1) JigSaw Business Directory: http://www.jigsaw.com/scidvpjfmwj3697k/andrew_taitz.xhtml
2) US Industry Today:
Workhorse Custom Chassis
Compleat Niche
Workhorse Custom Chassis achieved immediate success. Its formula? Focus on niche markets and quickly respond to changing customer needs, according to April Terreri.
It's the can-do attitude that is evident in this company with a remarkable start-up history. The company, born of nimble, quick-thinking and resourceful determination, still thrives on these hallmark attributes. Meet Workhorse Custom Chassis of Union City, Ind., which can boast that its state-of-the-art, 209,000-square-foot manufacturing plant is the largest strip chassis manufacturing facility in the world. The company's expected revenues of about $350 million this year, after less than one-and-a-half years in business, is credited to the Workhorse philosophy of focusing on its niche markets: walk-in vans, recreational vehicles and school buses.
Andrew Taitz, the principal owner of Workhorse, recognized an opportunity and quickly made his dream a reality when he purchased the assets of the General Motors P-Chassis Division (the auto giant's light truck and motor home strip chassis unit). Barely had the ink dried on that deal when Workhorse actually began operating. How did they accomplish this feat?
"The start-up occurred within two months," says Tom Frey, president. "Andrew Taitz bought the rights for the business on Jan. 8, 1999, and by March 1 we were in operation." During this short time frame, Taitz and his associates had to recruit a work force, they had to build the 209,000-square-foot plant and they had to move and relocate all the machinery and equipment to run the assembly line.
"Then we had to train a few hundred people," continues Frey. "We also had to sign up distributors and, over the next few months, we had to get our ERP (enterprise resource planning) system running." They did all of that in eight months flat.
All a Chassis Needs
"Envision a truck chassis with no body on it," says Tony Monda, director of marketing. "We build the frame and all the 'rolling' componentry, including the power train, the rear end, the transmission and drive shaft. We sell our chassis to third parties which build Class A motor homes, step vans or school buses.
"We are a niche-focused company and we listen to our customers," he continues. "Workhorse conducts dealer counsels to tap into what they and their customers want in their vehicles. Their input is key to how we develop programs."
The company's sister company, Union City Body Company, is the oldest body company in the world today, having been operating for 101 years. This company builds walk-in vans on Workhorse chassis. The two other companies building truck bodies onto Workhorse chassis are Grumman Olson and Utilimaster.
Frey cites two key elements to the success of the company, which now employs 350 dedicated people. "The most important is niche focus," he says. Although larger auto makers manufacture within these markets, it accounts for less than 1 percent of their total business. "So it's difficult for them to make sense of the intense focus required for long-term product development in these very small business segments for them."
The second key is that Workhorse is a private entrepreneurial company. "Although there are many strengths in being a large corporation, they have to deal with many partners when they want to take action," continues Frey. "We are less constrained and can move quickly."
Power Products
Workhorse's 2001 model year begins Aug. 7, 2000, and the company plans the launch of two new RV products. "Third-party data shows these products outperform the competition hands down in total performance, acceleration and fuel economy," says Monda.
"We will integrate into our RV chassis the GM Vortec 8100, 8.1 liter, 330-horsepower V-8 engine, which is the largest and the most powerful gasoline engine available," he continues. "We will have the most powerful gasoline RV power train in the world today."
"This Vortec 8100 replaces the GM 7.4- liter engine and will be standard in our motor home chassis," explains Frey. "This is, by far, the biggest displacement gas engine with the highest torque capability in the industry."
"GM was able to design a more powerful engine while making it more fuel-efficient," explains Monda. "Typically you have to sacrifice fuel economy for power, but now you won't have to with our ultrahigh-tech performance package."
The new chassis integrating this new engine is Workhorse's P-32 motor home chassis. "It delivers handling advantages because of the exclusive wide-track independent front suspension system, which no other gas RV chassis manufacturer offers," says Monda. The 22,000-pound gross vehicle weight (GVW) gas chassis is the largest in the industry, with a frame structure designed for durability.
Nimble Response
As consumers demanded bigger and bigger motor homes, the RV industry responded to that demand. "Slide-outs put extra restrictions on the chassis because the mechanisms operating these slide-outs are heavy," explains Monda. "When we bought this P-Chassis from General Motors, their heaviest product was about a 16,500-pound GVW. We reacted to the changes in market demands and designed the 22,000-pound GVW product. It's an exciting product."
