Page 187 - BWM March 2013

March 2013 | Business World Magazine | 187
ing industry, Peterson Spring has been able
to adapt those innovations to benefit other
industries, and Lowe says this factor will
help drive further success for the company.
He is also encouraged by current market dy-
namics, which have shifted from not so long
ago when companies began relying more on
foreign manufacturers in an attempt to save
money. As Lowe says, “We have seen some
business lost to Asia, but we have also won
some business in Asia. In the past, some
customers moved their business overseas
for the cost advantage, but found, after a
couple years, those cost advantages erode,
because wages have gone up, transportation
costs have gone up, and their quality is go-
ing down. The value that was perceived to be
there is gone.”
In recent years, he says the company has
seen business returning to America. While
that has worked to the company’s advantage,
so too have conditions relating to economic
downturn. Lowe says the great recession ul-
timately eliminated some competition and
there are, overall, fewer springmakers operat-
ing than there were in 2007. “The strong sur-
vived and got stronger as a result,” says Lowe.
By continuing to foster innovation from all
employees, invest in state-of-the-art tech-
nology and tools that facilitate new appli-
cations for their products, and maintaining
undeterred discipline in all aspects of service
and production, Lowe says Peterson Spring
is poised to brilliantly build upon their 100
year legacy of performance. And in this case,
that confidence and faith is much like one
poet’s reference to hope - it springs eternal.