Jeff Docalavich serves as Chief Financial Officer of Jefferson Wells International, Inc. Mr. Docalavich over 20 years of financial and information technology leadership. He served as Vice President of Finance and Business Operations for a division of Rockwell Automation, leading all finance functions.
BELOW IS OUR INTERVIEW WITH MR. DOCALAVICH
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* All answers have been paraphrased. Full transcript and recording located at the bottom of the page.
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What category of customers do you focus your business or products towards?
So there are really two categories. We have our normal consumers who may go to Home Depot and purchase a lock. Then we have our other set of customers who may own businesses or run construction sites. For the normal consumer, we would sell them regular locks that may go on a gym locker or something of the sort. For businesses or construction sites, we would sell them larger, heavy duty locks because they usually have to lock up large, valuable equipment.
Do you do any business with the government and the military?
Yeah we do some. Most of what we do with the government is for the individual soldiers. Mainly locks for their footlockers etc.. We also will make locks for electric spaces and places where they want to keep people away. The government definitely is a customer of ours, just not a very huge one.
Approximately how many people are employed by your business in Milwaukee?
In Milwaukee we have about 500 people in our manufacturing facility, and then 200 in our headquarters. So in total, in Milwaukee we have 700 employees.
What would you say that your economic impact is on Milwaukee in terms of providing jobs and benefits to your employees here?
Well I mean we employ 700 people. The average employee probably makes about $60,000. Along with this, we tend to use local suppliers when we purchase new machinery etc.. So all in all, we make a pretty decent impact on the city.
How big would you say is the overall market for your product?
Thats always tough for us to engage. But we think in the US, thats its about a billion dollar market. Globally, we think its probably about a 6 or 7 billion dollar market.
Approximately what fraction/percent of your sales is to people within the city, and then in the state and nationwide?
I dont know that off the top of my head. I can tell you, however, that about 9 or 10 percent of our revenue comes from the Midwest region.
Could you give us an estimate of your company’s annual revenue growth during the past 5 years?
4%
How has the technology boom of the last decade or so helped your company grow?
Yeah, we’ve seen it in a couple ways. More, technology has really helped us from an efficiency standpoint, to make stuff cheaper. Another thing we’ve seen that have been a little bit harder to adopt is putting newer technology in our product, like having a padlock that you can open with your cellphone.
Can you speak to how the recession of late has affected your company?
Its definitely slowed down our growth. People aren’t buying as much so we arent investing as much. Along with this, we were forced to move about 1000 jobs out of Milwaukee down to Mexico.
In some of the other interviews we've conducted, people mentioned that due to the recession they’ve had a chance to revamp their business structure. Would you say that Masterlock has done this too?
I wouldn't say we’ve revamped our business structure. The only thing somewhat related to that is we’ve spent more time thinking about how we can sell stuff outside of the US because we have a much lower market share internationally. So basically what’s changed is we’re investing, we’re trying to grow overseas more so than we’re trying to grow in the US right now.
Where do you see your company in 5, 10, or 20 years?
I think technology is going to be in much more of our products. I think there’s going to be far more mechanical/electrical stuff. Stuff like opening padlocks with your cell phone or opening your doors on your house with cellphones. I think thats the type of thing I see coming in our future. The only issue is getting people to pay for it.
How big do you think your company will be able to grow in the next 5-20 years due to the technology that you’ll be integrating in your new products?
I think over the next 5 years were going to be able to grow 5 or 6 percent a year.
So there are really two categories. We have our normal consumers who may go to Home Depot and purchase a lock. Then we have our other set of customers who may own businesses or run construction sites. For the normal consumer, we would sell them regular locks that may go on a gym locker or something of the sort. For businesses or construction sites, we would sell them larger, heavy duty locks because they usually have to lock up large, valuable equipment.
Do you do any business with the government and the military?
Yeah we do some. Most of what we do with the government is for the individual soldiers. Mainly locks for their footlockers etc.. We also will make locks for electric spaces and places where they want to keep people away. The government definitely is a customer of ours, just not a very huge one.
Approximately how many people are employed by your business in Milwaukee?
In Milwaukee we have about 500 people in our manufacturing facility, and then 200 in our headquarters. So in total, in Milwaukee we have 700 employees.
What would you say that your economic impact is on Milwaukee in terms of providing jobs and benefits to your employees here?
Well I mean we employ 700 people. The average employee probably makes about $60,000. Along with this, we tend to use local suppliers when we purchase new machinery etc.. So all in all, we make a pretty decent impact on the city.
How big would you say is the overall market for your product?
Thats always tough for us to engage. But we think in the US, thats its about a billion dollar market. Globally, we think its probably about a 6 or 7 billion dollar market.
Approximately what fraction/percent of your sales is to people within the city, and then in the state and nationwide?
I dont know that off the top of my head. I can tell you, however, that about 9 or 10 percent of our revenue comes from the Midwest region.
Could you give us an estimate of your company’s annual revenue growth during the past 5 years?
4%
How has the technology boom of the last decade or so helped your company grow?
Yeah, we’ve seen it in a couple ways. More, technology has really helped us from an efficiency standpoint, to make stuff cheaper. Another thing we’ve seen that have been a little bit harder to adopt is putting newer technology in our product, like having a padlock that you can open with your cellphone.
Can you speak to how the recession of late has affected your company?
Its definitely slowed down our growth. People aren’t buying as much so we arent investing as much. Along with this, we were forced to move about 1000 jobs out of Milwaukee down to Mexico.
In some of the other interviews we've conducted, people mentioned that due to the recession they’ve had a chance to revamp their business structure. Would you say that Masterlock has done this too?
I wouldn't say we’ve revamped our business structure. The only thing somewhat related to that is we’ve spent more time thinking about how we can sell stuff outside of the US because we have a much lower market share internationally. So basically what’s changed is we’re investing, we’re trying to grow overseas more so than we’re trying to grow in the US right now.
Where do you see your company in 5, 10, or 20 years?
I think technology is going to be in much more of our products. I think there’s going to be far more mechanical/electrical stuff. Stuff like opening padlocks with your cell phone or opening your doors on your house with cellphones. I think thats the type of thing I see coming in our future. The only issue is getting people to pay for it.
How big do you think your company will be able to grow in the next 5-20 years due to the technology that you’ll be integrating in your new products?
I think over the next 5 years were going to be able to grow 5 or 6 percent a year.
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Biography Source: "Jeff Docalavich: Executive Profile & Biography." Bloomberg.com. Bloomberg, n.d. Web. 10 Feb. 2015.
Logo Source: http://uncrate.com/p/2012/07/masterlock-dialspeed-xl.jpg