Handing Over the Keys to a Material Handling Distributorship
Share:
Albert Stohr Jr. gives some tips about succession planning at a caster company.
Dewitt, NY - The MHEDA Journal Online (http://www.TheMhedaJournal.org), is the leading online magazine for the forklift, conveyor, storage & handling, and general material handling equipment industries. As part of its continued commitment to highlighting the biggest and most important issues in the material handling industry, the site has a feature called "On the Edge" for discussing about hot-button industry issues. Albert Stohr Jr., a board member of Conveyer & Caster - Equipment For Industry, located in Cleveland, Ohio, wrote an article about his plan to pass the company down to his sons.
Albert Stohr Sr. started Conveyer & Caster in 1961. In 1963 he fell ill, and his son, Albert Stohr Jr., was forced to take over the company at the age of 23. Now, as the company enters its 50th year, Stohr Jr. offers some advice for succession planning in a material handling company.
"I'm a firm believer that you have to experience self-made success," says Stohr. "Nothing is more important; I feared that just hiring my sons and eventually giving them the business would lead, ultimately, to failure." Stohr decided that his sons, Jeff and Trevor, would have to graduate college and work successfully for another company for three to five years before he would hire them.
"When they joined the firm, I made it clear that they were just the same as everyone else. If they didn't pull their weight, they'd get fired," Stohr told them. "Sometimes it was hard, being a dad and a boss. I wanted to help them. As a father I should, but as a boss I shouldn't. It really tore me up sometimes but I'm glad I made the decisions that I did."
That hard-line strategy paid off and in 2003, Jeff and Trevor took over the company. To learn more, read the full article, titled "Handing Over the Keys," on The MHEDA Journal Online www.themhedajournal.org/index.php/2011/02/handing-over-the-keys/. The MHEDA Journal is published quarterly, in January, April, July and October. For more information, contact Chris Powers, editor of The MHEDA Journal, (315) 445-2347, e-mail: chris@datakey.org.
About MHEDA
Founded in 1954, the Material Handling Equipment Distributors Association (MHEDA) is the premier source for manufacturing knowledge, education and networking. Through its member journals (www.TheMhedaJournal.org), e-magazines, newsletters and industry wiki (www.wikimheda.org), MHEDA connects the manufacturers of storage & handling, lift trucks and conveyor equipment and distribution leaders for the purpose of delivering optimal solutions to the users of those products. MHEDA publications are the industry's voice for all matters related to the latest technology and the most up-to-date processes spanning the movement and storage of all materials. A 501(c)3 organization, MHEDA members span all of North America.
