By Russ
Willcutt of Gear Solutions
According to Jack
Nowlin, his father was known for his strong work ethic. It's what
led C.B. Nowlin to found his own company, in fact. "He'd get to
work in the morning, and everybody would have to take a break," he
says. "And then they'd have lunch, and then they'd have to take
another break, and he just got tired of it and said 'I'm going to
do something different.'"
Spur gears, spur gear grinding
spur gear hobbing, as well as many other processes.
What he did, though, is
a stock story in the annals of entrepreneurial enterprise: he
started his own company in his garage. "He started out with a
lathe, a mill, a welding machine, and a drill press, and he'd bore
sprockets and gears and make bushings for local distributors. So
we had to park out in the driveway when I was growing up," Nowlin
says with a laugh.
hubbed spur gears, as well as
machined spur gear products.
Although his father
started out small, working in the evenings with a single
assistant, he knew that he had cheap labor nearby--and with the
same last name. "My brother and I were responsible for sweeping
shavings and cleaning the place up every night after supper, so
I've been around this business most of my life," he says.
Nowlin found the work
interesting, and he soon advanced from pushing a broom to
operating a lathe and learning to run the gear machines. Then,
after earning a degree in business management from the University
of Houston, he decided it was time to join the family business. "I
worked for another company for about six months after I'd
graduated, but then I decided it was silly to work for somebody
else when I could come over here and learn the business from my
dad," he says. "So I started doing inside sales in 1972."
The company had outgrown the garage by that time, and his father
had purchased the adjoining lot, torn down the house that was
standing there, and built a proper home for C-B Gear & Machine,
Inc.
Over the years, Jack Nowlin learned the trade as the company grew,
finally purchasing land and building a new 75,000 square-foot
facility across town in 1984. A year later, in 1985, he became
president of the company when his father died. He's not alone in
carrying on the family tradition, however, since his own sons,
Jared, and Jed now work at the company. Jared works in the
companys purchasing department, while Jed is outside sales.
With three generations having now been involved in the company's
progress, the Nowlin name has been a constant for more than 50
years. While that hasn't changed, much else has: "When I think
back to the early days, when I was out in the shop machining parts
after school and on the weekends, it's kind of amazing to think of
how far we've come in terms of technology," Nowlin says. "The work
I did back then was pretty crude compared to the way it's done
these days."
As an example, the company now utilizes the latest equipment and
technologies to produce their products, including a massive
Pfauter Profile gear grinder, a Kia CNC boring machine, an Okuma-L
CNC turning center, and an M&M Universal CNC gear inspection
system. But it still takes a human being to man these systems,
Nowlin says. "The computers will do the work for you, but you've
still got to be able to tell them what you want them to do."
Although these machines are impressive, indeed, and indispensable
in terms of the added accuracy and productivity they provide,
Nowlin admits to a certain fondness for older equipment. "We still
own the property and the buildings where the company got started,
and I lease half of the space to a couple of businesses, but I use
the rest of it to store the stuff that I don't have the heart to
get rid of," he says. "I've got some old equipment in the new
building, too, but the guys are always after me to get rid of it,
just to keep things clean--because that's another thing we take
pride in, running a clean operation. Our place is unusually clean
for a big job shop.
"So I've tried to sell the stuff I've collected, and even to give
it away, but I just like having it around," he says. "I love
equipment, and it's tough to throw anything away, because you
never know when you might end up needing it! I'm trying to get
better about that, though."
In addition to this, Nowlin places equal
emphasis on living up to other commitments: "We pay our bills," he
says, "we're real conscientious about that. The norm these days
seems to be that whoever's at the top gets paid first, and then if
there's no money left to pay the employees or the suppliers,
that's tough--somebody else gets left holding the bag. But, the
way we do it, everybody gets paid before I get paid. That's just
the way it is here."
As much as the company has grown over the
past 51 years, further expansion is in the works. With a customer
base including such industries as steel, sugar, cement, marine,
mining, pulp & paper, oilfield, petrochemical, and power
generation, C-B Gear & Machine has focused its energies on serving
customers within Texas and adjoining states, for the most.
Additional sales representatives have recently been taken on,
however, to allow the company to expand into markets including
Mexico and South America. Software programs to enhance job
tracking and quality control have also been introduced, to make
sure the company's reputation for providing exceptional service
and products is not compromised by its growth.
"We have expanded our gearbox repair and rebuilding operation,
adding on about 20,000 square feet," says Nowlin. "And with our
climate-controlled gear grinding room, we're now able to
validate the quality and precision of the gears we produce."
Having watched his company evolve from a two-man operation in a
two-car garage into a vibrant and successful enterprise, poised on
the brink of further growth, Jack Nowlin's satisfaction is similar
to that his father must have derived at the end of a long, hard
day in the shop. "It's fairly simple," he says. "I'm proud of the
people I work with, and I'm proud of the quality of work that we
do."
