Best Places to Work: Focus on employees keeps Stockwell strong

PHILADELPHIA—If a company reaches 100 years in business, it must be doing something right.

Stockwell Elastomerics Inc.'s employees agree.

The firm turned 100 in August, and now also has been named one of Rubber & Plastics News' Best Places to Work for 2019 thanks to strong ratings from employees surveyed through Best Companies Group.

"It's very special," President William Stockwell said of the 100th year anniversary. "In our lobby, along the wall, we have a picture of the founder, who was my great grandfather, and his two sons and then my father and me. It's something I'm proud of and frankly it's also a weight of responsibility. We want to continue this business, and that's the fun thing actually."

The company, originally Stockwell Rubber Co., was founded in 1919 and—as to be expected from a 100-year-old firm—has seen significant change throughout its evolution. It had to adapt as major forces compelled change.

One of the biggest was its shift from a distribution model to finished rubber goods. Stockwell was one of the reasons the company exited the distribution side as business began declining in the middle Atlantic states. Manufacturing was shifting from Philadelphia to the Sun Belt.

"Being a distributor, you couldn't reach those markets," Stockwell said. "The only way we could reach out and retain our business, and grow business, outside of the Philadelphia region was to get into custom manufacturing. We developed some good applications that allowed us to keep business that was thousands of miles away. Thankfully it worked."

Fabricating and molding silicone rubber is now the firm's core competence as Stockwell looks to help solve problems in the business-to-business technology center.

Most recently, the firm's rapid response plan has allowed it to remain competitive in the Philadelphia area, as well as the rest of U.S., in the midst of production offshoring to China.

"We're working on applications that we wouldn't have dreamed of even 20 years ago," Stockwell said. "The business has really shifted to alternative energy, LED lighting and electrical inverters that go into wind and solar farms."

One thing that hasn't changed, however, is Stockwell's commitment to its employees and the Philadelphia region. Stockwell intends to leave the company to his employees after setting up an ESOP in 2017 and selling 30 percent of his ownership stake into the trust. He intends to scale up from there, develop a succession plan and eventually sell the remainder.

"I can't be here forever," Stockwell said. "There are no Stockwells behind me to come into the business. My goal is to have the company over time become a 100 percent ESOP company. That's going to require new leadership coming into the business and we're developing a process for eventually replacing me. These things don't happen quickly, they happen gradually."

Employees consistently cited in their responses that Stockwell is a place where people are empowered to do their jobs. Stockwell said his job is to provide that kind of environment and also provide support wherever the company may be thinnest until it can hire reinforcements to fill the gap.

There are a couple of ways Stockwell creates this supportive environment. The first is establishing a set 32 core fundamentals for the company and all its work force to embody—including Stockwell himself. Stockwell said every week an employee offers a heartfelt memo on the fundamental of the week and what that fundamental means to them. The memo is shared with everyone in the company.

Stockwell also makes sure that everyone understands how the products they're making impacts their customers by showing them where the end use will be. It allows employees to see that they're not just making a part, but rather helping to build an end product.

Most importantly, Stockwell said its imperative that the company has people who are willing to do the right thing.

"If anybody on the floor sees something that's wrong they can basically stop the job," he said. "We want to make sure people are empowered to stop the job and get another set of eyes on it. That's really important, especially when running a rapid response business. Sometimes the temptation is to ship it, but if there's a problem we want to hold back and make sure we're seeing what we're seeing here."