Essex Industries: Vital Components for Life	Volume 55 Winter/Holiday 2003	Archives

	Keith Guller: Entrepreneur of the Year Finalist Congratulations to Essex Industries' President and CEO, Keith Guller, Finalist in Ernst & Young's 2003 Entrepreneur of the Year® program. Each year Ernst & Young presents its Entrepreneur Of The Year® awards to the most successful and innovative entrepreneurial business leaders in more than thirty countries around the globe. Nominees must be an owner/manager of a public or private company primarily responsible for his or her organization's recent performance and an active member of its top management. U.S. award recipients are selected in several categories in each of 37 regions by independent panels of judges comprising local business, financial, academic and media figures. Keith received honors in the Manufacturing category of the Missouri-Kansas Regional Program. Keith was recognized for Essex Industries, Inc.'s long history of growth and stability as well as its entrepreneurial spirit-a key to the company's success. Another key to Essex' achievements is a corporate culture of receptiveness and cooperation. Through employee surveys and idea exchange programs, employees are regularly called upon to assess the company and offer suggestions for improvement. Many organizations claim that their "people make the difference," but in Essex' case this is true in a very real and tangible way. Keith is proud to share this honor with all of the fine folks at Essex who have contributed to its success. back to top In a recent article in the Business section of STLTODAY.com, website of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, two generations of Gullers were given the opportunity to talk about the history and success of Essex Industries. Read on: Think Big, But Keeping it Small by Virginia Gilbert When Congress created the Small Business Administration 50 years ago, one of the agency's first duties was to make sure small businesses got a share of government business, especially defense contracts. A few months later, Essex Manufacturing Co. was among 18 local companies to win some of the first government contracts set aside for small firms. The company, now Essex Industries Inc. of St. Louis County, has grown from a handful of employees to more than 450, with four plants in the St. Louis area and one in Wilkes Barre, Pa. Sidney Guller, 80, chairman and chief financial officer, believes the small-business "set-asides" - government contracts designated for small businesses - "gave us an opportunity to compete in many arenas we couldn't have otherwise." Essex still makes products for military and commercial aircraft, as well as engineered products for aerospace, emergency medical, fluid power, home health-care, and for high performance automotive uses. "We're still a small business," Guller said. "We've had some success in bidding against large businesses for major contracts." Over the years, the set-aside programs have changed - fewer are devoted just to small businesses, and those must be shared with minority- and women-owned businesses. "We've found that in some product lines we build, we can compete with big business successfully, in price and service," Guller said. The company was founded by Guller's older brother, the late Harold Guller, and several associates in the basement of the Guller brothers' parents' home. "I was still in college," Sidney Guller said. "I did their accounting for them." The company began making components for McDonnell Aircraft, which became McDonnell Douglas Corp. and is now part of Boeing Co. McDonnell "was always a large customer of ours," Guller said, "but the government itself, on prime contracts for military supplies, is a larger customer." About half of Essex's revenue comes from government contracts, mostly for military hardware. In the early years, Essex used the set-asides to gamble on getting 100 percent of a contract, said Keith B. Guller, 50, chief executive and Harold Guller's son. Often half a contract would be set aside for small business, Keith Guller explained. "We knew we could get 50 percent at a minimum, as long as we met the standards and offered the lowest price. Then we could take the gamble that we could get 100 percent, where a larger business couldn't. It gave us a little bit of an edge, a little cockiness to say we can compete with these guys and not be underpriced." An early and enduring product has been the grip stick used by pilots to control a plane. Nearly every military airplane in use today has an Essex grip stick, Keith Guller said. But the government may buy only 35 to 50 F-18s a year, Sidney Guller said. That's not a lot of grip sticks. So Essex began in the 1980s to develop commercial applications for its products, especially the valves it developed to control liquid oxygen. Today, that technology is the basis for its cryogenics division, which makes oxygen delivery systems, and its home health-care division. "My father used to say we were beating swords back into