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MOVERS & SHAPERS: THE STEVENS
FAMILY
With 5 Generations of involvement,
a Saginaw Success
Story of Global Proportions
Celebrates 100 Years of Service
By Robert E. Martin
"Some see private enterprise as a predatory target to be shot, others as a cow to be milked, but few are those who see it as a sturdy horse pulling the wagon." - Winston Churchill "A great society is a society in which men of business think greatly of their functions." - Alfred North Whitehead It is said that the 'family owned business' forms the backbone of America, giving it shape, character, and vision. If we were to localize this assumption to the economy of the Tri-Cities, then certainly the Stevens Family encompasses qualities that could be easily considered the spine, as well as the spirit & soul of Saginaw County.
At a time when the local & national
economy is experiencing unique challenges, the Stevens Worldwide Van
Lines company is celebrating 100 years of doing business as a
family company of international impact.
Statistics show that only three percent
of family owned businesses make it to the 3rd Generation of family
members manning the helm, yet in 1989 when Morrison M. Stevens, Jr. began working summers at the
business, the company entered a remarkable fifth generation of
on-hands family involvement.
With worldwide headquarters based in
Saginaw, today Stevens Worldwide Van Lines is a full-service
domestic van line, an international forwarder, and corporate relocation
management specialist.
Last year Stevens handled 13,550 long
distance relocations for families within the continental United States
and 2,700 international relocations. In addition, Stevens' company-owned
branches relocated over 700 families within their local communities and
completed more than 1,300 local business relocations.
Employing approximately 500 individuals
during peak season, the company has nine branch offices, over 500
domestic agents nationwide, and over 700 international agents. Moreover,
they own & operate ten affiliated carriers and forwarders for the
Department of Defense, handling relocation services for members of
the armed forces.
Equally significant are contributions of
the Stevens family to our quality-of-life in Saginaw County. Back in
the 1980s I had the pleasure to work with Julie Stevens on the
Temple Theatre Arts Association, and just this year they received an
All Area Arts Award from the Saginaw Community Enrichment
Commission for their unyielding commitment to nurturing cultural
treasures within the community such as the Saginaw Art Museum and
Children's Zoo.
Obviously, one does not achieve these
levels of success without gleaning a nugget or two of knowledge & acumen
on how to manage, operate, and run an entity from top to bottom.
Given the seemingly chaotic nature of
local government today, coupled with the distressing challenges faced by
such long-standing driving forces of the local economy as General
Motors, it seems entirely appropriate in this celebratory year of their
100th Anniversary to glean a bit of insight from this remarkable family
on the qualities that make a successful organization tick, and the
fundamental that allow a viable community work.
With this in mind, The Review
sat down with CEO & President Morrison Stevens, Sr. and
Lindsay Stevens, fifth generation & daughter of Morrie, Sr. & Julie,
who while working on her MBA degree is training to become the Chief
Financial Officer for the company.
But before we deal with the present &
future, we must take a brief look at the past.
A Process of Evolution In 1905 at the age of 22 Frederick Hobson Stevens, Jr. purchased a horse and dray to haul luggage and household goods from the train depot in Saginaw, Michigan.
Today dispatchers use computers to convey
orders and wireless communication to contact drivers across the globe,
but back in 1905 it was a time when a move was limited by the amount of
goods that a team of horses could pull along rutted dirt roads.
Stevens has a rich history. Fred married
his sweetheart Blanche Morrison in 1907 and they lived in a small
apartment above JB Meinbergs. Two years later, he welcomed his
younger brother Henry Hall Stevens into the family business, and the name changed to Stevens
Brothers Cartage & Storage. In 1918, Fred purchased Henry's half of
the business.
Fred Jr. hired his father to work as
office manager from 1910 - 1918 and in 1920 he purchased Safety Storage
Company on Tuscola Street in Saginaw. When the Great Depression hit in
1929, Fred Jr. adapted to the times. As everybody struggled to survive
economically, Stevens lost much of his warehouse storage business.
