Oct 2011

With a Vision ...

Speck Plastics witnessed continued growth in the 09-10 and 10-11 fiscal cycles, a success Co-Presidents Suzann and Walt Speck attribute to the company’s clear and effective vision statement and values.

A few years after purchasing the company in 2000—and weathering the recession that struck in 2000—the Speck siblings took steps to create a more positive, forward-thinking work environment. By developing and implementing a set of core values that were in step with the company’s mission and vision statements, the Specks hoped to foster a bottom-up approach where employees feel valued, empowered, and productive.

In October 2006, President Walt Speck attended the Manufacturing Leadership Institute, a program of the Iacocca Institute and Manufacturers Resource Center at Lehigh University, where he learned the particulars of writing a set of company values and developing the behaviors that support those values. By November, senior managers were introduced to the Speck Plastics values: self-discipline, purpose-driven effort, courage and optimism.

Since the initial publication of its Vision and Values, the company has strived to uphold and link those values every business day; that effort is validated by the company’s financial growth over the last two years.

Speck’s vision statement establishes a standard for customer interactions based on honesty and accountability, a key part of the company’s self-discipline value.

“Accountability is uncomfortable, but it’s necessary,” Suzann says. “You can’t make the same mistake again if you’re accountable.”

With the self-discipline value, all employees are expected to recognize and learn from their mistakes. This leads to continuous improvement and the second core value, purpose-driven effort, which Suzann sums up with the company’s motto, “be better today than yesterday.” All company executives and employees should focus on what’s really important. Suzann says she and Walt, just like other honest human beings, can get sidetracked by trivial, irrelevant events.

“It [the purpose-driven effort value] helps us to stay grounded,” Suzann says. “We have to continually remind each other about what’s important, and that’s continuing to improve our products and performance.”

Another aspect of continued company improvement centers on communication, which starts with courage.

“Constant communication is key,” Suzann says.

The Specks conduct monthly meetings, in which they share the company’s financials with all employees. Since implementing this routine, they have never missed a meeting. It’s a commitment the Specks take very seriously.

“They [the employees] get to see exactly what goes on,” Suzann says. “If there’s a loss, they know. If there’s a profit, they know.”

At each meeting, Walt also reviews the vision and values, focusing particularly on the last one, optimism.

Although the Specks realize how easy it is to lay blame for profit and loss on external factors they can’t change, they encourage all employees to take a positive look inward and focus on what they can change. With the right attitude, employees stop looking for excuses and make the change happen.

“Focusing on the external factors like the economy just wastes time and energy,” Suzann says. “We can’t be so worried with what’s going on externally that we can’t change. We have to work on what we can.”

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Welcome Aboard!

A leading supplier of boilers and water heating products recently selected Speck Plastics to produce thermoformed parts for its latest product, which will be used for a high-efficiency, commercial boiler/water-heater system.

The company discovered Speck Plastics in its initial round of requests for quotation, a typical pre-purchase step. While searching for a vendor who could provide outstanding quality and work efficiently and constructively with their engineers to design the product, the company grew interested in Speck on many different levels.

Although Speck did not offer the least expensive quote, the customer found their readiness, keen knowledge and overall openness, and cordial personalities all the more impressive.

“They brought a lot of insight, they gave us feedback on painting and finishing, and they helped us meet the design needs,” explained the procurement manager who led the process. “Their personalities, the way they presented themselves, and their good sense of humor helped in our decision, too.”

Speck also provided an in-depth tour of their facilities, where the customer’s engineers observed on-site tooling and shared their long-term thoughts for product volume. The procurement manager says Suzann and others took time to sit down with eight to 10 of the customer’s engineers to discuss how to improve the process of product development.

“They were much more interactive [than other vendors],” the procurement manager says. “They were very straightforward. I could tell they weren’t making promises they can’t deliver, and that’s an important confidence we need to have in our vendors.”

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Thanks for reading this month’s installment of the Speck InFORMer. Please feel free to browse our site or contact us to learn more about how Speck can put more than a half century of experience to work for you.