According to Peplin, 2009 was a difficult year, but Talan’s fortunes began to turn in 2010 and 2011 looks to be a record sales year.  Part of this bounce back was fueled by the building maintenance market, but the largest driver contributing to Talan’s turn-around came from within.  Empowering employees to recommend shop floor changes created new efficiencies and reduced waste, which in turn, allowed company officials to control costs and re-capture lost market share. 

Talan also diversified its customer base, targetting growth areas like solar energy and LED lighting, to replace business lost in other market sectors.  Improving quality control has also played an instrumental role in Talan’s ability to remain profitable despite the challenges posed by a sluggish economy.  Peplin’s story of team-work, innovation, and vision as told by Shingler is a fascinating read, and it says much about one local manufacturing company’s ability to thrive in challenging times.  To read Shingler’s complete article, click here.

Below are some excerpts and a link to the webinar and transcript.

Given the truly global nature of today’s economy, the U.S. slowdown had serious impacts on businesses and nations around the world. Rapidly declining customer requests began to catch up with companies that had stocked inventory to meet previously high demand. Business leaders everywhere quickly found themselves pondering their companies’ futures and facing tough choices – such as which operational changes to make to help their companies survive.

In 2008 and 2009, Peplin’s progressive die metal stamping company was faced with a convergence of no sales, high-cost inventory and plummeting product value due to record-low commodity prices. The only thing to do was to explain the situation and ask for help. “It felt like we were looking into the abyss,” recalls Peplin. “When we called our vendors to ask if they were willing to work with us, to extend terms, they were concerned that we might go under, but that wasn’t an issue for us. We went into the recession with a very strong balance sheet, which helped us convince our suppliers that we weren’t going anywhere.”

Creative Strategies for Cash Flow

Peplin says that, in order to survive, his company had to become more proficient in commodities metals management. His progressive stamping company partnered with its materials suppliers to blend in spot market, low-cost metals with its existing contracts.

“We already had metal to stamp, so we had to negotiate extended deliveries on the high-priced material, and blend in some lower cost material to offset it,” Peplin says. “We asked for special terms. We also had to get people to believe in us, to know that we weren’t going anywhere – and to know that the situation was temporary until we could get back to some longer term business.”

To soften the blow, Peplin says that he pushed out the higher-priced materials, in some cases by an entire year. Because steel prices had dropped by about 65 percent, many Talan customers only wanted to pay the market price.

For the webinar and full transcript see www.pnc.com/manufacturers

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Talan Products is a progressive die metal stamping company based in Cleveland, OH.  Talan Products has the stamping machinery necessary to stamp high-volume orders of various metal products.  By utilizing progressive die stamping, Talan Products is capable of stamping parts requiring a complex series of bends and perforations.

Talan was the only Cleveland company to make the list in 2008. In 2009 Talan Products was joined by two other Cleveland based companies – Voss Industries and Tenable Protection Services. Over 5000 nominations were received nationwide. Talan’s growth rate of 177% over the past five years propelled it into the top rankings. “We were thrilled to win again,” said Steve Peplin, Talan CEO, who attended the two-day event in Boston. “We consider it a big deal. And it’s a great ‘Good News’ story for Cleveland. For Cleveland to have two other companies is a really good showing.” Overall, five winning companies represented Ohio.

The Weatherhead 100, developed in 1987,  identifies and honors the 100 fastest growing companies based on sales from 2004 through 2008. Companies must have had sales over $100,000 in 2004 and over $1 million in 2008. Additionally, winning companies must have employed a minimum of 16 full-time employees in 2008.

The Weatherhead 100 award is named for the internationally recognized Weatherhead School of Management at Case Western Reserve University. The school’s spirit of innovation has elevated its management programs to global prominence, earning Weatherhead a reputation as one of the most innovative business schools in the world.

The Weatherhead 100 is compiled and managed by Cleveland-based Council of Smaller Enterprises (COSE).