CEO hits milestone at family-owned machinery firm

PIQUA, Ohio—Fifty years is a long time to stay at any one company, but Daniel French hasn't worked just anywhere.

As CEO, French now has been with the family-owned French Oil Mill Machinery Co. in Piqua for a half century, working his way up from the shop floor.

And while the 77-year-old continues to lead the company that makes machinery for the rubber industry, he does allow that the family's third generation of leadership soon will give way to a fourth.

French Oil was started 121 years ago by the CEO's grandfather, Alfred French Sr. And you guessed it, the original business made machinery to extract vegetable oil from seeds and nuts.

An expansion into rubber-related machinery came in the 1950s and 1960s with the growing popularity of synthetic rubber. These days, the rubber business represents the majority of business for French Oil Mill Machinery.

Rubber mixers, screw presses and hydraulic presses all are key products made in Piqua for the rubber industry.

While French has spent most of his adult life at the family company, that was not always a given.

As a teen, he spent summers doing what teens often do while working in the family business, dipping his toes into the water. But after college graduation, French decided to take a different path, enlisting in the U.S. Air Force, where he spent five years, including time in Vietnam. That experience, he said, taught him lessons he never would have been able to learn in Piqua. These experiences inform him to this day.

Willing to serve
French has no doubt he could have received a military deferment, but joining the Air Force provided new experiences and opportunities that allowed him to grow. "I got a lot out of it, I learned a lot, much of it I could bring back to the French Oil Mill Machinery Co. and apply there. It just worked out really well all around," he said.

The CEO valued his time in the military so much that he joined the Air Force Reserves and stayed another 23 years before retiring as a lieutenant colonel in 1994.

"I spent five years active duty with the Air Force, including time in Vietnam and other Southeast Asia locations. Almost everything that happened to me in the service was a pretty good learning experience. I feel really good about my time in the military," French said.

"I was sent to Vietnam to install computers and they didn't arrive. So then word got around that I knew something about guerrilla war and intelligence, so I (taught) that for a while and helped plan missions and that kind of thing."

Seeing active duty overseas also gave French some added perspective when it came to his business career.

"When I'm faced with a problem, the first thing I go through in my mind (is) 'What's the worst thing that could happen in this situation?' And ever since I've left the military the worst thing that could happen nobody is going to die. That wasn't true in the military," he said.

Keeping business challenges in perspective allows him to search for solutions while also aligning his company on the side of his customers, French explained.

"Think of the first thing most people think of when a salesman goes to call on a customer. The customer is on one side of the desk and the salesman is on the other side. And the salesman is trying to sell them something," he said. "That may or may not be what the customer wants. It may not be what the customer needs."

So French likes to think of his company as being on the same side of the desk with his customers.

"Rather than work against each other, which is the common picture, why don't you work together and serve the customer's problem? That seems to work a whole lot better. I go into a customer and say, 'How can we help you make more money?' And when you phrase it that way, they usually are interested to listen to what you have to say," he said.

But French was not always the guy sitting at the desk.

Becoming a full-time employee meant he held a series of jobs that provided exposure to the entire business operation in preparation of eventually taking over the reins from his father.

His first job was far from glamorous, but certainly vital.

"That's kind of funny in hindsight," he said when asked about his job when he first returned. "The thing I'm doing is I'm wearing my combat boots and blue jeans and I'm running a milling machine. And I'm thinking to myself from time to time, 'It's 10ºF out there and I'm standing here getting dirty. Not too long ago I was in Hawaii and 80 degrees and in charge."

"I learned the manufacturing business from the ground up, the things I hadn't learned when I worked there as a kid," he said. From there he gained experience in areas such as management, work flow, assembly and costs.

Word of thanks
To recognize French's half-century involvement with the company, U.S. Rep. Warren Davidson visited French Oil Mill Machinery earlier this year and presented him with a framed copy of remarks he made in the Congressional Record.

"This manufacturing company has been a staple in Miami County for 121 years. It was founded by Dan's grandfather. From being a machine tool operator to eventually president, chairman and CEO, for half a century, Dan's efforts have improved the lives of employees, colleagues, neighbors and fellow Ohioans," Davidson said in the remarks.

The congressman also pointed to French's contributions in both the business world and the community.

"The enterprise has experienced great success under Dan's stewardship. Every expansion and hiring campaign has blessed the city of Piqua with jobs and commercial investment," Davidson said. "Southwest Ohio is a better place thanks to people like Dan French."

For 31 years, between 1982 and 2013, French led the company while holding the title of president, before promoting Jason McDaniel into that role. Since then, he has continued to lead, but as CEO. That's a title he hopes to soon pass to his daughter, Tayte French-Lutz.

Having your name on the company, he said, brings certain benefits and challenges.

"Being in charge of a family business is a wonderful sense of legacy and continuity. But frankly, it's also a burden. You don't want to let the family down," he said. "The burden of the legacy of the family business is there can be both a burden and a reward depending on what happens. These days, things are good, so it's a reward."

French figures to spend a couple more years or so as leader before stepping down as CEO. But don't try to pin him down to an exact date.

"My daughter asks me the same question from time to time," he joked. And so does his wife.

"I don't have an exact answer to that. I'm not working as hard as I used to by any means. … So I'm kind of comfortable doing what I'm doing. But a couple more years of doing what I'm doing will probably be sufficient," French said.

He looks forward to having even more time to devote to his community involvement. "Giving back to the community gives me a great deal of satisfaction and pride. I like to make things better," he said.

Shifting more focus to interests outside of the company also will provide the room for his daughter to make her mark, he said.

French Oil Mill Machinery makes equipment. But the business is really not about that, the CEO said.

"In the biggest sense of the word, our company helps people lead better lives. That's a big statement," he said.

The CEO, however, means what he says.

French Oil Mill Machinery machines help improve processes for rubber and oil that ultimately impact people through what they eat or what products they use, he said.

"I'm proud of our company's reputation in the marketplace. We're honest with customers. We try to work as partners with our customers," he said.