Workhorse has an exclusive agreement with GM as sole provider of the power train to this industry. "Our aim was structure fortitude, while also aiming to offer the same ride, handling and drive characteristics we had in place with our traditional lines," says Monda.
It's a fact of life. People nowadays are not prone to mechanical tinkering as they were a few generations back. "Baby boomers don't fix things themselves," says Monda. "And the RV scenario is difficult when it comes to service." To get an RV repaired on a warranty, you used to have to take it to one place for the chassis and to another for the body. Now, however, Workhorse's one-stop warranty service offers both body and chassis repairs in certified Workhorse dealerships. "We want to be the best total-value supplier to our customers," says Monda. "We are a niche player and we have to respond like one."
On the FasTrack
Workhorse just launched its first integrated vehicle program, called FasTrack, within its commercial niche market. This means that Workhorse will supply the body and the chassis, or a finished product, to the marketplace. "This is important because before, when you ordered a step van from your local truck dealer, it involved a 12-week process for the dealer and the customer. First, the dealer would have to order the chassis from a chassis manufacturer. Then he would order a body from a body manufacturer. The chassis manufacturer would have to ship the desired chassis to the body manufacturer, who would then have to build it. The finished vehicle was then shipped to the dealer and finally sold to the customer.
"Customers don't want to wait that long," says Monda. "Our program streamlines that process." Workhorse set a new industry standard in turnaround time for these deliveries, achieving a 66 percent reduction in wait time at the customer level. "We can bring the finished vehicle to the shipper in four weeks after receipt of an order. Now there is only one manufacturer, one invoice, one warranty and one person to deal with. It takes the hassle out of the ownership experience."
Internet Speed
If there is one distinction that can be made about Workhorse, it has to be its quick and precise response to opportunity, the marketplace and to its customers. "We move like an Internet company," says Monda. "And that shows in how we built this business so fast. When we built the first chassis, we had to literally pull it down the line - in a building without a roof! We focus on our No. 1 objective, which is our customers' needs."
"We continue to do things in record time," adds Frey. "We introduced our first new product innovations in about six months, and we continue to have less-than-one-year lead times to introduce new products, compared to an industry cycle of more than double that."
"We don't make SUVs, and we don't make cars," says Monda. "We are very focused on our niche markets." The goal of Workhorse is to be the chassis of choice. "We will achieve this by analyzing the market and bringing the right products at the right price to the market at the right time." A tall order? Not at all.
"And we have to do one other thing, and that is to be the company that takes care of the customer after the sale," adds Monda. "The little ma-and-pa customer who buys a $150,000 motor home doesn't mean a whole lot to some of our larger competitors. But to us, they are our bread and butter and we will always be responsive to their needs." Workhorse even offers 24-hour roadside assistance to make the travel experience a bit more pleasant.
What's in store for the company down the road? "We will always be expanding," says Monda. "Without giving away the company secrets, you will see us playing in more and more aspects of this truck market as we grow either through acquisitions or planned product launches."
"We will be a truck supplier dedicated to being focused on specialty niche markets that demand product innovation and swift response so that we can be the best supplier to customers in those niche markets," concludes Frey.
Source: RV News Cover Story
Date: 11/11/1999 19:03:48
The contract had not yet been signed and nary a stud was in place or cement slab laid where a new plant would be constructed. Atkins added, "Andrew had to make some tough decisions before the deal was closed. He had to start moving dirt and start putting money in the ground."
When the deal was finally signed in early January, WCC had about eight weeks to get the plant built and start producing product.
"Many people couldn't believe it," Atkins continued. "'Who's Mr. Taitz kidding? He's not going to have product by March!' A lot of nay-sayers just did not believe it was going to happen. Chassis customers were skeptical too so they started stockpiling chassis."
Andrew Taitz was obviously a bold visionary who believed it could be done. It's not every businessman who can walk into GM and tell them he intends to buy its P-chassis assembly operations.
Taitz, owner of Union City Body Company (UCBC), was a P-chassis customer and had been since he bought UCBC in 1993. UCBC serves the steP-van and fleet delivery truck business with a customer base including companies such as United Parcel Service (UPS), Ryder, Frito-Lay and others.
Taitz told RV News, "As a body builder I've experienced the frustrations of having to interface with these large corporations that have to serve niches and are not structured for that. So being a customer of GM and realizing there is a real need to service these niches, it could be done differently.
