Letter from the President:

04/22/2010

If April showers bring May flowers, then we will have a whole lot of flowers popping up in May. With record rainfall in the Northeast as March came in like a lion (and went out like a lion instead of a lamb) we can celebrate the arrival of spring with a blossoming of the trade show and musical touring industries.     
I could use this entire page to be political, but what good would that do? Instead I choose to share with you what I consider the most important areas that businesses must pay attention to now and forever.    At dinner a few weeks back I asked a very successful, self made business acquaintance what he felt were the most important factors for staying in business in this environment.    His immediate response was ‘great products’ and ‘great customer service’.  Ok, so we all could have pretty much figured that out on our own, but it is reassuring to have a guy who runs a billion dollar company reinforce the message.  This is very Chauncey Gardnerish stuff here people.   
As a manufacturer, products are the beginning and the end; make them good and customers will be happy. Screw something up and they will be all over you. If the latter occurs you will now be judged on how quickly you remedy the problem with the least amount of foot dragging and finger pointing. At Calzone/Anvil we give ourselves headaches in our efforts to make sure we build our customers the case that will work for them.  To that end we continually strive to improve our efforts in the all important quality control efforts for the company.  From the initial contact with a customer to the shipment of his case our checks and balances help to assure the product meets the spec.   In other words we go the distance.  

Having just recently participated in my first half marathon in Dallas,  “The America’s Run 2010”, I am happy to say I went the distance.   It was quite an event with over 5,000 runners participating.  Troy Aikman also ran his first half and I wish I could report that I kicked his butt but truth be told he did beat me by a little bit.    But there is always next year, never give up never surrender.  The race started outside of the new Cowboys Stadium (as a sidebar, the old Texas Stadium was imploded the same morning) and wrapped the 13.1 miles around Arlington, ending up inside the stadium at the 50-yard line with some Cowboy Cheerleaders waiving you in to the finish. All of this was broadcast on the giant screens in the stadium.   Then of course in the Texas way a big party with lots of beer was held after the race.  

Running 13.1 miles is pretty easy in comparison to being in the custom case business.  However a lot of similarities can be made between the two.   Proper training and experience helps you to pace yourself in order to successfully complete the race.  So goes it with designing cases, manufacturing them and delivering on time.  In order to be consistent you have to draw upon your experiences in all aspects of the sales and manufacturing process.  We have to ask the right questions and understand the ways in which the cases will be used and by whom.  At times we have to become the Salvador Dali of the case world by taking every day and commonly used components and bending them into something totally different and cool.  

Since I brought it up, have any of you ever thought of road cases as art besides me?  Well, in the coming months we plan to unveil a new product that will be just about the coolest case you have ever seen.  It will be so cool you will want to have one just to put on display in your home or office.  Don’t worry; you will know when it is unveiled because it will not be kept a secret by any means. So for now enjoy the weather, and let’s work towards a successful business climate through the summer months and beyond.

Letter from the President:

01/06/2010

On behalf of all at Calzone and Anvil Cases, allow me to wish you a prosperous, healthy and safe New Year.

Having just concluded a two-week marathon of factory visits and customer house calls, I am happy to say that there is life after 2009 -albeit a fragile one. Let’s start on the left coast, shall we? The nature of our business brings us in touch with many diverse and interesting clients. Who hasn’t seen the Energizer Bunny hop across their flat screen? Well, guess who supplied the cases for the bunny and his drum so he could keep on going while on the Bunny Tour? That would be us. You’ve also seen the referee look into the shrouded hood of an instant replay case during an NFL game - guess who provided those to Sony, who in turn built them out for the NFL. Right again, we did it.

Many of these projects evolve from the West Coast, and our Anvil Case facility is right there to accept the challenge and take care of business. I made house calls to cinematography shops for cameras and lighting, major concert and event sound and lighting companies, power distribution houses, editing guys, and even a major automotive company’s racing division for motor cases. At every stop the mood was upbeat with many indicating much stronger bookings already for 2010. One client told me he has his best month ever booked for April 2010, and he was going to be buying lots of equipment.

The Anvil Cases team is ready, willing and able to accommodate almost anything that is thrown at them. We have recently put together our “A” Team, whose mission is to deliver rush orders no matter when the customer needs them. If we have to stay until midnight or work weekends so be it; the customer is king or queen.

Next stop Dallas, Texas. First course of business was to hook up with some friends who flew in from San Diego to watch their Chargers play the Cowboys. My friend is one of the most influential video integrators and installers in Southern California, and has been very helpful to me over the years with guidance and support. Be that as it may, he felt compelled to bet against his Chargers, so I took his money after the Chargers held on to win. We went to the game and did some tailgating, then entered the ‘House That Jerry Built’. I love football season because just about every NFL team uses our cases on the field. Both the Cowboys and Chargers had them all over the place. When the cameras pan to the sideline there is usually a Calzone or Anvil Case in the background. Nice … free advertising!

We do some pretty special work in Dallas - especially on the interior of cases - due to our CNC and water jet technology for those ‘hard to reach’ spots. The mood in Texas overall is strong, as this state is one that always seem to thrive even when the rest of the country may be in a tailspin. Some of the customers visited were Vari-Lite, the Dallas Cowboys, Lockheed and Syncrolite. We also fabricate the majority of our plastic case inserts in Dallas for such diverse customers as Medtronics, Gulfstream and NBC.

Now on to the Windy City, Chicago, to attend the Midwest Band and Orchestra Directors Trade Show. Upon landing it was a balmy 10 degrees! I guess this was as good a way as any to work my way back to the Northeast for the holidays. We shared a booth with our distributor for the iSeries band and orchestral instruments case line. The show was held for the first time ever in the McCormick Convention Center, rather than the Hilton Hotel where it had been held for more than 30 years. The attendance was very good with many high school, college and military directors as well as equipment managers and the all important musicians roaming about. All of the booths allow the players to try the equipment out - as long as they had their own mouthpiece to use. There were some fantastic young players in attendance trying out everything from trumpets to sousaphones, marimbas, tubas and parade drums. I recall many a trade show in Chicago back in the day when the Summer NAMM Show was held there. What a great city, even when - as Ron White would say – ‘there is no temperature’, because the thermometer reads zero.

The tempo of the show was strong, the attitude good and as the folks from the Yamaha booth indicated customers are buying equipment, another indicator that 2010 is going to be a better year than the one we just finished. But how good is the question?

Finally after three days in Chi town it was back to Connecticut via my worst nightmare, JFK International Airport. If the delays don’t get you the drive home will, especially on a Friday at rush hour. The normal drive time home is about 1.15 hours but on this wonderfully cold and snowy night it took three hours. Oh the joys of winter travel. But to paraphrase the words of the great Martin Luther King, ‘Home at last, home at last, thank God Almighty home at last’.
Stay tuned for next month’s newsletter when I share some of the cool things we have been doing at the Mothership in Bridgeport, CT.

Happy New Year and success in 2010.

Joe Calzone

P.S. Keep an eye out for Anvil Cases in the New Alvin and the Chimpmunks:The Squeakuel