Tom Gardner Runs Ohio Bush Into The Ground

Make no mistake, Tom Gardner destroyed the family business.

"Owned and Operated by the Gardner family for four generations and located in Cleveland, Ohio since 1879, the Ohio Brush Company has been manufacturing innovative, high quality products for industrial and hardware markets.

As of 2014 Felton Brushes Limited acquired the assets and brush-making ability of The Ohio Brush Company."

You had access to the company financials going back 10 or more years?

A company established in 1879 and sold [not liquidated] in

Entire semesters in Bschool are devoted to company case studies, and conclusions change, as more information about not only the company's operations, but perhaps more importantly the socioeconomy in which the company has/had to operate becomes available.

NAFTA, and later the WTO, are two of the more likely suspects, not only for the direct product competition these allowed, but perhaps more serious, the liquidation of the company's customer base, as it makes no difference how good your product is, or how quick the delivery, if you have no customers...

As I had suggested before, you need to work on your people skills, and avoid jumping to conclusions based on little or no data.

I have no kids and am getting old. I took the best of three deals that has worked out well except for the building that I still own. But, just now I have it leased with a positive cash flow and a Ohio State road project coming through here in a couple of years, and all my employees dispersed to other companies in the area in my industry. So, let the wife-beater say what he may, he lies so often that nobody believes a word he says anyway. I still kept the machine shop and am doing small projects and consulting for other companies in my industry, there are a bunch around here and in Milwaukee.

Congratulations on your successful transition into semi-retirement in a tough industry and "interesting financial times". Wishing you good health and a Merry Christmas and happy 2015.

Thanks, I'm happy that the product line I developed will continue and was sought after by three companies! I didn't get filthy rich but I can retire fairly comfortably. I've been looking to retire for a few years now.

Kudos, sir. I give you the clap.

That's as it should be. Mil/billionaires generally suck.

Your competitors have been eagerly awaiting that, too. ;)

================ A professional is someone who always knows when [and how] to quit.

Many large corporations such as J C Penny, Sears/K-mart, and Radio Shack are still in denial [not de river in Egypt] about the fact that corporations are "mortal," and deserve a "death with dignity," rather than [very expensive and ultimately highly disruptive, e. g. bond defaults and credit default swaps] "heroic measures," and life support, in an attempt to avoid or delay the inevitable.

Sounds like you made a good job of it, and helping your employees to find other employment shows good company "citizenship." [shame this isn't more common] You are to be commended in minimizing the community and employee "undertow" that is common when a long established business is terminated.

I hope you will stay active in the group as I always enjoy your posts, although I may disagree with them from time to time.

Best wishes on your consulting and prototyping activities.

Congratulations, Tom! Enjoy retirement, I am. Off to Balcones Canyonlands NWR tomorrow with two of my sons for a drawn hunt. Lots of hog and deer sign while scouting today.

Pete Keillor

Thanks! If I had kids...so I adopted some bull-headed Canadians instead.

A few random points.

1. Ohio Brush "assets" were sold. I could not find any bankruptcy case for "Ohio Brush" and it does not seem to be insolvent. It is an active corporation in Ohio.

1. Companies buying one another is as normal as the sun rusing every morning, it is a feature of capitalism.

2. Finding a successful buyer of all assets is a sign that the assets are employed in a manner that the presumably diligent buyer expects to bring profit for him. Another sign of at least some successful operation.

1. The truly basket case companies, which I see every week, cannot find buyers for business as a whole, cannot find a buyer for all business assets, and are sold piecemeal to scrappers and resellers.

2. That said, Ohio Brush does not seem to be at the pinnacle of its success and, I presume, has seen better days in its past 135 years.

1. It is very difficult to find and run a business that consistently brings above average profits, over a long span, due to intense competition. It is healthy for all buyers of products and services, but causes constant "churn", where various players enter and leave the scene of business.

2. It is much better to sell or liquidate a subpar business, than to beat your head against the wall in a never ending struggle to keep it afloat.

I think that most people here recognize that Tom has been headed for retirement for a long while, and that this is just the machinations of selling a business and detaching yourself. My parents sold their businesses, too. If "good will" is an element of the valuation -- and I'd guess that it was in Tom's case -- it can get sticky.

Notice who is trying to give him a hard time here. Things must be slow on LinkedIn.

Somehow, that doesn't sound like "running it into the ground".

I'm still trying to turn my business into something more than a gilt frame around me, so that when I retire I'll have something to sell that's worth spit.

So -- congratulations from me, too, and feel free to brush off any criticism you get.

("Brush." Get it? Yuk yuk yuk.)

Did you check to see if anyone in Ohio ever heard of San Diego Brush?

Hey, Jon, have you found work yet? Maybe with HSMWorks?

==================================

"Who I'm working with to deliver what truly will be the next generation of CAM:

"I understand why your shop did not go with HSMWorks. We have a lot of work to do." -Jon Banquer-

"Jon is not affiliated with HSMWorks ApS in any way and that we cannot control what people are writing on the web. Anybody can get evaluation licenses of HSMWorks and test it themselves. I hope this clarifies any doubt." - HSMWorks ApS -

Oops....'guess that didn't work out.

I guess Tom's success has made that Wanquer fellow "bristle" with envy......

Thanks, it only took me 43 years to get that Bronze parachute!

Yabbut, you came away with a big brass set of lesbian balls, too. That shows your high creativity level. It's something that li'l wanquer will never have, in either case.

Wrong. Millionaires and billionaires regularly check with all authorities including lawyers and accountants and they keep up with who and what goes on in their industry in a highly regularly scheduled manner. Notice how I keep saying the phrase "regularly scheduled"?

As a result you claim they suck? How is that? Because they've gotten good results from being responsible? As a matter of fact, why do people talk to a mental brick wall like you Larry, huh? Why?

Uh, Jon, that was YOUR bullshit, spewed from your prolific fantasy machine and archived for eternity by your many little friends. d8-)

If you want some cheap entertainment, Google "Jon Banquer" and follow the slime trail.

BTW, somebody seems to have associated your avatar with the Powesseve.A! trojan. Was that you, by any chance?

How many of them are from your many sock puppets, Jon?

What you did is to claim you "worked with them," that you and HSMWorks had "lots of work to do," when you had nothing to do with them at all. What you had done is to download the free version of their software and then complain about the functions in the paid version that aren't in the free version.

That's one of your common pathological patterns.

Why you bother to post here, after you declared that Usenet users are all "losers," including yourself in the process, of course, is something only a psychologist could answer.

If all you want to do is to complain and put people down, while posting naked links to others' YouTube videos and claiming them as your "contributions," there's no doubt that you could make a bigger contribution by staying in your LinkedIn group, where you can delete posts that call you on your bullshit, and con people into believing you know what you're talking about.

It's a much better place for you. Here, you'll always be a loser, and you'll never be able to talk your way out of it. We've seen you at work.

Speaking of which, have you found a job that pays, or are you stuck giving away free publicity to CAD/CAM salesmen?