So I approached GM about three-and-a-half years ago and asked them to sell me the striP-chassis business because volume-wise its not even a blip on their radar screen. These large motor companies are geared for high-volume production. I felt that having a focused chassis company that would market directly, engineer, and service the marketplace was a good business opportunity. It took me three years to convince them.
"Basically no one believed we could get this plant up and operating by the end of the first quarter of 1999. I wasn't really concerned that we would."
Taitz smiled and added, "Many of the body companies have told me that we would have made a lot of money if we participated in the bets against us -- could have paid for the deal.
"My commitment to the marketplace was that they wouldn't suffer from lack of product. It was very important to be up and running by the end of the first quarter because it was the timing that we had outlined. We spent a lot of time planning and putting the right team together in advance of actually picking up the plant and moving it. We put a group of people together including employees that we were going to hire from GM, and industrial engineers, and had this team working together planning the whole relocation process as well as planning the layout and the new plant.
"I think the most exciting part of this for me was to create an organization without any baggage -- all the people we hired, we hired for the right reasons. We hired them for their attitude, their people skills and their motivation and because they really wanted to come work for the company. We weren't required to take anybody.
"We hired some very key people from General Motors who were involved in manufacturing and the processes, plus we hired people from outside of GM. We put together a really great team who really enjoy what they're doing and work well together.
"It's a melting pot of cultures -- large corporate cultures and entrepreneurial cultures. What some of the GM guys tell me is that they've been given tools for 30 years and have been unable to use them. They come to a small company and can really use the tools they've acquired.
"Its been a great experience with the whole group of people that we've hired --close to a 100 salaried people and about 200 hourly people. The whole atmosphere and environment in the organization is really great."
One of the first people Taitz hired was Bob Atkins.
"Yes, it was a hard decision to leave GM after 30 years," Atkins recalled, "but I recognized at GM I would never have an opportunity like this."
Over his career Atkins has had ideas on better ways to do things, but in a large corporate structure such as GM, selling those ideas to all levels of management is not always easy. At Workhorse he would be able to apply that experience from the ground up.
Atkins said, "And that's not just from a hardware standpoint -- a nut-turner is a nut-turner -- you need certain tools to get the job done. But from the people side of the business, what's the right way to set up an environment where people are going to enjoy coming to work and going to be effective at doing the job?
"I believe that can be done. You can be efficient and have a good place to work. I think the Japanese have shown a lot of people how that can be done. And frankly GM has spent a lot of time studying these systems. I've been to Japanese companies' plants and know what to do, but its all very difficult in an existing environment to get those changes in place.
"So this was an opportunity to say, lets start from the ground up and do this right. Lets treat our people right, lets train them right, and they will respond. And that's what happened."
And while Atkins made the decision to come to work for WCC, other key GM employees are still wrestling with the decision.
Atkins said, "It was a good time from a family perspective for me. Our family was ready to make a move geographically. And from a professional point of view, I was certainly ready to use the tools that I've acquired over 30 years and use them positively and productively. For others it's not been that easy."
Even with people of the caliber of Atkins, Taitz's commitment to be manufacturing chassis in the first quarter of 1999 was a formidable challenge.
Taitz said, "A lot of time was spent in planning and making sure we had the resources to deal with any contingency -- and there were many."
According to Taitz, trying to accomplish this production in the dead of winter presented the team with its share of challenges. Eventually, WCC lost 24 days of construction due to weather. And with 300 trailer loads of equipment being moved from Detroit to Union City, getting the plant built was imperative.
Union City is 225 miles southwest of Detroit, located on the Indiana-Ohio border less than an hour drive from Dayton, OH.
Despite the weather and other challenges, the WCC team choreographed the transition like a ballet. Construction crews worked during the day and at 4 p.m. the Union City production crews worked into the night. Taitz said, "It was a pretty intense experience."
Taitz is no Johnny-come-lately to the business world. Originally from South Africa, he came to the United States in 1990. He said, "I've been in business all my life, but not in the transportation industry. Union City Body was my first experience in this industry. My background has been in the high tech and food service areas.
"UCBC has been around for 101 years. I bought the company out of bankruptcy in October 1993. UCBC manufactures commercial truck bodies and we market the product to many of the large and small fleet companies around the country. UPS is our largest customer. We also own a few other body companies -- one manufactures beverage bodies and trailers and another manufactures refrigerated bodies and trailers. We also have a refurbishment facility that rebuilds these vehicles."
