BLOY: An academician aces the real world
There’s nothing theoretical about the expanse of welding stations, room-size laser cutting devices and crews of metal workers turning out components of all shapes and sizes for customers worldwide at Fabrico Inc. in Oxford. And company President Ann Gray couldn’t be happier about it.
Gray was looking to be in the manufacturing trenches after leaving a seven-year teaching spot at Harvard Business School in 1999. She took the helm at Fabrico in 2001 and says she has felt the thrill "almost every day" since of doing what she always wanted to do: Solving real-world problems, implementing new ideas and creating opportunities for people.
Since acquiring Fabrico with partner and company CEO Bill Rose six years ago, Gray has helped grow the company from 55 to 128 employees and between $20 million and $30 million in revenue. She overcame the effects of an industry-wide post-9-11 and post-Enron slump in 2003, and oversaw the construction of a new facility that opened last fall, doubling the company’s space to 80,000 square feet. Fabrico’s business has probably doubled since 2001, Gray says. But profits have increased more slowly because of price pressure in the increasingly competitive and global metal products market.
Gray admits she has faced quite a learning curve at Fabrico. But, she says, "If people trust you and they believe generally that you’re competent, you can do a lot." It’s also important, she says, to "treat people with respect" and "to not be afraid to show what you don’t know."
No ivory tower leader
Colleagues, customers and employees praise Gray’s directness and practical approach to leadership. Rose, an organic chemist and a veteran of the computer industry, describes her as a "hardcore, real-life, these-are-the-facts thinker."
Rose says Gray is "not an in-your-face leader; it’s ‘Okay, what is the problem? What are the ways to fix the problem?’" Her "longest suit," he says, is her honesty.
Patrick Mullane, vice president of corporate development at Fabrico, who got his MBA at Harvard before coming to Fabrico in 2005, says he was frankly skeptical of working for a former Harvard professor when an Air Force buddy put him in touch with Gray. He wasn’t too sure how good such an academician would be in the real world. "Ann has blown those stereotypes away," Mullane says. "She knows what she doesn’t know. She doesn’t stomp around the place acting like she has all the answers."
Mullane, whose main focus is seeking out acquisitions for the company, says Gray has a good rapport with workers and is a steady leader.
David Carlstrom, CEO of Westboro-based Carlstrom Pressed Metal, a Fabrico customer, gives Gray credit from making a successful transition from Harvard to Fabrico. "Running a small company – it’s everything they don’t tell you in business school," he says. Carlstrom, which specializes in stamped metal, uses Fabrico for specialized metal bending jobs and turns to its engineering expertise for problem solving.
Low key but "laser focused" is how Bob Baker, president of the Small Business Association of New England, characterizes Gray, who he knows from various business functions. Baker terms Gray "one of those rare breeds. She’s smart as a whip and approachable and able to quietly get things done...You don’t have to tell her twice; if there’s an opportunity she moves on it," he says.
As for her own view, Gray says she still has to work on seeing the big picture. Her greatest strengths, she says, are her enthusiasm for her company and not taking herself too seriously. On the other hand, she says she sometimes "overthinks things" and doesn’t take action quick enough.
The right company
Gray’s and Rose’s acquisition of Fabrico was no chance transaction. The two spent months calling business brokers, bankers and accountants and networking at business functions to find the right company.
To Gray’s consternation, Rose likes to say they were looking for a company that was "dirty, dull and dangerous" to take in a new direction when they bought Fabrico. Gray prefers to say they were looking for a successful manufacturer on the cusp of a transition, one that would benefit from her and Rose’s expertise on quality, costs and delivery improvements. Since two of Fabrico’s three founders were looking to retire and it had good growth potential and was profitable, it fit the bill.
Rose had a relationship with a venture capital company that focused on manufacturing and Gray’s Harvard connections helped seal the deal, the financial details of which they won’t disclose. They drew lots to see who would be president and who would be CEO, Gray recalls.
Once at the helm of Fabrico – which provides precision metal products to Fortune 50 companies in the power, paper, aerospace and turbine industries – Gray says they found the company was "a peach" and not a "lemon." Its workforce was skilled and had a good work ethic. Its culture was focused on customer service. But the 15-year-old company was closely run by its founders who kept most of the knowledge of operations in their heads. Gray and Rose set out to establish processes and a management structure to allow it to grow.
Shortly after they took the reins, however, disaster struck the industry. First came 9-11. Then the Enron scandal set the power industry on its heels. Fabrico’s sales dropped by 35 percent. Gray’s quest for real-life challenges got even more real when electronic auctions – in which customers could screen vendors via the Internet – cranked up the global competition in the metal fabrication industry.
| Vital stats: |
Ann Gray
Age: 42
Residence: W. Brookfield and McLean, VA
Family: Married, two children ages 7 and 11
Education: PhD in Operations Management from Simon Graduate School of Business Administration, University of Rochester, 1992; BS degree in Industrial and Operations Engineering, University of Michigan, 1985
Gray and Rose decided not to lay off any workers. Instead they cut hours and refocused the company from new equipment orders to replacement parts. They decided that, instead of paring back, the company would beef up its engineering, hone its service focus and improve delivery times and responsiveness. They turned the company revenues around within two years and had a 50 percent sales increase in 2005. Gray says Fabrico expects to grow by 15-to-20 percent in 2007 and over the next several years.In the thick of the metal industry downturn, Gray and Rose took on another company. They recruited other partners to acquire Westminster-based Ranor Inc., which does large metal fabrication jobs and machine assemblies. Ranor was in Chapter 11 bankruptcy at the time. The investment team turned the company around, operated it for three and a half years and sold it in 2005.
Also in 2003, Fabrico formed Fabrico International, a joint venture with consultants China Business Solutions of Worcester. The Shanghai-based company helps mid-size firms market product and do sourcing in China. It only has a handful of employees and some six customers, Gray says, and is still in the development stage. Gray did not manage either company, saying she knows her limitations.
The challenges continues
Gray says those first few years at Fabrico were a time of "high personal growth" for her. Now, metal fabrication industry faces a changed global market where customers are much more demanding and price-conscious. Gray spends a lot of time cultivating customers and understanding their needs. But the most important challenge, is hiring, developing and keeping good employees.
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Gray can’t say where she’ll be in five or 10 years. "That’s part of the excitement," she says. But you’re more likely to find her exchanging ideas on the factory floor than pontificating in a lecture hall.
It’s not that Gray regrets her time at Harvard. In fact, she says, it was a "phenomenal experience." She found the research on doing business in China interesting and liked teaching. It’s just that she wanted to take a more active role in the business world, she says. And, she admits, she struggled with the academic requirement that she publish regularly. Since she didn’t, Gray says she knew she was unlikely to advance beyond assistant professor.
Gray says the tangible world of manufacturing better suits her. "You make a good product or you don’t. Revenue is up or it’s not," she explains. She prefers the directness of the people in industry. "I’d much rather spend time with factory people than in a board room."
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