A World View Of Manufacturing: Q&A With Wayne Canty Of Heat Trace Products
Wayne Canty, Owner, President & CEO; Heat Trace Products, Leominster
His manufacturing firm may be small, but that doesn't stop Wayne Canty from doing big things in a global market. His company — which makes heat trace cables and accessories for freeze protection and process temperature maintenance for industrial, commercial and residential uses — has earned federal and state honors for its export efforts.
Earlier this year, Heat Trace was named a top exporter by the U.S. Commerce Department's official export promotion magazine. Is that where the bulk of your company's revenue opportunities lie in the short term?
Sixty-five percent of our revenues are currently from exports. That's grown significantly over the years. But you also have to factor in the decline in domestic sales with the recession. That's certainly added to the increase in international sales. But at the same time, we have been able to increase our presence in some of these emerging markets.
The manufacturing industry has been seeing a rebound of late. Are you seeing it?
Oh absolutely. But we're in a very unique position. It's not like we're making commodities. There's too much competition, not just domestically but overseas. With us it's a very unique product that we're offering and there are really only four large players that have a complete product offering in the world, one of the largest being Tyco. So, we're less threatened by other companies that could manufacture, even if they could reverse-engineer it.
What kind of global competition do you face and how do you stack up against it?
The two largest players (which includes Tyco) offer turn-key systems, so we're talking about from the design phase and creating the drawings and installation and after-market service — the whole boat. I have to partner up on projects … in the high-end (industrial) market either with (original equipment manufacturers) or people that can provide the turn-key services. So I can't play with the numbers as easily as a Tyco can. However, that's been one of our focuses, is to find partners we can work with and not just in the U.S. (but) throughout the world. And we're seeing more and more success there.
In a recent published report, you expressed concerns about the European market following a trip to Russia. How does Europe impact your company?
I'm no economist, although I like to play the games and outguess the pundits. But Europe is the largest customer of China. China will have its own economic problems internally. I don't think this kind of growth (in China) is sustainable indefinitely, but with the inaction of the European Central Bank … I don't know how else the Central Bank can help, other than to infuse money into that situation. (That will) create inflation and all of the evils and pitfalls that come with inflation. They've modeled this whole EU (European Union) — whether they're willing to admit that or not — after the U.S., and it's not the U.S. We don't have nationalism within the states. In Europe, Germany's doing just fine. They don't want to bail out Portugal, they're not going to want to bail out Italy and Spain and Greece. For what reason? And if they ever pull out of the EU, that pretty much in my mind makes the euro … collapse.
And China supports all of the Pacific Rim countries, which I do business with, as do others. So if China turns off the spigot (due to) European woes, all of these countries are going to feel a huge impact from that.
What does the manufacturing industry need from the U.S. education system in order to stay competitive?
I think education is the No. 1 business or industry in Massachusetts. I could be wrong but it's right up there. In Massachusetts, we do not focus enough, in my opinion, on vocational education, the trades, the technical jobs. We're focusing on the high-end market in our workforce … and really not preparing those with a different type of aptitude, which is critical.
Video
Read more
Q&A With Todd Breighner, CEO Of The Worcester Tornadoes
Q&A With Mary Ann O'Connor Of VNA Care Network & Hospice
Tailored Medicine: Q&A With Geert Cauwenbergh, RXi Pharmaceuticals Corp. President And CEO
Report Shows Optimism For Manufacturing In Mass.
Report Cites Manufacturing Growth In Mass.
Taking A Double Dose Of Change: Q&A With Dr. Michael F. Collins, Chancellor, UMass Medical School
Tyco Completes Separation Process
Juggling Priorities, 'Selling' Worcester
WBJ Web Partners
Most Recent
Most Recent
0 Comments