But Fred Jr's oldest son, Frederick
Morrison Stevens, was a trained commercial artist, developing skills
in advertising & retail display. Fred Jr. opened & operated a retail
furniture store on Niagara Street with son Fred M. Stevens. In
the early days, Fred, Jr. took the moving vans to purchase furniture in
Detroit, then re-sold the goods at the Saginaw location. The retail
furniture operation was taken over by Fred and remained in operation
until the 1960's.
This formed a unique period & consequent
lesson for the Stevens Family of today. As Morrie relates, "My uncle was
the oldest of three sons and his oldest son was given the choice of
which business he wanted. He chose the furniture store and my Uncle
Hazen and my father chose the moving business."
"The furniture business did well for a number of years, but when the suburban phenomenon took place in the 1960s people started moving away from the city. Two gentlemen worked for my uncle; one Mr. Markey and the other Mr. Elliott. My uncle talked of going to the suburbs, but they beat him to it in terms of philosophy and the well-known Markey-Elliott furniture store became established. They had a better location and more exposure in the township to homeowners in terms of selling retail furniture, so eventually the furniture store was closed."
In 1930, Stevens Brothers Fireproof
Warehouse purchased the storage division of the prominent Central
Warehouse on Michigan Avenue in Saginaw. Fred, Jr. operated a fur
storage business for over 20 years. Always the consummate businessman,
Stevens also sold a franchised mothproofing service, and relied on
auctions of unclaimed furniture to sustain the bottom line.
Archie H. Stevens, Sr., and
Hazen H. Stevens purchased their parents' moving and storage
business in August 1940 as co-partners, and founder Fred Stevens
retired.
The 1940's brought more business
enterprises. In addition to the fur storage business, the Stevens
organization opened a trailer rental business and rented soft water
units that needed repeated service about every 30 days. The soft water
unit business was discontinued about ten years later. The trailer rental
business operated successfully until the 1950's when the van line began
to grow.
1946 brought exciting changes to the
company. Brothers Archie H. and Hazen H. Stevens started the first
commercial agency program, designed to secure agents to book and haul
household goods all over the country. The company name was trademarked
as Stevens Van Lines, using the slogan "Coast to Coast."
Also in 1948, Arnold Bronner
joined Stevens as Saginaw's office manager. His brother, Wally,
had done work for Stevens Van Lines as a sign maker, lettering trucks
for Stevens. Arnold Bronner rose to the position of General Manager and
served the company for approximately 35 years.
The 1950's brought new acquisitions to
the Stevens organization. Early in the decade, Stevens purchased a
statewide, Michigan non-radial heavy machinery MPSC certificate with
employee Harold Krause. The incorporated company was named
Great Lakes Machinery Movers, Inc. That business was later sold to
Dobson Heavy Haul.
The company was incorporated in 1958.
Additionally, in March of 1958, Archie Stevens, Sr. purchased Harris
Moving and Storage in Bay City, Michigan. This later became Stevens
Van Lines' Bay City branch.
On September 12, 1958, company founder
Fred H. Stevens, Jr. passed away. His sons continued to operate the
family business with the dignity of his founding principles, "adapt
to change, adopt innovations and improve services"--- a business
philosophy that is still utilized today.
Archie Stevens, Sr., purchased
brother Hazen's stock in the company in 1959, becoming the sole owner
until 1975.
During the 1960's, the Stevens
organization continued to grow. In 1964, the Bay City Michigan branch
was moved to Sheridan Street when VanHaaren's & Sons was
purchased. 1964 was also the year that U.S. Van Lines, Inc. was
sold, and Stevens joined United Van Lines as a booking and
hauling agent. That relationship continued until 1984, when Stevens
became a Bekins Van Lines, Inc. agent
The Stevens family business continued to
expand. In 1968, the company purchased Carl Johnson Movers in
Warren, Michigan. Later, this branch's business was moved to Detroit.
