One Client's Perspective: How Fulton Industries Is Building a World-Class Organization 
Universal Advisor, 2007 Issue No. 1

Fulton Industries Inc. is a custom-component manufacturer serving the heavy-duty truck, construction, agricultural, industrial, marine, power generation, and locomotive industries.  Headquartered in South Bend, Indiana, they employ 470 teammates in 5 locations throughout Indiana and Illinois.  Fulton Industries President John Razzano recently sat down with us to discuss his quest to become a world-class manufacturing organization and why creating the right corporate culture is the first step in that direction.

Fulton Industries strives to become a world-class manufacturing organization.  What does that mean to you?

It means that we can meet and exceed customer expectations for quality, delivery, pricing, and service. There’s nobody better — we’re among the best of the best in the world.

Plante & Moran recently conducted a study in tandem with Wayne State University regarding the strengths and weaknesses inherent in the Great Lakes Region. One of the strengths that was consistently cited was the caliber of our workforce. How important is having the right staff in the right positions in becoming a world-class organization?

To borrow a phrase from Jim Collins, having the right people in the right seats on the bus is absolutely critical. Everything happens through people; you can have sophisticated technology, but at the end of the day, world-class, superior-level performance is related to the people implementing that technology.

Why did you first contact Plante & Moran’s Organizational Development & Personnel Assessment (OD&PA) Group?

To get the right people in the right seats! There are two components to being successful in the global marketplace: a sound strategic plan and the right people to execute that plan. I’d been doing strategic planning for years, but after reading Jim Collins’s book, I determined I wasn’t putting enough emphasis on people. Steve Gravenkemper and I had extensive discussions to determine what made a good leader and came up with seven leadership competencies my leadership team needed to possess to propel us to the world-class level.

And what were those competencies?

Passion for excellence, champion for change, team player, innovation, resilience, persistence, and communication skills. We arrived at them slowly, over a four-month period of time. We then developed a leadership competency model and conducted assessment work based on those seven competencies.

What did you find most helpful about working with Plante & Moran’s OD&PA Group?

Their ability to facilitate the development of a leadership competency model and an assessment tool built around the model. I also appreciated their technical capabilities and ability to convert a concept and vision into a reality.

Did these results lead you to make changes within your management team?

Yes; Steve provided us with a color-coded chart that enabled us to see various staff members’ strengths and weaknesses in the various competencies at a glance. Green equaled strength; blue equaled meets criteria; yellow indicated needs development; and red signified needs significant development. In looking at the reds, I asked Steve what we could change. He responded that while certain competencies could be developed, others are hard-wired. Passion for excellence, for example —you either have that, or you don’t. It’s not a developable skill. In the end, we were faced with determining what was acceptable and what fell below the necessary threshold.

A number of changes occurred, and I’m pleased to say the new team in place is doing very well. There’s more energy, more commitment to excellence. And it’s not just talk; it’s backed up by action, which is crucial.

Do you feel you’re on your way to meeting your initial objective — to become a world-class organization?

Our vision is to get to the top of Mt. Everest. Why Mt. Everest? Because it’s the highest mountain in the world; it’s extremely difficult to achieve, but it’s achievable.

When you’re on an expedition going to Mt. Everest, everyone must be committed. All team members have their own assignments, and all assignments are essential for success. If one or two people decide, at 25,000 feet, that they don’t want to go any farther, the mission will fail. On the other hand, when everyone believes in a vision, and each person is occupying the right position on that climb, the sky’s the limit. I feel like we’re heading in the right direction.