Award-Winning Firm Lights Up Customer Service
When some of Ernest Ohlig’s customers had difficulty installing high-tech lighting equipment he had sold them, Ohlig knew exactly what to do.
The chairman and founder of Irvine-based Olec Corp. dispatched an engineer to help the customers--in England and Finland.
Premier service has long been the hallmark of Olec, reflecting the founder’s philosophy that the customer is king. That commitment is expressed in myriad ways, both big and small. The best parking spaces at company headquarters are reserved for visitors. Clients have up to six months to request a full refund on most products, a rarity in the industry, Ohlig says.
And for only 30% of the cost of a new system, customers can exchange their used lighting unit after five years for a fully refurbished, technologically advanced one.
“Our customers pay our paychecks, so we treat them like they own the company,” said Ohlig, 71.
The effort is paying off for the manufacturer of lighting systems for the printing and printed circuit board industries. Olec’s clients include such corporate giants as Fuji Photo Film U.S.A. Inc., DuPont and Eastman Kodak. Eighty percent of all computer hard disk drives contain Olec equipment, Ohlig says.
Last year, the company’s operating profits increased 18% to $4.5 million from $3.8 million in 1997, while revenue rose 25% to $50 million from $40 million.
The company’s successes also caught the attention of the Small Business Administration, which has named Ohlig its Small Business Person of the Year in the Santa Ana district.
“Ernest Ohlig is a trailblazer in his industry,” SBA district director Sandy Sutton said. “Olec’s cutting-edge equipment appears in everything from the newspapers you read to the computer you use.”
Ohlig is one of five entrepreneurs and small-business advocates who will be honored May 19 at a luncheon at the Riverside Convention Center, part of SBA’s 36th annual Small Business Week Award competition. The Santa Ana district encompasses Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino counties.
At first blush, German-born Ohlig seems the very embodiment of Old World tradition. His demeanor, like his no-nonsense shirt-and-tie combo, exudes conservatism. Employees--even those who have worked for him for years--address him as Mr. Ohlig.
But that fustiness belies a dynamic businessman who has expanded his company through a combination of acquisition and innovation. Over the years, Olec has snapped up high-tech companies around the country, including photo processing and screen printing equipment manufacturers, to augment its product line.
Internally, the company’s engineers work hard to refine and add to Olec’s offerings. Exports, which now account for 40% of sales, have also fueled growth. In fact, the company has nearly outgrown the 82,000-square-foot headquarters and manufacturing plant little more than two years after moving there.
Business might be booming, but Ohlig has little time to luxuriate. “A company that stands still goes down,” he said. “We’re being chased by our competitors and have to stay in front. You run a lot faster when dogs are chasing you.”
Olec, like many small businesses, is a family affair. Ohlig’s two sons, Bert Ohlig, 44, and Donald Ohlig, 43, serve as president and executive vice president, respectively. Lottie Ohlig, the “heart of the company,” according to husband Ernest, is vice president. The four Ohligs are sole owners of Olec, which stands for Ohlig Light and Electronic Controls.
They work well together because “we focus on our different strengths and skills instead of stepping on each other’s toes,” President Bert Ohlig says. The senior Ohlig is a self-described “vision person” who spins out the grand ideas. Bert Ohlig, an “engineering genius,” in his father’s words, helps design equipment, among other duties. Donald Ohlig, a math whiz with an MBA from UC Irvine, is de facto chief financial officer. Lottie Ohlig works as unofficial auditor.
But family transcends simple blood ties, the elder Ohlig insists. He beams like a proud parent when speaking of employees and encourages those with newborns to bring them to work to show them off. Although Ohlig doesn’t share equity with them, he does divvy up the wealth. Olec’s profit-sharing plan pays out an average of 40% of the profits to workers, which keeps them motivated and holds down turnover.
In addition to showing them the money, Ohlig shows employees the books. The company holds quarterly meetings with workers to discuss its financial performance, information most private firms guard like precious gems.
Ohlig believes open-book management aligns employees’ interests with the company’s. If Olec has a rough year, for instance, employees know exactly what went wrong and what must change. “This is not some secret society,” Ohlig said. “Everybody knows what’s going on here.”
Ernest and Bert Ohlig founded Olec in 1977 with less than $10,000 in savings. The pair, nicknamed “Bert and Ernie” after the Sesame Street characters, couldn’t afford to rent an office and initially toiled in the living room of Ernest and Lottie Ohlig’s Costa Mesa home.
At the time, Ernest Ohlig was 49 and had lost his job selling strobe lights. With prospects for future employment dim, he decided to start a company and make himself boss. With more than 30 years’ experience in the industry, he gravitated toward the lighting business. The first product--lighting controls for cameras.
Twenty-two years later, Olec and its six wholly owned subsidiaries employ 425 workers at seven locations. (Manufacturers with fewer than 500 employees are considered small businesses.)
But success has not come without a price. Three years ago, Ernest Ohlig suffered two strokes and nearly died from a bleeding ulcer.
“It was a sign from above,” Ohlig said. “The message was, ‘Hey buddy, slow down.’ ” He heeded the advice.
He has since slimmed down, hired a personal trainer and reduced the number of hours at the office. “I used to work 70 to 75 hours a week” he said, “but now I work only 50.”
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Small-Business Winners
Olec Corp. founder Ernest Ohlig is one of five entrepreneurs or small-business advocates to receive awards this year from the Small Business Administration’s Santa Ana district.
Ohlig was named Business Person of the Year. Other winners in the district, which encompasses Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino counties:
* Women in Business Advocate of the Year: Alice Lei, 48, president and founder of Nightingale Technology in Huntington Beach, a provider of engineering and consulting services to the aerospace and medical equipment industries. She is education chair for the Orange County chapter of the National Assn. of Women Business Owners, which has joined with the Orange County Transportation Authority, Cal State Fullerton and UC Irvine to sponsor seminars and provide mentoring for female business owners and aspiring entrepreneurs.
* Welfare to Work: Jay Burke, general manager and founder of Protective Services Inc., a private security company in Anaheim that has hired 21 welfare recipients over the past five years.
* Financial Services Advocate of the Year: Nancy DeCou, vice president of Desert Community Bank in Victorville, who has advocated regulatory changes in the financial services industry to assist small firms.
* Small Business Advocate of the Year: Riverside Mayor Ronald Loveridge, who encouraged the city to establish a micro-loan program to provide funding to local small businesses and undertook other initiatives to help local small firms.
Ernest Ohlig’s Keys to Running a Successful Business
* Love your customers. “Always do more than you’re expected to do. Always do more than you’re paid to do. If you do that, customers will remember you and come back.”
* Love your employees: “If you treat people well, they will be honest and loyal to you.”
* Be cutting-edge: “You have to be aware of the best new technologies out there to improve your products and remain competitive.”
* Talk to the experts: “Ask your employees for input on safety, financial and work issues. They know the company.”