The real estate was sold to General Motors. In January of 1969, the
company purchased Toledo Van & Storage, which is now Stevens Van Lines'
Toledo, Ohio branch.
The 1970's brought the rest of the fourth
generation of brothers into the family business. In March 1970, Morrison M. Stevens, Sr., graduated from Michigan State
University (MSU) and joined the business in the accounting department.
Then, in 1973, John Stevens graduated from Central Michigan
University (CMU) and joined Stevens as the branch manager of the Sault
Ste. Marie location. James Stevens also joined the firm after
graduating from CMU in 1976, working in sales.
A significant change occurred in 1975
when the four brothers: Archie, Jr. Morrison M., John A., and
James R. Stevens acquired the business from their father, Archie
Stevens, Sr., with equal shares for each. Morrison M. Stevens, Sr.
was named President in 1977 and continues to serve in that capacity
today.
The four brothers decided to expand their
household goods relocation business into international relocation and
forwarding. Stevens Forwarders, Inc. was formed January 19, 1976 and was
immediately qualified as a GSA and military carrier. They opened the
first International Forwarding office in 1980 in Baltimore, Maryland.
Then, in 1981, the office was moved to Seattle, Washington.
In the early 1980's, Stevens Van Lines
also began development of its current network of military agents around
the nation and around the world. Stevens had provided Department of
Defense (DOD) relocation services since the 1950's through its own
branch offices, but this new development gave access to moves occurring
at the hundreds of other military installations throughout the world.
In 1983, the organization formed a
holding company named The Stevens Group, Inc. At that time, they also
purchased eight acres and a 32,000 square foot warehouse for development
of a new headquarters location, having outgrown the office and warehouse
on Niagara Street in Saginaw. They broke ground for new offices, a scale
and a full-service repair facility at 527 Morley Drive in Saginaw, Michigan. The company moved
to the new location in 1984, and it is still the world headquarters for
the entire organization.
The fifth generation of the Stevens
family began working for the company in 1989, when Morrison M. Stevens,
Jr. worked summers while pursuing his education. In 1996, he was
appointed to the position of Relocation Consultant and later earned the
title of Sales Manager at the Waterford, (formerly Pontiac) Michigan
branch.
In late 1992, James Stevens began
development of the highly successful Affinity Sales Division, also known
as The Clergy Move Center.
2001 was a significant year for the
company. In January, Stevens President, Morrison M. Stevens, became
chairman of the industry's top organization, the American Moving and
Storage Association (AMSA).
Another generational transition was
completed in 2003, when brothers John and James Stevens retired. John
had 30 years of service, and James had 27 years of service. Each
contributed significantly to the growth and prosperity of the Stevens
organization. President Morrison M. Stevens, Sr. and his immediate
family retained 70% ownership.
In 2004, Stevens acquired Central Van
Lines, Inc., located in Queensbury, New York. And, to further the
quest for quality, Stevens International Forwarders achieved the highly
acclaimed International FIDI/FAIM certification in 2004.
In 2005, Stevens Van Lines
celebrates 100 years of providing quality relocation services to
customers moving around the corner and around the world. The new tag
line describes this well: "Billions of Miles� Millions of Moves� A Century of Service."
THE INTERVIEW * Compelling Insights, Contemporary Challenges Review: Five generations of family involvement is difficult to find in any enterprise, with siblings often adapting different vocational interests & goals. What do you attribute the family affiliation to? Morrie: I think early on there was this subtle exposure to the business, so it was something significant to evaluate in terms of a career choice. I had a sister that became a teacher and was not interested, but my three brothers and I gravitated towards it and took an interest in it.
Mainly, I believe it's the exposure to
the business and the opportunity to build something that you have a
piece of; as opposed to working for a Fortune 500 company and being a
small part of a bigger piece, here you can be a big piece of a smaller
company.
