SI Systems: 50 Years of Solutions in Automated Materials Handling

SI Systems: 50 Years of Solutions in Automated Materials Handling

By Anne K. Richter, Contributor, Industrial Utility Vehicle Magazine

In 1958, a young engineer named L. Jack Bradt scraped together enough capital to purchase the small materials handling business that would become known as SI Handling Systems, Inc. Now celebrating its 50th anniversary, the Easton, Pennsylvania-based company (parent corporation, Paragon Technologies, Inc.), has become one of the most recognized and respected names in the automated materials handling industry.

Bill Casey, president and COO, has experienced the bulk of the company’s 50-year history, having joined SI Systems in February 1965. An industry veteran, Casey describes automated materials handling as “the type of work that gets in your blood.” This sentiment explains, perhaps, Casey’s active involvement in other industry organizations; most notably, a 25-year membership in the Conveyor Equipment Manufacturers Association (CEMA), during which he has acted as president and served on the organization’s Board of Directors.   

It’s been a long journey for Casey, who first joined SI as a draftsman before rotating through a number of different roles and lines of business that would eventually lead him to the position he occupies today.

“I’ve worked in pretty much every area of the business that you could think of…sales, marketing, project management, customer service…” Casey believes that it was a combination of this broad exposure to different parts of the company, in addition to his business education, that helped him develop his career at SI.

Just as Bill Casey’s history at SI Systems is a study in adaptability and dedication, so too is that of the company itself: SI’s success over the past half-century is due in large part to the organization’s willingness and ability to alter its strategy and business processes according to its unique strengths and to the changing needs of its customers.

One of the company’s first important milestones occurred in 1963 when it was first-to-market with the low-profile towline concept. Older towline models were expensive, difficult to install (due to the deeper profiles), and required constant lubrication of the wheels on the chains. SI’s new model was only three inches deep and more easily adaptable to existing buildings. It was a significant development within the materials handling industry, and SI reaped the rewards of its innovative concept, becoming the country’s biggest towline system supplier practically overnight.

The success of the low-profile towline set the stage for a general business strategy that would guide SI Systems through the latter half of the twentieth century. Casey describes it as a “history of developing unique, innovative technology for niche markets that no one either wants to – or knows how to – serve.”

It’s a strategy that has served the company well, but Casey admits that it’s not without its challenges. “Obviously it’s difficult when you’re facing the possibility that a new technology will come out that makes our technology obsolete in the niche market,” he says. “It’s more than just difficult…it can be devastating.” Within the automobile industry, for instance, SI created a market for itself with highly-accurate conveyor technology. Over time, however, robotic technology used in that same industry became more accurate and affordable – to the point where there was no longer a need for SI’s precision-type conveyors.

What has allowed SI to remain competitive in the face of such challenges, according to Casey, is the company’s ability to take these set-backs in stride and be creative in seeking out new opportunities. It’s this ability that has also made SI willing to re-evaluate its business model in order to better capitalize on its core strengths. Bill Casey cites an important example of just such a moment in SI’s history:

“In the past, our approach had always been to look for customers and industries where there was limited competition for our technology, and to find as many applications as possible for our technology within those same industries,” he explains. But it became evident to Casey and his colleagues that this approach would put SI’s future growth at risk when encountered with a shrinking demand for the company’s technology within a core market – something that was beginning to occur, Casey noticed, in the distribution center market.

“We had to recognize our strengths and weaknesses,” he says. “And one thing that was not a particularly strong point for us was developing new technology platforms.” Without a constant inflow of new technology to drive growth, SI would have to look to new markets for its existing technology: a strategic shift that occurred, amazingly enough, by mistake.  

It was 1997. “Harley-Davidson was soliciting proposals for an overhead conveyor system,” Casey remembers. At the time, SI was not actively involved in the vehicle assembly market – but by mistake (or perhaps fate) a proposal request landed on the company’s doorstep. “So we decided to come up with a new application for our towline conveyor,” Casey says.

The idea was not exactly what Harley-Davidson had envisioned: instead of an overhead conveyor, SI proposed providing a towline conveyor with carriers that would lift and lower the motorcycles to a height that was ergonomically-favorable to the operator. This design would enable operators to adjust the height and rotation as needed to perform all assembly operations.

Of all proposals Harley-Davidson received, SI was the only company to come up with an entirely different solution – but different, as it turns out, was better. Harley liked the idea of an ergonomic handling system. They also liked the fact that having the carriers on a towline would enable operators to walk around the motorcycles for full product accessibility during the assembly process.

Through the simple combination of existing technology and a clever idea, SI won the Harley-Davidson business and staked a place for itself in the vehicle assembly market. Following the successful introduction of the towline conveyor solution, SI has introduced other functionalities to improve the assembly process, including special R.F.I.D. tags that associate carriers with individual assembly stations, automatically adjusting the carrier depending on which operator is keyed in to a given station.

The Harley-Davidson story gave SI a new market for its technology, but perhaps more importantly, it provided SI with a clear understanding of its competitive edge in the automated materials handling industry: outstanding application engineering and project execution.

“Our guys are incredibly good at finding solutions,” Casey says. “We build the solution for the customer, and then we take the lead on systems integration.” Along these lines, SI now focuses on acquiring versus developing new technology, with an emphasis on acquisition of technology that requires a high degree of application engineering.

But while certain aspects of SI’s business strategy have changed over time, when it comes to customer relationships, SI’s philosophy is as old as the company itself. Customers are considered “lifelong partners and friends,” according to Casey, and are treated as such across all levels of the organization.

“We really make an effort to develop the personal relationships we have with our clients,” he states. It entails a “solutions-driven” approach that ensures a customer will be presented with the best possible solution for their needs.  Casey also emphasizes that SI is not afraid to build a solution that’s unique to each customer and, just as important, to keep it affordable to them.

For a company that places such an emphasis on “lifelong” customer relationships, it comes as no surprise that quality is paramount for SI. Its equipment is designed to last a long time, and is, as Casey describes it, “reliable, rugged, and virtually maintenance-free.” Quality and reliability are of the utmost importance to SI’s customers, a fact of which Casey is very mindful throughout all the company’s operations. “Our customers can’t afford to have machinery break down for even one hour,” he says. “…because one hour, to them, that can mean thousands of dollars in lost revenue.” 

SI shut down its manufacturing operations in 2003, a decision that reflected the company’s desire to focus on its key strengths. “We found that manufacturing was a capability of ours, but not a core competency,” Casey explains. Nevertheless, SI still maintains strict quality standards when it comes to manufacturing. The company is highly selective when it comes to choosing its fabricators, and works with local businesses in order to remain an active participant in the manufacturing processes.

In effect, Casey concludes, SI’s goal is to “keep customers in business” no matter what it takes. “We’re never late on an order,” he says. “And no matter what the situation, we will never, ever, walk away from a customer.” It’s a value proposition that strikes a strong chord with SI’s customers, and one that Casey attributes to the company’s founder, Jack Bradt.

Bradt, who retired from the Board of Directors in August 2007, spent nearly fifty years helping to build SI Systems into the successful business it is today. But arguably, his biggest success is that despite all the changes that have taken place – and regardless of those changes still to come – the company has always demonstrated the same unwavering commitment to meeting customer needs through ingenuity, creativity, and dedication to quality.

“Jack was a visionary, and his thumbprint is still on everything we do today,” Casey says. “He insisted on nothing but the best for every customer who walked through our doors.”