For over a century Switlik has been working to protect its customers by constantly pushing for the next great innovation.
The story of Switlik begins 102 years ago when it was founded by Ukrainian immigrant, Stanley Switlik. The company began manufacturing parachutes, but over the coming century, it would provide pilot and gunner belts, as well as flight clothing, for the soldiers of World War II. At the peak of the war, Switlik’s factories were producing 2,500 parachutes a week for the US Army and other military troops. After the war, the company was designing and making the life vests and life rafts used by the US Navy and Air Force.
“Today we specialise in protective clothing, life preservers, and life rafts from single to multi-person for search and rescue operations worldwide,” says Stanley Switlik, not the founder of the company, but his grandson and the company’s current CEO.
Even after a century, Switlik’s founding principles of quality, performance and innovation are still the company’s guiding lights, with a high-quality AS-9100 certified production facility.
“The products that we produce are high-performance products. We are not making designer sportswear or inflatable pool toys,” Switlik tells us. “If you get to use one of our products, you are already having a really bad day. We are all that stands between you and the deep blue sea.”
When those are the stakes, Switlik knows that you do not want to buy from the lowest bidder, & that is a good thing too.
“It is tough to be a manufacturer in the US, let alone Trenton, New Jersey,” Switlik admits. “Our cost base is higher, so what we make has to be better, but also different. That is the definition of innovation. If everyone else starts doing it, then the competitive edge comes down to price, and if it comes to price, we are in a difficult position. We have to be different and better. We pride ourselves on innovation and always look forward to the next generation of products.”
Maintaining that edge for over a hundred years is no mean feat, but it is based on the philosophy Switlik’s own grandfather established.
“Since my grandfather’s time we have encouraged looking in new and different places, even places where we don’t have the expertise,” he tells us. “When we don’t have that expertise, we hire people who do to let us move into new areas. It is a matter of encouraging people to think differently. Our standard must be quality, performance, and innovation every day, in everything we do. That means not just product but procedure as well. We are taking a look at manufacturing processes and seeing if there is a new and better way to do things and we take the risks to do that.”
Planting One Foot in the Future
Today that philosophy is finding expression in Switlik’s latest expansion at its primary facility. The expanded facility not only grows capacity but consolidates many of the firm’s smaller spaces into one location.
“It is a commitment to our community and employees in the city of Trenton and in Hamilton Township where we are based,” Switlik explains.
At a time of economic and global upheaval that might seem unprecedented to shorter-lived companies, it is perhaps surprising to see a company outlaying such a big capital expenditure. But Switlik is a company that takes a long view.
“We are not doing this for now. We are doing it for the future,” Switlik says. “It is a statement to our employees in the community, and it is a statement to our customers that we are not going anywhere.”
That does not mean Switlik isn’t feeling the pinch of the current trading environment.
“We have seen the prices of our materials go up dramatically and the lead time of materials get extended,” Switlik explains. “But we put one foot in front of the other and we lean forward. During this time, we have not only been moving to expand our facility, but we have updated our ERP system in the process with the support of our partner Aptean. All of these achievements are addressing long-term needs. That’s the difference in a small privately held business. We are not so focused on quarterly results. That’s how we’ve gotten here over 102 years.”
Sharing the Wealth
Even the best facility is useless without motivated and qualified people to operate it, however. With big companies like Amazon and Walmart operating in the same region, Switlik is in a competitive labour market. But once again, the company’s long-term perspective gives it an edge.
“We have to make ourselves a place to be for the long term. Our average period of service is still in the realm of 15 years because we make ourselves a place to be, as we have for a long time,” Switlik says.
To attract workers who share Switlik’s long-term vision, the firm offers an impressive benefits package.
“We get told regularly by our insurance agent that our health benefits, which we’ve paid since 1949, are a rich plan, and we say it’s a necessity to take care of people,” Switlik says. “We have had a profit-sharing plan since 1949. When it was implemented, people asked my grandfather why he did that & he said ‘They help me make it, they deserve to share it’.”
This is on top of a package of training and educational benefits, but as Switlik tells us, it all circles back to innovation.
“None of that is inexpensive, so if we want to survive, innovation is a necessity to stay ahead,” he says. “We need to be making better things that hold more value to our customers.”
The Next Chapter
When we talk to Stanley, he is accompanied by Sarah Switlik, his daughter and the company’s COO.
“A question both our employees and customers ask is who will we be dealing with in the future?” Switlik tells us. “’Stan, you’re an old guy, are you going to sell?’ And the answer is no. We are dedicated to doing this. Sarah continues to be dedicated to doing this. We take pride in being one of the last independents in our industry and we will continue to do that. Everything we do makes that statement. Everything we get to do we do because of the people that came before. Everyone also hires and trains their successor, including me.”
Sarah Switlik will mark the fourth generation of the company’s leadership but will oversee the fifth or sixth generation of the company’s employees. It is not uncommon to hear business owners bemoaning the state of the latest generation of workers, but Switlik’s perspective is very different.
“Each generation has the same decisions to be made. The younger generation is skilled, and hardened by the disruption of the last three years,” he says. “They have weathered a lot of storms. I am thoroughly confident they will weather whatever the next storm is that comes their way.”
