investment resulted in all our energy going into… (the cheap product) instead of finding new opportunities.

The line that really caught my eye, though, was something the founder of RPM, Bob Wahlstedt, said. He conceded a mistake he may have made earlier, when he owned the company. He said he may have “put too much emphasis on (the company’s) identity as a great place to work and not enough on paying attention to the financial needs of the business.”

This is a mistake that I am trying not to make.
--Gerry Raker