Demand for snow removal will grow
1 May, 2006 By: Ron Hall Landscape ManagementAndrew Outcalt, new president of Meyer Products, says the industry innovates even when snow is scarce.
Few us look at the snowplow as a high-tech tool. But new design and manufacturing processes indicate that high-tech is the name of the snowplow game, at least in the production of snow removal equipment.
Landscape Management interviewed Andrew "Andy" Outcalt, the new president of the Louis Berkman Winter Products Co., which includes Meyer Products LLC and Swenson Spreader LLC. The interview took place during a tour of the company's 265,000-sq.-ft. manufacturing facility in Cleveland in March. The day was sunny and unseasonably warm, just like much of a mild and unusually snow-free '05-'06 winter in the Mideast.
With or without snowy winters, Outcalt says demand for contracted and in-house snow removal will continue to grow.
"People's expectations for getting roads open and parking lots cleared are greater than ever before," he says. "Regardless if the snow is 1/2 inch, one inch, two inches or three inches, people are going to demand that it's plowed and salted."
To meet that demand, end-users will need great equipment.
"A snowplow is more sophisticated than just a moldboard and black iron," says Outcalt. "This industry is becoming more and more technology driven."
How, we ask?
He starts by describing the sophisticated 3-D software used to simulate the performance of plow designs in different snow conditions. Then, of course, there's the plant tour that includes stops at a state of the art Whitney Plasma-Punch laser-burn table to cut steel precisely and a new robotic welding cell. His company, has invested more than $3.0 million in capital upgrades within the past few years.
Outcalt was named president of The Louis Berkman Winter Products Co. (Meyer & Swenson Products LLC), on March 1, succeeding Robert Balogh, who retired after a 34-year-career with Meyer. Outcalt served as executive vice president for the company for three years. Before that he had been an executive with MTD Products, also based near Cleveland.
History to present
Meyer Products, which is believed to have about 30% of the U.S. snowplow market, has been a supplier to the snow and ice removal industry for 80 years. In fact, the company claims to have invented the snowplow as a result of Edward B. Meyer attaching a wooden moldboard to the front of his Buick in 1926 to clear his driveway. That success gave birth to the Meyer Auto Snow Plow Company, the precursor to the present company in Cleveland.
Outcalt is a "walk-around" manager. He's as comfortable on the shop floor talking with hourly workers as he is with management. He's no stranger to either the boardroom or the shop floor where the company continues in its multi-year program to update its manufacturing processes through Lean manufacturing techniques with an employee-team "cell" approach.
One of several beneficial results in the company's worker empowerment campaign was the implementation of a barcode system to allow for faster and more accurate inventory tracking. He says the company is now filling customers' orders in half the time it previously took.
"Our goal is to provide products with reliable overtime construction," says Outcalt. "A contractor might be out in a storm from 2 to 7 a.m. with 50 properties to plow out. They can't afford to be down."
Industry predictions
OK, so tell us about what you see for the snow and ice management industry in general, we ask?
"We see it being a strong business although there's no question it's seasonal and there are ups and downs," says Outcalt. He says that snow removal contractors can count on increased demand for their services because society is less and less tolerant of snow-covered roads, parking lots and walkways.
Better diagnostics
For product trends, Outcalt says that contractors want plows and other snow management equipment with better diagnostics that make it easier to use.
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