Chapter 11: Up and Running

I watched as the first order to leave our plant was rolled onto a truck. The Toyota electric forklift silently moved the three pallets into the truck, then withdrew and returned to its shipping department stall. We had leased three electric units: a riding model for full pallets being lifted into our racking system, a stand up model for moving finished product from the shipping dock onto trucks, and a powered pallet mover to move work-in-progress and finished product around and off the plant floor. No noise, no marks on the new epoxy floor, and no fumes.

We took no chances and gave our first group of orders forty-eight hours to cure after lamination. After which, we slit them to the correct width and prepped them for shipment. All our tests confirmed we had excellent bonds. Our tests on some twenty-four hour cure times were showing good results as well. All the same, we decided to use the longer cure time as a guarantee of quality. We would only revert to the manufacturer's one day claim in an emergency. Even Fiona agreed with that.

I called Leo on Friday as promised, choosing two o'clock to give myself plenty of time to talk. Leo liked to communicate and no call to him was ever short.

"So how did your first week of production go?" he asked after we had finished with the preliminaries.

"Really good, Leo. We are up and running and producing good product. I'm waiting to hear from Fiona on our customers' reaction to it.

"That's a great feeling, isn't it?"

"You know it. I feel like I can start breathing again, as Bobby Lee would say."

"The reason I asked you to call was to discuss an opportunity with you."

"Fire away."

"You remember our conversation about lidding films, particularly for the new Keurig and Tassimo equipment?"

"Sure. It didn't fit. Web was too narrow for our slitters, we didn't have a good source of poly-coated foil, and not enough customers. Other than that, it was a great opportunity," I laughed.

"Yeah, that was then ... but this is now. I've have a line on a Mark Andy thirteen inch wide press, ten colour. A label printer in Winnipeg I know was talked into it by his sales manager. It was a mistake. He wants to sell it, but not in his market."

"I don't know much about Mark Andy presses, Leo, other than they're U.S. made and pretty much the standard of the paper and film label business. Are you thinking about the coffee lidding business again?"

"Yes. I'd like you and Mike to survey the market and see what the demand is. I'm thinking private label, of course. I'll leave it up to you to tell me if you think it's doable. Every time I see a store flyer or look around in one of the stores I see those machines for sale. The supermarkets are carrying the coffee for both systems. And more and more, I'm seeing smaller brand labels too. This might be an opportunity for you."

"Yeah, but what about the poly coated foil?"

"That's what got me thinking again. The European supplier of the stock is putting inventory into Toronto, including the mini filters. Apparently Tim Horton's is going Tassimo while Starbucks is going Keurig. The supplier will stock one or two sizes only and slit to order. That would solve a big part of our problem."

"Is Ralph on board with this?"

"Yes ... as far as the press goes, he's okay with the equipment. He's examined the specs and looked at both products and says the press will handle it."

"Okay, then, let me turn our best sales person loose on this. We'll get some information ASAP."

"Let me guess ... that would be Ms. Alexander."

"You got it in one. I'll do some work on it too. I know several of the roasters in the Bay area. They'll give me good information."

"Good. If it makes sense, I'll get Ralph to look at slitters and go see the press for himself. Let's not make any promises yet."

"I understand. Don't worry. After all, who talked you out of that Soloflex press five years ago?"

"Don't remind me," he laughed. "I'm still living that down."

"By the way, have you given any thought to a new slitter for here? The ones we inherited are not very fast. We'll run out of capacity if we keep going like we are. Fiona pulled in four new accounts this week."

"Let me talk to Dave and Ralph. It's not a huge expenditure, but I've got to watch our cash flow. Growth doesn't come cheap, but I don't want to choke you down. Are you going to two shifts soon?"

"How does next week sound," I bragged. "We have enough business coming from you and from our customer base to justify it."

"That's terrific, Andy. Just what I needed to hear. I'm really proud of what you're accomplishing."

"You and Ralph and Dave found me some good people. I just cut them loose and let them do their jobs."

"Yeah ... sure," he said.

I sat back in my chair as I hung up. It was going better than I had hoped. I wondered when the first crisis would crop up. There always would be one to test us. It was part of the business.

I looked at my watch. It was just past three-thirty and I was running out of energy. The past three months had been full of tension and trial. Finding the right people, installing new equipment, training employees, finding new business, and making marketable product. Yeah, I was running out of energy.

I could hear Fiona's voice coming from the customer service area. It was mixed with laughter, so I didn't anticipate a problem. I pushed myself out of my big leather chair and headed for the source of the voices.

"It's good to hear laughter in this place," I said as I sauntered up to the ladies who looked after processing and scheduling orders.

"You expected crying?" Sandra teased. "We're back in business. Do you have any idea how good that feels?"

"Oh yeah, don't worry, I know exactly how good that feels," I assured them.

"I think Mr. Big Shot general manager should take us girls out for a drink to celebrate," Fiona said, poking my sleeve with her finger.

"Ooooh, the sales babe is getting personal with the boss," Myra Ramirez teased.

"Like that's a surprise," Donna added.

"He's all mine," Fiona announced, wrapping her arm in mine. "I found him first."

The produced some genuine laughter at my expense. I was sure I was red-faced.

"Okay," I surrendered. "One drink on the boss at Hernando's Hideaway."

"Would it be okay if we invited Bobby Lee and Wick?" Fiona asked.

"I don't see why not, since they are going to make us all famous," I smiled.

Sandra got on the phone and paged the two men. It took a few minutes before they answered.

I was sitting on the edge of Donna's desk chatting with the women and mentioning how pleased Leo was with our progress. That brought smiles from them, naturally. I didn't hear the conversations Sandra had when the phones rang, but she came over to our group smiling.

"They'll meet us there just after five. We can save them a couple of seats."

"Bobby Lee might need a couple of seats himself," Myra laughed. She was a diminutive middle-aged Hispanic woman, barely five foot tall, and in awe of Bobby Lee Turpin.

"I think Wick is more your size," Donna teased.

"True, but I can dream, can't I?"

That brought about general laughter. It was harmless fun. Myra was happily married to a successful local business owner and had four teenagers to feed. She made it plenty clear that she had all she ever wanted in her life.

"I have an assignment for you," I announced as Fiona and I were doing the supper dishes. Tina was nearby, putting the dishes away as I dried them.

"What's that?" Fiona asked.

"Do you know what a Keurig or a Tassimo machine is?"

"Of course. I almost bought one a while ago."

"I need to survey the coffee market to see if there's an opportunity for us to produce the lidding material. Our survey of the retail stores says it's a strong private label market. Lots of regional brands mixed in with the big boys."