William Hickey - Metal Center News

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MCN Service Center Executive of the Yearyears to ensure that multiple lines aren’t down atthe same time.Such a slow process is OK with Hickey, for anumber of reasons. For starters, as a family-ownedbusiness, the company feels less pressure for immediatereturns on any investment. “I think it’s acompetitive advantage. There’s not some farawayoffice making the decisions. I want to make surethat 10 years from now we have the right set ofpeople, the right set of facilities, the right set ofassets and the right set of capabilities in place forour markets,” he says.MCN photo by Tim TriplettLapham-Hickey Steel was one of the first to invest in a stretch leveling linemade by Leveltek International, Benwood, W.Va., and Butech Bliss, Salem,Ohio, putting the company in good position to capitalize on the surgingdemand for memory-free, stay-flat steel. Above right, a technician checks astretched sheet for flatness. (Photo courtesy Lapham-Hickey Steel)who want their orders protected from the elements. Companytrucks also make daily runs to the branches in Minnesotaand Wisconsin, allowing all of them to share and effectivelyexpand their inventories. “It’s a game of chess,” Hickey saysof the mixing and matching of the different capabilities andproducts at each of the company’s operations. “But you’rerunning a portfolio of assets.”The company is constantly in search of ways to improvethe performance and reduce the costs associated with thoseassets. The 225,000-square-foot Chicago facility, the oldestin the system, is in the early stages of a major overhaul,where cranes will be replaced, the layout changed andbays renovated. The process will take place over severalFurthermore, it suits one of his chief managerialqualities: patience. In a business environmentwhere every decision needs to be made 15 minutesago, or so it seems, Hickey has no problempulling back on the reins and saying, “Wait.”“The cycle of business decisions has beencompressed substantially in the last 10 to 15 years,which I think is a detriment. A lot of decisions areforced, because there’s a perception you have toreply now. I think some great decisions are made because youthink about them for a day,” he says.“He’s always been deliberate in his decisions. Our philosophyhas always been that just because somebody else isdoing something doesn’t mean we have to jump on the bandwagon.We methodically look at the pros and cons,” saysHobson, who along with Piland and Executive Vice PresidentSteve Ford, serves with Hickey on Lapham-Hickey’sexecutive committee.The bigger the decision, the more voices Hickey will seekout. The company’s growth initiatives— whether opening anew location or adding a major piece of equipment such asthe one-of-a-kind combination Butech Bliss/Leveltek stretch36 ❘ Metal Center News — December 2012 www.metalcenternews.com
MCN Service Center Executive of the Yearleveler the company installed in Chicago—tend to be collaborativedecisions. “It’s a conversation between our managementgroup, the salespeople, the operations people, thepurchasing people,” Hickey says. “When you do a majorchange, you have to have more people giving you input.”While larger service center organizations have madeinquiries about buying the company, Lapham-Hickey hasopted to remain independent and family run. As an acquireritself, Hickey concedes there aren’t a lot of service centersthat are appropriate acquisition targets. Fortunately, buyingmarket share is not a necessity.“We’re growing our business. We’ll continueto grow in 2013 with existing capacityand existing facilities. There’s nobody puttinga gun to our heads saying we have to be twiceas big. We’re big enough now to participatein the marketplace, to get competitive pricingfrom producer industries. All we need to be is big enough fora competitive price,” he says.Perhaps the biggest challenge to any acquisition is findinga target, not with the right products or markets, but withthe right people. “The biggest problem in any industry ishaving good people to run your business,” Hickey says. “Ilook at some of the largest service center chains and wonderhow they found 50 good managers. This is a very difficultbusiness to manage properly because we’ve had so muchtransition in the last 10-12 years.”Yet Lapham-Hickey has been able to manage throughthe chaos. It’s done so by blending the traditional values establishedupon the company’s founding with an embrace ofnewer ideas and managerial techniques.Hickey recognizes the value in managing inventorylevels, but not at the expense of having material to sell. Heunderstands that the ups and downs of pricing are a fundamentalreality of the service center business, but doesn’t ruleout using some of the latest hedging mechanisms with customerswho are determined to get a more concrete price fora longer period.Perhaps nothing better exemplifiesthe Lapham-Hickeyapproach to the business thanthe company’s inventory managementsystem. The legacysystem has been continuallyupdated over the years. Whileshort on appearance—itsgreen screen format reveals itsage—it is long on functionality,with mountains of usefuldata at each user’s fingertips.Employing bar codes, the systemtracks each piece of metalevery step of the way from orderentry to loading the truck.The company has consideredupgrading to newer technology,but has yet to find softwarethat offers much better functionalitythan its homegrown system.One area of leadership that Hickeyemphasizes is his relationships withothers, both inside the building and out.It starts with treating people with respect.“That’s the duty and responsibilityof a manager, to make sure everyoneunderstands how their individual participation contributes ahuge part to the success of the organization,” he says.The company’s extended family includes the relativesand friends of current employees who make personal recommendations,which Hickey considers a source of pride.“It might make things more difficult when there’s a problem,but by and large these people are committed. It’s tellingwhen an employee says he’d like to have his family memberwork here. It says they believe this is a fine organization, anorganization with a future.”Bill Hickey demonstrateshis company’s homegrowncomputer system, which hesays provides managementand sales with up-to-theminuteinformation comparableto the latest off-theshelfsoftware products.(Photo by Marc Berlow)40 ❘ Metal Center News — December 2012 www.metalcenternews.com
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William Hickey - Metal Center News

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