The early 1990s was a bad time to be a 50ish senior-level manager, as Alec Dawson discovered. Fortunately, he had a backup plan. For the better part of 18 years, Dawson and his family had lived in Scotland, where he ran the manufacturing operations for Veeder-Root, a mechanical gasoline pump pads producer. It was a successful living. But in 1990, Dawson got caught in the wave of layoffs that pummeled corporate America. And like many of his contemporaries, Dawson found himself in an unfamiliar place: the job market.
He had little luck. He sent out 3,000 resumes, which led to six interviews. Nothing panned out. Then, he decided to start his own business. He and his son Bruce looked at everything from car washes to funeral homes to art galleries. Soon, however, he realized that he would be best off with a local manufacturing operation, something that could be a family business, someplace close to their Westport, Mass., home.
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That’s when Central Tools Inc., of Cranston, became an attractive option. With the help of a Boston broker, the Dawsons bought Central Tools for $1.6 million in October of 1992. The company, which produces precision measuring tools for the automotive industry and had once controlled 90 percent of the local automotive after-market, had seen its market share dip. Its owner, Doug Moody, had decided to move on.
Central has made a turnaround since. Sales have shot up from $3.8 million to $8.5 million. It has added a fluorescent lighting division. And market share is coming back, up to about 70 or 80 percent, Bruce Dawson said.
“The market share had eroded,” he said. “We’ve rebounded some.”
The rebound started with an attitude change. While the company had previously been sourcing out its production, the Dawsons made a commitment to make everything at its 456 Wellington Ave. location.
“A lot of what we did was changing the attitude and opening things up,” Dawson said.
The company sells its products — gauges for measuring drums and rotors, for example — to distributors who sell to automotive wholesalers. Its major clients include Snap-On Tools and Midas. It makes 300 different measuring tools and lights. Originally, around 1915, the company produced dental tools and micrometers. In the 1940s and 1950s it began to focus on the automotive industry. In 1977, it ended its industrial business and focused entirely on measuring tools.
One of the biggest changes was a new management philosophy. The Dawsons opened the books, and started a profit-sharing plan by which a threshold base of sales and a net profit figure are established. If those goals are reached, anything above those figures is split between workers and the company. Employees are trained on company time about the basics of income statements and balance sheets.
“It’s a fair thing to do for employees,” Bruce Dawson said. “Shared benefit is going to help you run the company better.”
The Dawsons’ style is among the most effective for manufacturers nationwide, noted Nicholas R. DeRosa, an account executive with the Rhode Island Economic Development Corp., which assisted Central Tools in
procuring a training grant and a small business loan.
“I’ve never ceased to be surprised by how motivated people are in that plant,” DeRosa said, noting that he has visited manufacturers around the country. “There are a handful (of companies) you go into that are run as openly as Central Tools. I think it’s part of Alec’s success.”
Bruce and Alec Dawson have developed a system to serve clients. Their style is hands-on. Bruce — who has an MBA from Bryant College and worked in the insurance industry before joining his father — said he does a lot of “support marketing,” attending the trade shows of clients and getting to know them.
“You get to know the customers,” he said. “And they get to know you. You’re not just calling them blind.”
The company is now hiring in its assembly division. Applicants are interviewed and given a series of tests, including math, spatial concepts, and dexterity to determine their aptness for the position. Once hired the management training begins. The company has 60 employees, Dawson said.
The experience has been an education for him as well. Though he grew up in a family that was part of the manufacturing industry, Dawson said he has learned most about manufacturing here. He is also learning the marketing end of the business. And he is now getting some help from his