Lindsay: From my perspective, our generation is very 'work hard / play hard'. In bigger cities there is this 'working woman' mentality, but if I'm going to be working nights I want to work where I can have some equity.
This is a growing company and my goal is
to offer a fresh perspective and play a part in that growth. Even though
this is an established company, we need to continue our expansion into
different states, so I still see lots of opportunity.
The ability to work with my family is
nice, but in a way it's hard because you're always talking work inside
or outside the office. But we share a common knowledge and passion so
that strengthens the bonds I have with my parents. We understand each
other's difficulties and share excitement. If you work in separate
industries, you don't carry that tie.
Review; How do you view the growth of Stevens in the next decade? Morrie: Growth with us is international and national. This happens to be our world headquarters, but less than five percent of our business comes from the tri-county area, so as we add agents across the country we add business to the system.
The growth is not coming from Michigan,
even though we have six offices in different markets throughout
Michigan, 20 percent of our business is international, which is managed
from Fort Wayne and Seattle.
Review: What do you feel are the biggest challenges with keeping a business of this magnitude a viable concern? Is magnitude even an issue, or are the challenges the same as any business? Morrie: Well, there is no one 'key' element. Probably the biggest element is the attraction & retention of key personnel - that is the big challenge of any business.
We've tried to create a culture here that
makes us a preferred place to work. We try to provide good fringe
benefits so people that work here have a good quality of life. We offer
excellent health insurance, a 401K pension program, and in June 2003 we
started an ESOP that opens 30 percent of our company up to ownership by
the employees, which creates another deferred compensation plan.
I think we stand out in the community
because we are a consistently growing enterprise, while a lot of the
auto based businesses are not. That allows us to attract people that
don't see an opportunity in the automotive sector like their parents saw
40 years ago.
Lindsay: One of the biggest challenges that I see is that so much of our capacity & service depends upon our drivers. Our drivers are mostly independent brokers and not really employees of Stevens, yet they form our frontline. As good as we may be at claims handling or accounting, the drivers are the people that represent you. And let's face it, Harvard business grads are not applying to be truck drivers.
Consequently, we need to be able to
contract with quality drivers because they deal with wives, children,
and husbands trusting us with the contents of their homes. You can lose
a lot of money if you hire the wrong people. For me this industry is
unique in that sense.
I'd like to see my generation bring more
of the drivers into the family. We offer Driver Appreciation Dinners and
Awards Banquets, but we need to have our employees understand how truly
crucial drivers are to the operation of our business.
Review: Why have you decided to retain your world headquarters here in Saginaw, especially with so many businesses moving to more economically viable parts of the country? Morrie: A large part is the sentiment of having family ties that extend for generations. We looked at going to Kansas City at one point in time, because frankly it would be better for us to locate in a Central Time zone. When we close here at 5 PM it's 2 PM in California, so we have to run extended hours in order to accommodate it. Still, there is a very hardworking mentality here in Saginaw. Lindsay: We've all traveled and lived in different cities, but I find people here do work very hard. In other cities you compete with companies that offer strong options, so I believe we get more bang for our buck here, as opposed to the East Coast or West Coast culture Review: With the diminishment of GM's role and their current problems, coupled with those of Delphi, and factoring in the diminishing population of Saginaw County, the City of Saginaw faces serious challenges. What are your impressions of the current 'state of the city'? What do you feel needs to be done to make it a viable entity and attract more people to the area? Given its current social dilemmas, is this even possible? Morrie: First, you have to realize that we have the City of Saginaw and the Saginaw Community, which are really two different entities.
Saginaw as a community has some very
spots with lots of vitality, but the city itself really faces serious
challenges. There are leadership issues that have to be resolved and a
shrinking employment base is always difficult. Downsizing is always
harder to manage than expansion.
