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Ward/Kraft Inc. repeats history of delivering orders by plane
In June 1981, Tom Bilyeu, founder of Tabco Business Forms Inc., a distributorship in Terre Haute, Ind., was caught in a tough situation. One of the company’s customers—a computer service bureau that imprinted tax forms for a local municipality—required an exact repeat of the forms—urgently. The bureau had received erroneous information that was imprinted on the 3-part continuous tax forms with carbon. Tabco received the call from the client at around 10 p.m. on a Monday. Bilyeu wasn’t accustomed to saying, “We can’t help you” to the client, who also was a good friend. He sought the help of Ward/Kraft Inc., the manufacturer that supported Bilyeu with a variety of products and services when he started the distributorship in 1978.
Harold Kraft, co-founder of Ward/Kraft, was visiting the company’s Fredericktown, Ohio, plant when Bilyeu called. After consulting with his customer service and production teams, Kraft asked the plant employees to immediately start working on the job. On Tuesday, Kraft flew in his 6-seat plane—a Cessna pressurized 210—and delivered the forms to Bilyeu at the Terre Haute International Airport on his way back to Kansas. The client received the corrected forms by 4 p.m. on Tuesday.
This event further solidified the relationship between the manufacturer and the distributor. To show his appreciation, Bilyeu asked his friend Pete Johnson to make a caricature of Kraft and his plane. Today, copies of the caricature are displayed in all the nine divisions of Ward/Kraft.
Kraft and his son Roger, current CEO at Ward/Kraft, have been aviation enthusiasts for years, an interest that also has helped their business. The company owns two planes—a BeechJet N462CW (8-seater) and a Cirrus N8135B (4-seater)—that are parked in hangars at the Fort Scott Municipal Airport in Kan. The manufacturer uses the planes to conduct its W/K On Site program. Its sales teams fly to distributors nationwide and discuss the latest technologies, products and markets. Ward/Kraft employs three pilots who fly the planes Tuesday and Thursday each week to visit distributors. The pilots also are trained to make sales calls and presentations.
Flash Forward
Last December, almost 25 years later, Tabco and Ward/Kraft worked together again to provide a timely delivery to one of Tabco’s clients. The client wanted 35,000 4-color laminated card and key fob combinations of 30 mil composite material with bar code and human readable numbers. The client needed the product by Jan. 7 for a time-sensitive mailing for a local TV station. But Tabco received the order on Dec. 19 and the industry standard to deliver such a card and key fob combination is up to six weeks. “This order came in before Christmas and New Year’s,” says Michael Del Chiaro, president of Ward/Kraft. “This was also in the middle of the gift card season. We were in midst of the busiest time of the year and in between holidays.”
Kris Bilyeu, vice president and one of Tom’s two sons involved with Tabco, called Amy Clark, office manager of the Ohio sales team, about the job. Kris called other manufacturers, too, but says, “We went with Ward/Kraft because of our relationship. I knew that they would meet the delivery. I knew that they would do whatever they needed to take care of us.”
Ward/Kraft delivered the cards in 10 production days. It used an HP Indigo 3050 press and high-speed laminating and die cutting equipment to produce a true plastic composite product in medium to long runs. “We’ve always done short run cards, but now with composite technology and high-speed laminating and die cutting, we can offer variable imaging, photo quality, high-volume plastic cards,” Del Chiaro says.
Ward/Kraft employees worked during the holidays and weekends to complete the job. “That’s who we are,” Del Chiaro says. “We found a way to do it through a yes-we-can attitude. Members of Ward/Kraft knew how important it was to the distributor. But even that wasn’t fast enough—we had to use a plane to ship the cards there on time.” Troy Duprey, general manager at Ward/Kraft’s Commercial Division, loaded up the BeechJet and personally delivered the cards to Tom Bilyeu, his sons Brad and Kris, and grandson Mark at the Terre Haute International Airport.
—Preeti Vasishtha