Entrepreneurship and Manufacturing ~ Beyond the Bottom Line

(published The Bottom Line, February, 2018)

It was the mid-60s when my single working mother was hired by a start-up company, manufacturing a new wood product for housing and office construction. The young entrepreneur had opened a production mill in Harrisburg and needed a reliable and organized administrator who could keep the front office management on track while his product scaled off the charts. The product was “moulding” – the ornamental strip of wood along the top or bottom of a wall or round a door – and the company Mouldings, Inc. 

It is through Tom Rash and Mouldings Inc. that I reflect on and understand manufacturing to be the perfect blend of entrepreneurship, innovation, and family-oriented company culture.  

Besides providing good paying jobs that supported hundreds of local families, this young entrepreneur cared about his employees. Billie (mom) worked for Mr. Rash for some 8 years as his company grew by leaps and bounds opening new production sites and sales offices across the country. Mr. Rash didn’t just sign Billie’s paycheck. He ensured that personal family-oriented values were ingrained in his business culture. He valued her contribution, rewarded her work generously, and cared sincerely about her family –as he did for all his employees –  allowing her to prioritize piano recitals over regular business hours, provide for a comfortable home and special perks like picnics and horseback riding on his family ranch and swimming lessons for her and her daughter. 

For me, and I’m sure for many of you with similar experiences past and present, it is through this lens – a personal one indeed – that I appreciate the value of small and medium sized manufacturing companies, and their worth to families, community and the local economy. 

There are 565 private manufacturing companies in Lane County producing high value products for market. These range from textiles, apparel, food and beverage, computer products, printing, wood products, furniture, machinery, equipment, and so on. They are primarily small to medium sized companies (10 to 500 employees) with a total annual payroll of $175m and nearly 14,000 jobs, and at an average wage of $52,000 provide good earnings for local families.

It goes without saying that the health and well-being of our manufacturing sector is critical to our economy’s stability and growth. It is why the Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce stands behind manufacturing companies and why we resolve to reduce barriers to sustainability and growth – issues like a skilled and trained workforce gap, overly burdensome regulation and taxation, and public misperceptions about manufacturing today.

I’d love an opportunity today to sit down with Mr. Rash to inquire about those early days, how he started, how he did it, what kept him up at night, and most of all to thank him for building a company that provided good paying local jobs, and for caring. 

Instead, I have the next best thing – working with and on behalf of manufacturing companies of today – the innovators, entrepreneurs, owners, and employees – who face many of the same challenges and are committed to many of the same values.

I invite you to work with us and our regional partners on solutions that wrap-around the high value proposition of our manufacturing companies in Springfield, Eugene, and surrounding communities across Lane County.