SBA recognizes Mike Suth as Indiana Small Business Person of the Year.
by Jerry Davich
Regardless of topic surrounding his family's award-winning, third-generation business, Greg Suth always springs back to his father. “My dad was never afraid to roll up his sleeves and work next to his employees, grinding, deburring and inspecting our products,” Suth says proudly. “He'd remind us that to be successful in business today, you have to know your product inside and out and the best way to learn about your product is to be close to those producing it.
“My dad would remind us to spend less time on our computers and more time on the shop floor, as there is no substitute for hands-on experience,” Suth says. “And he'd always tell us all how great a feeling it was to make a customer happy.”
And on it goes, story after story about his father, Mike Suth (pronounced like “tooth”), CEO of Hoosier Spring Co. Inc. The South Bend company, with $14 million in annual revenue, is a leading manufacturer of compression springs. It specializes in the manufacture, heat treatment and inspection of precision springs and wire forms for hundreds of top aerospace, military, nuclear and industrial companies around the world.
What began in 1954 in the basement of a relative's home with seven employees and a bottomless bucket of old-fashioned elbow grease eventually led to a workforce of 88 highly trained employees in a state-of the-art manufacturing facility. Over the past six decades, the Suth family penned its own chapter for any book on the American Dream.
“It all goes back to my dad and his dad and his uncles,” says Greg Suth, 45, who serves as company president.
The personal and professional accolades for Mike Suth come not only from his sons and family, but also from U.S. Small Business Administration. In May, he was named the 2014 Indiana Small Business Person of the Year. “Congratulations, your hard work, innovative ideas and dedication to your community have made you a success in your business,” his notification letter stated.
Mike Suth and his beloved business were honored in early June at The Ritz Charles in Carmel. But, due to advanced stages of a type of Parkinson's disease, he couldn't attend the event. In his place, his distinguished award was accepted by his three sons, Greg, Rob and Patrick, the latter two of whom also work in the company. “My dad cannot be here today,” Greg told the crowd during his acceptance speech. “But if he were he'd tell you how blessed he was working for his father and how much he learned from his uncles, Frankie, Ernie, Johnny, Joe and Curly.
“He'd tell you his Uncle Frankie was a genius of sorts, designing and building his own tooling, capable of making very complex springs–springs probably not capable of being produced today with very sophisticated equipment. He'd tell you of the countless millions of springs coiled by Uncle Joe, ground by Uncle Ernie and then inspected by Uncle Johnny so that our customers' fuel nozzles, valves and braking systems functioned properly.”
Mike grew up running the shop with his father, Emery Suth, who learned his craft working at The Bendix Corp. in South Bend. There, Emery hand-wound springs for a variety of new products before starting out on his own when Bendix dropped the particular business line he manufactured. In 1990, Mike faced his biggest challenge when his father died and he suddenly found himself at the helm of the company at a competitive crossroads. With the business almost exclusively tied to the automotive industry, he developed a strategy to diversify the client base and branch out into new applications. It worked.
Today, the company has several Fortune 500 companies as customers, including several client relationships dating back more than 30 years. Simply put, Hoosier Spring products can be found in most anything that flies. This leads to another anecdote about Mike Suth, who served in the U.S. Air Force Reserve: He would often tell his sons and workers about the many critical applications for their springs, saying, “People's lives depend on it.” For example, in 2009 when U.S. Airways Flight 1549 lost engine power and was landed in the Hudson River by pilot Capt. Chesley Sullenberger. Suth proudly reminded everyone that the company's springs on that seemingly doomed jet functioned exactly how they should have, allowing “Sully” to land the plane safely.
Within the past 10 years, the company's sales have nearly doubled and, in that time period, profits have soared from $50,000 annually to almost $1 million. “During this time, the company has been able to manage its significant growth while at the same time eliminating its bank debt, which has resulted in an impressively low leverage, overall net worth of almost $7 million and significant liquid assets,” according to SBA data.
“If my dad were here today, here's what he wouldn't tell you,” Greg told the crowd at the awards ceremony. He routinely paid school tuition payments for his employees' kids while never owning up to it. And he enjoyed celebrating “Christmas in June,” the end of the fiscal year when the company's profits were shared by all.
“He truly looked forward to this day and, in almost childlike fashion, was often found whispering bonus numbers in employees' ears in the days leading up to it,” his son says. “Lastly,” Greg told the crowd, “he'd remind us all to thank the good Lord above for our own good health and the health of our families, and then he'd offer prayers for those who were sick. This award is a tribute to my father.”
