Robert Mertz walks around the Time Manufacturing workplace, waving and verbally greeting employees. The 6-foot-8 former Notre Dame defensive his lineman stands above the crowd like a product of Time.
The aerial platform and bucket truck maker is ramping up production on the 7601 Imperial Drive, hiring it to start its third shift and closing its backlog by next summer.
With 600 local jobs, Time Manufacturing may hire another 50 people yesterday, said Bruce Hart, vice president of human resources. He said he remembers when at Waco he had a full roster of 350 employees. International demand from utility companies and foreign governments is increasing.
Lifts and working platforms that stretch hundreds of feet into the sky are manufactured, tested and shipped from multiple Time facilities across Imperial Drive. The vice president of manufacturing, Mertz, starts walking on concrete floors early on to check on progress and literally and figuratively measure the temperature of the work environment. Martz was his 30-year manufacturing veteran who turned to making things when his knee injury cut short his NFL career. Most of his family lives in the Midwest. But Martz’s job takes him everywhere, including Mexico and Texas.
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Martz hails from Big Tex Trailers, a global company headquartered in small Mount Pleasant in northeast Texas. Mertz, with a laugh, recalls his first week on the job there. What Maltz believed was a sunny welcome to Lone Star State was interrupted by heavy snow.
“I thought, ‘You guys lied to me,'” Mertz said with a smile.
Mertz joined the company in 2017, coinciding with the appointment of longtime Time Manufacturing executive Jay Jeffrey as president and chief commercial officer. As fans may remember, Jeffrey was a quarterback for Baylor University in 1980, when the Bears won his conference in the Southwest in his 10-win season. Jeffrey is a member of the Baylor University Athletic Hall of Fame.
As you can imagine, Martz loves college football. With Geoffrey as a colleague, he finds tickets to Baylor’s games readily available. It’s worth it, he said, and he’s impressed with the team under head coach Dave Aranda.
Martz’s task when he arrived at Time was to bring the manufacturing plant into shape. According to the time information sheet, Martz passed the test and “the manufacturing process has since become state-of-the-art while improving yields.”
Senior management, including Mertz, has created a lean manufacturing system focused on what the company calls “first time quality.” Versalift equipment must leave the factory with zero defects. This means your customers can use it right away. Teams track quality, cost, delivery, customer satisfaction and efficiency to evaluate processes and empower every employee to contribute to success.
The new software will allow Time/Versalift personnel to access customer records from one source, potentially reducing confusion and mixed signals. Another system provides managers with real-time data and information about decisions made and targets set by management.
Robert Mertz, Time’s vice president of manufacturing, looks at the equipment at Waco’s facility on Imperial Drive.
Jerry Larson, Tribune Herald
Back at the Waco factory on a muggy Thursday, Martz noted that the laser beam was cutting the steel pattern at a speed of 70 inches per minute. He said the factory has 40 welding stations. He said lifts sold in China and Europe have different color schemes and safety requirements. Locally manufactured Thyme His lift can extend as much as 200 feet into the air. A German affiliate manufactures 300 feet that work with wind turbines. Mertz wonders aloud whether logistics and demand justify opening a similar factory in the United States.
Mertz said pay-at-time manufacturing is competitive. He said he was aware many employers offered $15 an hour. described as low. He said the turnover rate is the highest among assemblers.
Like other industries, time manufacturing has suffered from supply chain problems. But Hart said the situation is improving. One of his biggest challenges is finding people to work on the production line. Half are considered to have little or no experience. Time continues to view Texas State Technical College as a resource, not just in Waco, but on campuses throughout the state.
Time makes equipment for power and telecommunications companies, bridge inspectors and tree fellers. Specialty products include bucket trucks, drilling derricks, cable placers and truck bodies. It has a board of directors, an office in Denmark serving Europe, 2,600 employees and 300 service centers. As a privately held company, we are not required to disclose financial information.
Long owned by O’Flaherty Holdings Limited, Time Manufacturing was acquired by The Sterling Group, a Houston-based private equity firm, in 2017. He then focused on acquisitions including Aspen Aerials, Cannon Truck Equipment, OG Hughes and Sons, and MAP Enterprises, Time reports.
The company last year acquired Ruthmann, a manufacturer of working platforms for the European market. He also acquired his CALCO Equipment, now called Versalift Canada, and offers sales, service and financing in the country.
Late last year, Time was acquired by private equity firm HIG Capital. Time CEO Curt Howell said the acquisition would strengthen the company.
This summer, Time acquired France Elevateur, a European aerial platform manufacturer. We serve the markets of Belgium, Holland, Luxembourg, Ireland, Eastern France and Spain.
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