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Vendor relations Alro tries to sustain long-term, win-win relationships with all its vendors. "As a distributor, you're a mirror of your vendor. We have 20,000 customers and we send out 20,000 statements a month. If the vendor lets us down, they let down a few thousand customers," he says. Alro strives to be a good customer, paying its vendors, on average, within 17 days in a 60-day payment cycle. It has also attempted to work with suppliers to cut costs, such as through vendor-managed inventory programs, but with mixed results. "We've found that a lot of mills are just getting into VMI. My perception is that the mills have been sort of antiquated in their thinking. That's one of the problems in our industry, the old culture. We have to realize we're working globally," Glick says. Alro hasn't used VMI with its own customers because their inventories and cost of possession have already been reduced as a result of Alro's just-in-time deliveries. Employee relations "The whole foundation for Alro is our people," Glick says. Decisions on planning, purchases of new inventory and equipment, and expansions are made with employee input from the bottom up. "We'll go into a branch and ask people, 'What can we do to make this successful? Do you need different equipment? What kinds of inventory do you need?' We listen to what they want." Glick cites a recent situation in Jackson in which, at the urging of an operator, the company decided to retain rather than retire an old burning machine upon installing a new one. "In talking with one of the operators, he said, 'You don't need to get rid of that. If you keep it for light material, it will do an excellent job.' So we will maintain that older machine, since we have a lot of jobs we can still put through it," Glick says. "Al gives us the vision of what we're supposed to accomplish, then he lets us go and do it. Day to day, we make the decisions as long as we've all bought into the vision," says Pete Savolidis, general manager of Alro's Tampa, Fla., branch. For example, he says, Tampa is in the very early stages of considering a facility expansion. "We're putting together the layout and involving every branch employee. We want their input on how they would set up the location, the best way for material to be stored and to flow through the building. You don't get that everywhere. [At another company,] the expansion would be done and you would be told to make it work," he says. Irving Rowen, sales manager for Alro Specialty Metals in Menomonee Falls, Wis., says that when Glick visits a plant, he talks to virtually every employee on site. "He doesn't point fingers if there's a problem. He never rants, raves or carries on. He never exerts his will. He will convey his thoughts, and he expects the problem to be remedied. It's a group mindset. It's never one man's total answer," Rowen says. Corporate has backed the branch's product line expansion to support supply contracts with customers, which necessitate more space and more cutting capacity, he continues. "There has never been an argument in this area," Rowen says. "If we feel we need it and show we have had inquiries, the company never says you can't do it. What they do say is, 'You need a new building? We'll add to it. You need new trucks? We'll give you new trucks. You need more saws? We'll give you additional saws.' They're very obliging. They make it easy for us." Management style Glick practically eschews job descriptions. He has four business cards with various titles, including "salesman." His role is to "understand the whole picture better than anybody else, to teach people to take advantage of my experience, to complement the sales force." He makes sales calls on customers, supports field sales managers and gets involved with purchasing. He is often featured in the company's training videos sent out to all locations, in which he stresses Alro's culture and mission. "My forte is being honest and saying what I think. I don't hold back," he says. "I talk about the culture of the company, which starts with integrity. If a customer has a problem and they call in, even if you didn't take the order, you take care of that customer. We cultivate teamwork, communications. Everything we do, we want to do in a positive way." Glick says he cannot forecast Alro Steel's future. "We never set goals; goals are limiting. We do the best we can every day." page 5 |