Shop Talk: Q&A With Robert Willett, Cognex Corp.
Photo/Christina H. Davis
Robert Willett, President and COO, Cognex Corp.
They take their corporate culture very seriously over at Natick-based Cognex Corp. Employees aren’t employees, they’re “cognoids,” and at lunchtime you’re guaranteed to see a game of ultimate Frisbee out in front of the building. That sense of fun traces back to the company’s founder Dr. Robert Shillman (known affectionately as Dr. Bob). Shillman, the company’s CEO, recently turned over some executive responsibility to Robert Willett, who is now president and chief operating officer of the company. The publicly traded company makes high-tech vision systems for reading product labels and bar codes. Willett joined the company in 2008 after a stint at Danaher Corp. and he received his promotion in January. Here, he talks about what drew him to Cognex and what lessons he’s learned to prepare him for his job.
>> How did someone who majored in literature at Brown end up in the high-tech manufacturing world?
I guess I’m a believer in a high quality broad education. I learned a lot about how to think and manage and communicate through that. Then I went into consulting, so I got a background in business and earned an MBA where I think I learned a lot of core skills that you end up using a lot in management.
>> What are your new responsibilities now that you are president and COO?
I used to be in charge of about 80 percent of Cognex, so I took on additional responsibilities managing another division in Cognex. In other words, I now have overall operating and day-to-day responsibility for the business.
>> Prior to coming to Cognex were you aware of the company?
Yes, Cognex was a company I had known for maybe 12 years or more and admired a lot. It was always a company of interest and then I met the founder. We got along well and he asked if I was interested in joining the company.
>> What was it about Cognex that you admire?
It’s a very creative and innovative kind of culture. It’s a very exciting and fun place to work. It’s also in a very fast-growing market. I find it fun to work in markets where there’s a lot of unmet needs. The market’s not mature, and I think that leads to a lot of growth opportunities for us, for our new products, for managers and for people who want to come into the industry. The industries I’ve worked in up until now were more mature.
>> Dr. Shillman is the founder of this company. To have a founder give you wide-ranging responsibility can be a lot of pressure. What’s that like?
I had a really great working relationship with my father who was an entrepreneur a lot like Dr. Bob. I think I really appreciate those leadership qualities in Dr. Bob. When I met him I understood that this was a man who I really would enjoy working with. That’s certainly proved to be true. I think some of my strengths are in managing, improving and empowering businesses to achieve more. It’s hard to match that creative quality and drive that an entrepreneur has. We have complementary qualities.
>> Do you have a nickname like Dr. Bob?
Not yet! Readers can send in their suggestions.
WEB ONLY>> What are the promising growth areas for Cognex?
One of the growth areas is IDs. Over time, bar codes are getting more and more complex. To read these complex bar codes you need vision because you need to image the whole area and capture the data in it. And Cognex, I think without doubt, is the best company in the world at reading these new bar codes. We're selling a lot of equipment into that space. A second area that we're focused on is an alliance that we have with Mitsubishi. We sell through their distribution channel in Japan. They have more than 1,000 sales people that we've trained over the last year to sell our products. What Mitsubishi likes about that is when we sell vision it pulls through a lot more of their products. It's a very good relationship.
WEB ONLY>> What challenges are there in running a global business such as Cognex?
I've been running global businesses for 13 years. The first thing you realize is that people want the same things. They want to work with a company that they respect and like, and they want to make a different and improve results. That applies in India, China, Japan. It's universal. Then, there are cultural differences about how one interacts, which are really important to understand. Recently at Cognex, I've learned a lot about doing business in Japan. It's really important there to build a sense of trust and quality with the people you work with. I think Cognex has been really accomplished at that.
WEB ONLY>> How has the recession impacted Cognex?
Our market, like a lot markets, certainly experienced a big downturn. We really saw it around November 2008. It was a steep decline and if you look at the result s of the competition, they experienced the same thing. We really saw the bottom of that in Q1 of last year. And the bottom in some international markets was probably more like Q2. Since then, we've seen a pretty good and strong recovery in the business climate.
>> What’s been the toughest management lesson that you have had to learn?
When difficult things happen, you have to get your arms around them fast and take action quickly even when it’s things that you don’t want to do. A classic example would be what we’ve all been through in the last year and a half. You have to realize that the top line, no matter what you do, is not going to keep going up. You have to address the cost situation. What I’ve certainly learned is that you have to move quickly and you have to make the cuts. If you do that and you communicate clearly to people so that they expect and understand what has to happen, they will respect you. If you wait and you don’t act strongly enough, it can really erode the confidence of the company.
Watch as President Robert Willett discusses what he most likes about his job:
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