Page 18 - MetalForming November 2011

Illuminating
Mid-Level Management
PMA’s 2012 Chairman of the Board P.J. Thompson shines the light on the mid-level managers working in our industry, and ponders the question: Can PMA provide the training and experiences that will empower them to lead metalforming companies to new competitive heights on the global stage?
BY BRAD F. KUVIN, EDITOR
16 MetalForming/November 2011
www.metalformingmagazine.com
PMA’s 2012 Chairman P.J. Thompson, president of Trans-Matic Mfg. Co., stands among one of several aisles of eyelet transfer presses.
Some say it’s lonely at the top, par- ticularly when a company’s suc- cess rides on the critical decisions made by one individual. However, such is not the case at Trans-Matic Manu- facturing Co., Holland, MI, where pres- ident P.J. Thompson views the top of his company less like a peak, with room for only one decision-maker, and more like a mesa, replete with a team of managers.
This empowering management structure is critical to strategic deci- sion-making at Trans-Matic, which has allowed the firm to successfully emerge from the recent recession. It also fuels Thompson’s optimistic outlook, not only for his company but for the met- alforming industry as a whole. That outlook should serve him well as he takes the reins of the Precision Metal-
forming Association in 2012 as its Chairman of the Board.
“Trans-Matic, as well as many other metalforming companies, is built around a core set of customers and markets in which we specialize,” shares Thompson. “Then, as a com- pany we position ourselves to be able to select a few strategic opportunities on which we can place bets for the future. These bets form the vision we have for the company during the next 10 to 20 years—yes, we’re always look- ing forward, even as we stay focused on today.
“Here at Trans-Matic,” Thompson continues, “we’re betting on China— our 100,000-sq.-ft. plant there sets our geographic footprint. Our top 20 customers all have a presence in Asia, so we see this as a strong bet. In