The Fast Track

Written by Tracie Grimes

Starting your own company is a daunting task no matter what business you’re launching.

But add a 3,000-plus hour work year, no steady pay, and a business that’s based on a fast-moving technology and you could be headed for disaster.

That’s what Lee Britt and Mike Hagenston were facing when they started Proactive Logical Solutions, or PALS (which later became PLCs Plus International, Inc.), a local company specializing in industrial automation.

The idea for the two pals to form PALS hit Britt like a ton of bricks in 1996 while working for a local engineering company. “We were in a meeting, sitting around the table with most of the guys talking about how they could gouge the big companies, and the things they were coming up with were just wrong,” Britt said, shaking his head at the memory. “It hit me that Mike and I could do the job, do it better, and treat our customers better.”

Easier said than done. To do the job, and do it right, turned out to be no small undertaking. Experience wasn’t a problem; both Britt and Hagenston had spent most of their working life in the industry, either employed at one of the big industrial companies they began courting when they started PALS (the two men met while both were working at Chevron), getting on-the-job-training in high tech fields (Britt worked as a submarine sailor), or going to college (Hagenston finished his degree in electrical engineering). “Mike’s the one who legitimizes our operation because he’s the only one with an actual college degree,” laughed Britt. The only problem was the insane hours Hagenston and Britt kept as they worked to get their company off the ground.

“That first year was kind of a haze for me,” Britt smiled remembering his long days of developing clients, designing programs to meet their needs, training them to use the systems, billing them, and troubleshooting when necessary. “But Mike and I just kind of sucked it up and did whatever had to be done.”

Britt and Hagenston took the challenge in stride, buckled down to keep their core clients (big local names such as Chevron, Grimmway Farms, and Texaco) happy and just kept on working at warp speed. It didn’t take long for the growth of PALS to take off.

“Back then the field of industrial automation wasn’t as mature as it is now, so our company began growing pretty quickly,” Britt explained.

It was during this initial growth phase that Britt and Hagenston met Mark Surber, who had started his own industrial automation company, Wildhorse Technologies. Surber had a vision of doing things differently; and his “vision” really struck a cord with Britt and Hagenston. The men saw an advantage to combining their efforts with Wildhorse and another company located in Richland, Washington (PLCs Plus, Inc.), so the three companies combined in 1998.

“Mark started Wildhorse in September 1996 in Bellingham, Washington and moved it to Bakersfield in May 1997. My personal reasons for merging were primarily for infrastructure. Mark had an office staff [of one] and an actual office. Mike and I worked out of our vehicles for the most part, and I knew that I couldn’t continue to work 60 to 80 hours a week and administer [invoicing, bookkeeping, etc.] the company in my ‘spare’ time. Mark had already been in discussions with Sam Smith [owner of PLCs Plus], so the merge came together at the right time.”

Being in the right place at the right time became almost a business model for the fledgling company during its first years of operation. Formed at a time when industrial automation was just a seed needing cultivation, PLCs Plus had a definite advantage in finding their niche in a growing market. But again, things are seldom as easy as they look.

It meant breaking new ground and getting local industries to look at production in a new way, and that’s not an easy thing to do, Britt pointed out. “We found ourselves working as kind of ‘pioneers’ in the industrial automation business. One of our major challenges was getting the operators to buy into the technology. They were leery of automation because they felt they would lose their jobs to robots, so we had to find a way to create a system using their input so they would trust in what we were doing and feel like they were a part of the process.”

Trust is a big part of their business, especially when you’re working with leaders in industries such as water, oil and gas, refining and petrochemicals, food and beverage, mining and manufacturing, power and cogeneration, pulp and paper, Britt continued. “When you’re dealing with a company’s industrial design, programming, and data collection systems, you really have the heart of the organization in your hands. You have to establish good working relationships with the people you work with in those companies and you have to instill confidence and trust in what you do. I think that’s something we’ve done very well, establishing the trust factor. That’s what we’ve built our business on.”

As PLCs Plus spent the next several years building their client base on trust and good relationships, it soon became obvious that the company would have to add diversification to their long-term business plan. A new company mantra was emerging, and as Britt and Hagenston began looking for ways to fulfill the company’s pledge to customers, “Your Solution is Ready,” new entities were formed. The PLCs Plus family now includes a full-spectrum industrial automation services: PLCs Plus, Advanced Combustion and Process Controls, LLC; Electrical Systems and Instrumentation, Inc. (ESI); FieldVision, Inc., and Well Test Technologies.

It’s through this diversification that PLCs Plus is able to offer a wide range of expert services that span the control systems spectrum, Britt said. Each company has skilled people in the areas of industrial design, hardware and software solutions, combustion control technology, electrical systems installation, and precise production data gathering.

Although this diversification has put the company on the country’s economic map (in 2010 ESI was ranked 1785 out of Inc. 5000’s ranking of the fastest-growing private companies in America), Britt said they may have to do more thinking outside of the box.

“My personal feeling is that I feel we’ve built a house of cards. Knock a couple of cards [companies] out from the bottom and the whole thing can go down. I don’t know if we’ve really done diversification that well. We’re in a kind of dangerous position because we’ve really just been reaching for the ‘low-hanging fruit’ by staying within our niche even though we’ve expanded under the PLCs Plus umbrella. We are always planning to step out of our niche, but just haven’t made the leap yet.”

Bob Riley, president of ESI, agrees that the PLCs Plus family needs to “get out and diversify across the board,” but is quick to point out there are advantages to growing businesses vertically and within an established niche. “I really think we have our finger on the pulse of our business and react swiftly to changes. We understand the costs of doing business in the industries we serve. We know our client-base well and have established ways of measuring our success to ensure we’re not off course, and can minimize the risk.”

And there’s plenty of risk in this economy, Riley continued. “When oil prices dropped, it really affected ESI. But on the positive side, we’ve been able to recruit some great people because of the economy. One of our service managers had his own electrical business over at the coast but was hit hard by the recession and had to close his shop. Of course I’m sorry that he lost his business, but am very glad he’s with us now.”

“In an odd way the recession has actually helped PLCs Plus overall,” Britt added. “Anytime there’s a downturn in the economy businesses start relying even more heavily on data. We get the data to management, which they use to drive their business decisions. We’ve also been able to hire quality people—I’m amazed at the quality of people walking through our doors—because of recession.”

Britt and Riley speak of their employees in almost a reverential tone. It’s obvious that the employees are the heart and soul of their companies, and employees rate right up there with clients for the PLCs Plus family.

“If you put your employees first, your business will take care of itself,” Riley emphasized.

“We’ve always kept company culture, with safety, quality, and values at the core of that culture, a high priority,” Britt said. “Sure, we take care of our people with salary and benefits, but with us motivating employees means empowering people, treating them with respect.”

“That means we show care and concern for our employees and follow through with the promises we make to them,” Riley added.

Their journey hasn’t been any easier than anyone else’s. “There are always risks when you first start out,” Britt concedes, thinking back on those 80-plus hour workweeks with no promise of a paycheck.

But if you build your business on trust and positive relationships, the path to success is certainly much smoother, as Britt, Hagenston, and Riley will attest. No special knowledge or technology can take the place of good, old-fashioned human interaction, even if you are in the business of automation.

Article appeared in our 28-5 Issue - December 2011