C.E. White re-invests in the future of school bus seating and realizes unparalleled growth in the process. A microcosm of the nation’s current economic recession is Ohio, home of the school bus seat manufacturer, where decreased manufacturing output was a major reason one why the state was again projected to be a major player in deciding the 2008 presidential election.

The North American Free Trade Agreement has been blamed by some for decimating the local economy by outsourcing manufacturing jobs to other countries, and many automotive jobs have been relocated to Kentucky and Tennessee. Further exacerbating the manufacturing downturn is the sub-prime mortgage mess. Last year, the Associated Press reported that the percentage of mortgages in Ohio that were 90 days or more past due or in foreclosure was more than twice the national average.

But in the rural oasis of New Washington village, located halfway between Cleveland and Toledo, the C.E. White Company flourishes.

Customer service is job one in retaining end-user and vendor customers alike, and it doesn’t hurt that C.E. White recently received an infusion of capital that many organizations can only dream about. Blending the old with the new, the bus seating manufacturer has undergone an extraordinary evolution in recent years. It is one of the longest-standing school bus product suppliers with a history dating back to 1937, when Mr. C.E. White himself started the company. It’s apropos that New Washington is referred to as “Dutchtown,” reflecting the hardworking population of German descent that lives there. And C.E. White has rewarded that ethic. In one respect it’s the same old company; yet, it is one that has leapt into the 21st Century with facilities that received a drastic face lift in the midst of increased production when other manufacturers are downsizing.

Despite school bus vehicle and parts production being down some 15 to 18 percent in 2007, C.E. White is moving the ball forward as it hones its core competencies of seat design, product testing and final assembly. Somehow, company representatives say, the last major price increase to customers occurred in 2005, even though C.E. White is a major consumer of petroleum and steel, commodities that have been skyrocketing in price over the last several years.

“That really stresses the flexibility of our company,” says Tony Everett, C.E. White’s president and CEO. “It’s an investment in infrastructure, an investment that is returning a lot. We invested a quarter of a million dollars last year and a quarter million dollars this year. We are focused on our staff, less waste of process and less waste of motion.”

It all came to fruition in May when C.E. White’s senior management team reached an agreement with Austin Capital Partners to purchase the company’s remaining shares from Kibler Street Investments. Everett joined Bob Knapp, the executive vice president of marketing, and Steve Frazee, director of commercial products and OEM development, as the company’s largest shareholders.

The company’s new vision was fostered by private equity firm Austin Capital Partners of Cleveland, a relationship that dates back to 2002. Darrell Austin is the managing general partner and an expert in mergers, acquisitions and capital investing for the likes of CitiCorp. Then there’s Benjamin Ammons, the former corporate executive vice president and an officer of Firestone Tire & Rubber Company, who is also CE White’s new chairman of the board while also serving as a board member and advisor to Austin Capital Partners. They have both played instrumental parts in helping increase investment in a company that has always valued customer as well as employee service.

“After we made this transition of buying out the private equity, our new chairman of the board is much more knowledgeable of the industry and is much more open to moving forward,” says Knapp.

Meeting that culture is a renewed dedication to technology, putting the backbone firmly in place to enable the company to realize more efficient and cost-effective means of doing business and improving the better bottom line while also improving the products. The company campus recently grew to 86,000 square feet, including a new 20,000 square-foot crash testing facility completed in 2006 that performs dynamic, compliance and destruction testing in customer vehicles at no additional charge, as the company stands behind an $11 million product liability clause. And this summer the company completed a seat assembly and distribution plant in Yoder, Kan., servicing west and midwest region customers.

“We’re not standing pat,” Frazee adds.

Giving the Customer What They Want

At this writing there remained many questions and few solid answers regarding a revised rule on school bus occupant protection by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, which was due out sometime early in 2009 if not sooner. In the meantime, NHTSA announced last summer it would be testing new school bus seats equipped with three-point lap/shoulder restraints to gauge compliance with FMVSS 222, the standard that ensures compartmentalization of students within the cushioned seating area during a crash. This protective envelope would be, in effect, strengthened by the fed’s potential requirement for mandatory lap/shoulder belts on all Type A school buses and a voluntary standard for all large school buses. Public comments have been ripe with calls for more testing by NHTSA to better determine how the occupant restraints would affect school bus construction in terms of seat anchorages.

While all of the major school bus body manufacturers have offered lap/shoulder belts as an option, for more than two years now the industry has had at its disposal a viable seating solution that is already in compliance with the proposed regulations. C.E. White introduced the first integrated child restraint system in 1994, and five years later it brought to market the first school bus three-point lap/shoulder belt bench seat when states like New York and New Jersey were passing laws requiring the two-point lap variety.

C.E. White was also the first school bus seat manufacturer to pass all federal requirements for not only FMVSS 222 but also FMVSS 210 and 213 as well as NHTSA’s proposed quasi-static testing, which gauges the crash forces upon both restrained and unrestrained passengers. In fact the company’s entire line of 30-, 36-, 39- and 45-inch bench seats equipped with lap/should restraints meet current or proposed federal regulations.

“We are continuing to move forward with improving our current product life, in R&D and testing,” says Knapp. “We’re also listening to our customers and improving not only our new products but the products that are coming to the market for the next generation.”

A-Z Bus Sales, Inc., located in Colton, Calif., about 60 miles east of Los Angeles, is one of the largest dealers of C.E. White seats, and its values are similar: customers come first. In fact, when entering the reception area at A-Z Bus headquarters, visitor are greeted by a plaque that describes the company’s goals of achieving mutual trust, respect and dedication to service that makes its relationship tick with C.E. White. Mission statements aside, A-Z Bus is as important to C.E. White for its location. California was the first to pass the three-point seat belt law for school buses, and C.E. White’s complete product line is popular among school district customers because of the options available for different seating configurations, says John Roselli, the new school bus manager at A-Z Bus. And in addition to the quality of products, there’s the company’s long-standing reputation in the school bus industry.

“They’re very responsive to A-Z’s and school districts’ needs … and they’re very active with NHTSA and other regulatory agencies,” he says. “They are an easy vendor to work with.”

One of A-Z Bus’ largest customers is Capistrano Valley Unified School District located about an hour’s drive away in Orange County.

“What we really like is the bus seats that have the car seats built in,” says Joe Feldman, manager of transportation support for Capistrano Valley, of C.E. White’s Integrated Child Safety Seat. “We can fill up with a group of high school kids and not take up room with car seats. Then we can go pick up the little (ones). It makes the bus really versatile.”

California state law makes three-point lap/shoulder restraints a requirement in all news buses, and Capo Valley, as the locals call it, took its first new delivery this summer. But so far so good, as that product diversity and ease of use has made the entire line of C.E. White seats especially popular among bus drivers running the district’s tiered routes.

“Drivers’ like them for that reason,” Feldman adds. “High school kids fit two per a seat and three younger kids fit per seat on the very next run. And for the little ones, just to have (car seats) built in like that, they can even seat kids who are relatively heavy.“I saw these seats and said, ‘We need to get them.’ They’re perfect for us. The buses are now so much more suited to our needs.”

“What (customers) are wanting is value with the product,” comments C.E. White’s Everett. “As a supplier, our goal is to keep bringing safe technology to the market and always leading (the way).

“And No. 1, we’re having fun doing it.”

Reprinted from the November 2008 issue of School Transportation News magazine. All rights reserved.