By making the commitment to have product in the first quarter of 1999, Taitz's credibility with chassis customers such as RV manufacturers was on the line. In the meantime, Taitz was meeting with RV industry companies promising to listen and respond to their chassis needs a refreshing departure from the years of the unfulfilled promises from the large auto manufacturing companies.
Ironically, just as WCC was trying to get a foothold in the RV industry, Ford, a company with more than 50 percent marketshare in gasoline-powered chassis hinted that it planned to cut back on chassis deliveries to RV manufacturers. And while Ford later backed off of that possibility, RV manufacturers beat a path to Union City to ascertain on their own whether Taitz was for real or not.
And while the task of building a plant, moving in equipment, laying out a production line, hiring and training employees was a monumental job in the best of conditions, the WCC team pulled it off. WCC was producing chassis by the end of February as Taitz promised.
As you can well imagine, it was not without its challenges. Atkins recalled employee training programs being conducted with snow blowing around everyone because the plant was without a roof. Atkins said, "I don't think the winter was that bad on average, but we had some really bad storms, heavy storms and no roof. It was a problem.
"We had trucks in there shoveling snow so we could set up operations. We had some bad weather at the wrong time, but those are just war stories now. There were days of frustrations; however, everyone took the attitude -- hey, we're going to do it. It was almost a military mentality. We're going to take the beach, and that's the way it is.
"Just communicating was a problem. There were no phones in the plant so we bought cell phones. It was just little stuff that you had to work your way through."
Atkins said the two biggest problems, however, were heat and rest rooms, with rest rooms being the most important.
"The day we finally got indoor rest rooms," Atkins said, "a large cheer went up from everyone."
In May when RV News visited WCC, the 209,000-square-foot plant, the largest striP-chassis manufacturing facility in the world, was in full operation producing 800 chassis per month, on one shift. There is still much to be done. For example, engineers, management and administrative teams work in a campus-type environment in office trailers connected by a wood deck. Plans are proceeding for a new building for these operations. In addition, the parking lots remain unpaved and the landscaping is still to come. However, since the first priority was to get the manufacturing plant up and running no one seems to mind these minor inconveniences. continued
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Source: Chicago Business News
Date: 02//15/2006 12:42:03
Andrew Taitz
Chairman, CEO
Grand Vehicle Works LLC
Without a college education — but with on-the-job training running a frozen-food business in his native South Africa — Andrew Taitz immigrated to the U.S.
"I wanted to buy and build businesses, and the States is the single largest, most accessible market," he explains. "At that time, South Africa did not have a great future to bring a family up in."
Two weeks after he and his wife, Dana, married, they came to the U.S., choosing Chicago for both practical and emotional reasons.
"It was 1990, and there was a recession then. I was looking for manufacturing firms, and Chicago was one of the least-affected regions," he says. "But it also felt right to start here. It is not hard to be a foreigner here."
That same combination of pragmatic and intuitive thinking helped Mr. Taitz turn beleaguered and bankrupt businesses into a $400-million niche. In 1993, he made his first purchase, Indiana-based Union City Body Co., a maker of bodies for delivery trucks.
His first job was to woo back the company's old customers.
"A lot of them were deserting Union City because (the firm) wasn't going to be around long," recalls Merrit Kinne, director of fleet maintenance for California's Aramark Services Inc., a Union City customer.
It was at this time that Mr. Taitz had a flash of insight. He realized it was inefficient to have one company make a truck body and another make the chassis — which had been the industry standard. Why not merge the two? "His vision pretty much caught the rest of the industry flat-footed," Mr. Kinne says.
By 1998, Mr. Taitz persuaded General Motors Corp. to sell the specialized chassis division he needed to produce the guts for Union City's body parts.
He moved the GM operations from Detroit to Indiana, renamed the business Workhorse Custom Chassis, and structured it under Grand Vehicle Works LLC, the Highland Park holding company that also encompasses Union City. He promised that the new plant would be up and running within eight weeks, and it was — surprising even his supporters.
"It was a difficult time. It was 20 below zero, and I am not used to winter. It was stressful because we had to stick to the timelines I had promised," he says. "But that's what's exciting about business — doing things that people think cannot be done."
Margaret Littman
