What's In Your Lobby?

I found a treasure in Epco Products’ lobby!
I just returned from a 900 mile trip to visit member companies and call on potential members with my colleague Monte Guitar.

We covered parts of Ohio and Indiana, and can give you a real positive report on the corn crop, and a  more sobering report on the state of the business for the shops we visited.
According to our trip report, we visited 10 companies. That’s 10 lobbies. Probably 40 or 50 supplier quality awards dating back well into the last century.
Some from companies that no longer exist.
ISO/TS certificates. Proof that the company whose lobby we were waiting in  has what it takes in terms of quality system fundamentals to be sustainable. If they can survive the current capital drought.
But we found a real treasure on the wall in the lobby of Epco Products in Fort Wayne, Indiana.  Now the folks at Epco probably think that the treasure is the Senate Productivity Award. It was awarded to the team at Epco in March of 1988 by then Senator Dan Quayle.

But here is the real treasure found in the lobby at Epco. Engraved on a plaque, is the following quotation:
“A machine can only do so much. Capital can only do so much. What makes the difference is people who have confidence in themselves and their abilities.”  U.S. Senator Dan Quayle, 3-8-88
That’s the treasure I found in one lobby this trip.

Congratulations to the team at Epco. Congratulations to Fritz Aichele for spearheading  the work that garnered that award.
And a heartfelt ‘Thank You!’ to Former U.S. Senator and Vice President Dan Quayle. For really understanding what our  precision machining business is all about– people with confidence in their abilities and themselves making a difference.