by Joe Romanowski
Chairman & CEO
Machinery Systems, Inc.

Sloan Valve www.sloanvalve.com in Franklin Park, IL is a rare company.  They have managed to survive, grow and prosper in the American free-enterprise, capitalistic system as a family owned U.S. manufacturing company for 100 years.  They have beat incredible odds to now have solid 4th generation management in place.

I always prepare a list of questions before I interview for a MS"eye"Watch article.  While I had an extensive list of questions for this company founded in 1906, there was one I couldn’t wait to ask, “Why does Sloan Valve continue to manufacture in the U.S.?”  Their parts are generally high volume, brass and could be easily transferable to any low labor country, but on my way to that answer, I learned about the core values of the company and its owners, the Allen family.

As I absorbed their values, it became evident why they have managed to prosper as a private company for 100 years.  The more I heard from Chuck Allen, President, (video link) and his son, Kirk (his other two sons, Jim and Graham, were out of town), the more I understood that their commitment to the families of their 1,000 employees has been a huge part of their legacy.  As Chuck pointed out, “Many of our employee families also have third and fourth generation members with Sloan.  We owe them the opportunity to earn a living at Sloan Valve.  We believe that they will return our loyalty.  We believe there’s mutual commitment within the organization.”

Chuck continued, "We have a corporate strategy that is focused on our customers.  We believe that we can provide them with a quality product, delivered on time, at a competitive price and that we can do that best if the product is built in our Chicago plant.

Our design engineers can work closely with our manufacturing engineers and with the professional team members on our shop floor.  In addition, we search out the very best manufacturing technology to bring to our plant.  With our products designed for manufacturability, our volumes, a strong team of vendors and our committed workforce, we are a formidable competitor.

In those unique situations where the low labor rates available in Asia are required to compete, we can access these resources just like everyone else.  We are active throughout Asia, but honestly, we look at that area more as a growing market for our products than a resource for our components."

Sloan is a "man's" company because of their most famous product — the urinal flush valve.  I suggested to Chuck that the common dominator in their business is the movement and control of water.  He abruptly stopped me with, “No, we’re in the business of handling human waste and providing a pleasant public restroom experience.”  Chuck also pointed out that “it’s not just water any more because we distribute water free urinals and restroom consumables."

As I listened, I quickly realized that a major part of the Sloan culture is continuous process improvement and a level of customer intimacy that you rarely find at the top of a large company.  Recently, Chuck was asked by their bank to play golf at a prestigious east coast golf club.  As Chuck was passing through the men’s room, he noticed a maintenance man working on a Sloan flush valve.  He asked the fellow what was the problem?   He said the valve wasn't flushing and diagnosed the problem as the electronic solenoid.  Chuck quickly explained how the valve worked and then proceeded to take it apart.  As it turned out it was not the solenoid that failed.  Chuck diagnosed the problem as a clogged filter.  He cleaned the filter and then reassembled the valve. The maintenance guy was shocked to learn that the President of Sloan just repaired his own valve.  Chuck summed up this story with a confident, “I know how my products work.”  Also, Chuck is easily accessible to customers and suppliers. Better yet, I could feel this friendly, helpful, open attitude everywhere.  I now understand why Sloan Valve has earned a dominant market share with their flush valves!

Chuck then introduced me to John Wilson, Development Engineer in Design Engineering.  I immediately gave John the title “Sloan Inventor,” because his desk and lab looked like a "skunk works" with the walls loaded with hundreds of “patent” plaques (John has 20 of them). It was obvious to me that product development and improvement is an extremely high Sloan priority.  As Chuck walked around the lab he randomly picked up different projects and explained them to me.  Chuck further explained, “A core Sloan philosophy is active, aggressive new product development.  It is the life blood of our company.”

Back to my original question, why does Sloan continue to manufacture in the U.S.?  “There are many hidden costs with overseas manufacturing," Chuck explained.  "You have to depend on others to manage quality and resolve problems.  We have to work hard on managing problems right outside our lab and engineering doors.  Can you imagine how difficult it would be ten thousand miles away... and then there are inventory pipeline costs.  It takes a long time to catch a bad part.  Your inventory pipeline could be plugged with them.  If we make a mistake on our Franklin Park shop floor, it’s caught within hours as opposed to days and weeks, and finally, our shop floor is Just in Time (JIT). This gives us the competitive advantage to service and respond to our customers faster than anyone else.”  Chuck continued, “We have competitors that, as a rule, chase cheap labor costs all over the world, first Thailand and now China.  When the focus of your business is to chase cheap labor costs that becomes your business.  Our focus is to quickly conceive, design and implement new products that always work and help our customers eliminate cost and have their users participate in a pleasant restroom experience.  At the same time, our manufacturing engineering department is constantly challenged to reduce our costs by designing our products so they can be manufactured more efficiently."

I see Sloan Valve as a role model of a wonderful U.S. manufacturing company.  It seems easy to move production offshore, but Sloan Valve proves everyday that with some hard work and clear thinking it can be cost effective to manufacture in the U.S.  I would like to conclude with my congratulations to Chuck Allen, his family and company for 100 years of product, business and manufacturing success in the U.S.  I am proud to know you and have Sloan Valve as a high tech Machinery Systems / Mazak customer.