plowshares," said Keith Guller. The company didn't give up its defense business, but, "We started expanding our focus," he said. The commercial side of the business is "more entrepreneurial," he said, more dependent on aggressively going after markets. Essex's relative smallness has helped keep it flexible, he said. A few years ago the company took a hard look at its divisions and products and restructured its administration and sales - without laying off anyone. "I assured everybody there would be no job losses," Guller said. He wanted division leaders to think about what was best for the company as a whole. "Otherwise, if we were all going to be protective of our jobs, I would have to meet by myself, and I'm not the sharpest knife in the drawer," Guller said. The result was "a finer focus on our core businesses," he said, and the creation of a medical division, which accounts for nearly all the company's commercial revenue. Essex has just about completed moving production of the medical products into a new facility in Shrewsbury. Excess capacity at its other plants will be used for new products. Each division "has found new development and opportunities," Guller said. What's next? "My wife says if I retire, she'll go out and get a job," joked Essex Chairman and CFO Sidney Guller. But he does plan to "release some of my duties to some people here." Keith Guller, who estimates he's worked at Essex for 30 years already, is concentrating on maintaining a workplace that encourages creativity. "Our size is an advantage," he said. "It gives us that David-and-Goliath approach. We can't take anything for granted." Copyright 2003 St. Louis Post Dispatch Reprinted with permission back to top Always SAFE, Always Present In September 2003 the SAFE Association presented its 41st Annual Symposium in Jacksonville, Florida. From the bottom of my heart, I appreciate all your contributions and efforts - the bake sales, raffles, the quilt... everything. Thank you." SAFE is a non-profit professional association dedicated to the preservation of human life. Encompassing government, military, industrial, and academic interests worldwide, SAFE is dedicated to ensuring personal safety and protection in land, sea, air and space environments. The organization began in 1956 as the Space and Flight Equipment Association. Essex has been involved with the organization since the 1970s. The Symposium provides an international forum for the exchange of technical information and features product/service exhibitions that showcase industry capabilities for meeting challenges in vehicular occupant protection and personnel-worn safety equipment. Attendance was up from last year, with an increase in the number of military personnel attending. Eight representatives from the Essex Aerospace & Defense Group attended this year's Symposium. They were: Bob Geisz, Dave Snyder, Steve Flynn, Phil Wratchford, Jerry Honse, Anna Thompson, Jim Phlipot and Roy Spaulding. "The Symposium offers the Essex Aerospace & Defense Group an opportunity to present new products, view what other companies are marketing and network with potential customers. Many of our customers from other parts of the world know they will have an opportunity to talk with Essex people personally at this event because we always have a presence," says Jerry Honse, Sales Engineer. "We have participated as an Exhibitor in every SAFE Symposium since 1976." SAFE and the Midwest Chapter always welcome new members. They are also seeking qualified individuals to present briefings or papers on subjects pertaining to safety and protection for the individual. If you are interested in receiving more information on SAFE, contact Jerry Honse, jerryh@essexind.com. back to top Donna Keller Designated Certified Purchasing Professional Donna Keller, Purchasing Manager/Inventory Manager for Essex PB&R, has recently been named a Certified Purchasing Professional by the American Purchasing Society. The certification recognizes Donna as a lifetime purchasing professional who reflects favorably on her profession and exhibits the highest level of ethical practices. The award is given based on an individual's training and credentials, professional reputation, years of relevant business experience and major purchasing responsibility. Individuals are considered for the award based on answers to a questionnaire distributed to their professional peers. Donna is responsible for purchasing all materials at Propellex and Essex PB&R and supervises a department of five. Our congratulations and our thanks go out to Donna for continuing the tradition of exceptional performance that is the standard among the people of Essex Industries, Inc. back to top		Back to Essex Industries Home Page Determination Leads to Success. Keith Guller: Entrepreneur of the Year Finalist Think Big, But Keeping it Small Always SAFE, Always Present Donna Keller Designated Certified Purchasing Professional SX Performance Teams Up with Edelbrock More Than Just a Smokehood Meritorious and Courageous Service Ode to Russ Ode