Plus the city has these huge 'legacy'
costs just like the Big 3. Police in retirement are still being funded
out of a shrinking current budget because their benefits are unfunded,
so this adds current costs to a budget that's already in trouble.
I think its going to be very trying in
the next five years. My advice would be to look at privatizing some of
the services. Don't try and do everything. We have 30 communities in the
State of Michigan that outsourced the management of their water systems
to a company in Grand Rapids. If you shift the management of those
functions and the legacy costs that come into play to the private
sector, it gives taxpayers relief without diminishing the quality of
their service. I think city leaders need to look at that seriously.
Lindsay: I grew up here and live in the City of Saginaw. Basically, as a member of the younger generation that has lived in bigger cities, I think Saginaw has a lot to offer and people should explore it more. People need to support places like Guido's and The Savoy and the Zoo and not complain about it. Too many people are content to check into their comfort zone and keep their head in the sand.
Saginaw Future is doing a
phenomenal job recruiting companies to come into our area, and while I
think there are some financial management issues, I encourage people to
come to Saginaw and see all that we've got.
Review: The role of families such as yours is significant in the community. Many 'city fathers' have witnessed their empires diminish, with subsequent generations living off the spoils of the previous one; yet your commitment has remained steadfast, especially with commitment to the Arts. What areas do you feel it incumbent to foster & develop in Saginaw? Morrie: I think trying to maintain quality of life for everybody in the community is important. The people around Saginaw that support the Museum and Symphony and Choral Society and institutions like that seems to consist of a smaller circle than 20 or 40 years ago. Delphi has their problems and the Wickes Corporation is no more, so you don't find the contributions that there used to be.
The most important thing people can do is
get away from the 'chain' mentality and frequent restaurants and
businesses owned by local entities. Chains, as a rule of thumb, do not
support cultural endeavors. We're concerned about maintaining a cultural
standard that ultimately attracts better people & clientele to our area.
Review: As a member of the Saginaw Charter Commission, I read with great interest your position paper on consolidating services such as Police & Fire with that of the Township. Yet immense resistance still exists. What will it take in your estimation to motivate government to think smarter? Does Troy have to fall first? Morrie: I think a significant moment would be if the City of Saginaw was simply forced to go into receivership. Unfortunately, we're faced with a community predicament of township and city legal entities that don't have to help their neighbors if they don't want to, creating a tendency to shy away from problems as opposed to dealing with the current environment.
Sadly, you can't blame them because the
city's financial problems are huge. I believe the Metro approach is the
only practical approach to take, but I also think its going to take some
strong leadership to get it done. The alternative is financial disaster.
Review: Should companies receive 100% property tax breaks from the City of Saginaw? Morrie: That is a Catch-22 in my opinion. I think the bigger problem with tax breaks is after you give them there is no assessment eight years down the line to see if employment increased the way the company that received the break said it would. Therein lies the biggest fallacy with tax breaks. You should offer them only where real material growth can be documented. This is similar to when car manufacturers offer rebates. If you do it too often, everybody waits until the next rebate. Review: As Stevens enters the 21st Century, what goals or areas do you feel it critical to concentrate upon? Morrie: We're developing a long-term strategic plan that will be completed this year, but I feel our biggest need is to retain more commercial agents in the Top 150 markets. We have two-thirds of them covered now, but in some we do not have enough agents. Our primary strategy is to drive our growth up to 250 to 300 commercial agents. We have about 100 right now. Lindsay: Statistics show that as the baby boomers age every five minutes somebody is turning age 70. In looking at these trends, especially in terms of household goods, a big issue is going to be storage. Not only do we need to move people, but also what can we do to facilitate other human resource needs? We need to look seriously at the other services we can offer besides strictly moving people.
Plus, I think it important to be
profitable and yet transparent. We share all our financials with our
workers and want to help them understand clearly where every dollar
goes. Our new profit sharing plan is important for this company, and
I'm looking forward to helping Stevens achieve this part of their goal.
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