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Weekly UpdatesThe embodiment of an attitude common in this province, McMartin puts it this way: "We don't toot our horn much."
Agreeing to do an interview for this story was a big step for him, bending a philosophy predicated on keeping a low profile formed partly through personality as well as lessons garnered on the entrepreneurial journey.
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He recalls a day when he bought a bankrupt business that listed among its assets a building he wanted, the receiver handling the transactions commented that many failed enterprises he liquidated had shelves filled with awards. The point was not lost on McMartin who is more interested in profit than recognition. In wrapping up the story, he harkens back to a line from legendary Regina entrepreneur Wilf Degelman, the closest thing McMartin had to a mentor in business. Degelman's wisdom went something like this: Some people go for the silk, others for sales. Like Degelman, McMartin prefers the pursuit of sales over attention.
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McMartin's company, Hold-On Industries at Aberdeen, is another of those fabled Saskatchewan manufacturing operations, deeply rooted in the agricultural sector and exhibiting a remarkable level of ingenuity in product design and development. He makes plastic products destined for the agricultural and recreational markets.
Raised on a family farm at Elfros, his first job was in agricultural implement sales. Soon, he found himself "tired of working for other people."
"So I started a business."
Along with his sales experience McMartin also carried a pressure welding ticket so it seemed natural that he would combine all aspects of his experience--farming, welding and sales--into the new venture.
The company's first facility was at Vonda where he produced a three-point hitch which was followed by a three-in-one potato planter, hiller and digger as well as steel water tanks. Incidentally, the potato hiller remains popular with farmers from New Brunswick to California. He also had a small retail shop in Vonda in the early days but soon set it aside when the operation was relocated to Aberdeen in 1989, 10 years after the doors first opened. Today the business operates from a plant on a farm midway between Aberdeen and Saskatoon, land that also affords McMartin with a place to test new concepts or equipment.
That first decade was one highlighted by change.
Problems related to rust forming on the steel water tanks prompted him to explore American developments in plastic versions of the tanks. Quickly converted to the new concept, Hold-On soon was on a new strategic path, one built on plastics rather than steel.
One of the first efforts at diversification resulted in the company adding docks in the 1980s.
"When the farm economy went kapoots we went into plastics in the '80s and have been growing ever since," explains McMartin.
Today the company serves a very diverse set of clients marketing everything from plastic ice huts to pontoons, docks and dock accessories to water tanks, agricultural and livestock equipment to sheds and garden accessories.
Along with its proprietary lines, Hold-On manufacturers components for other manufacturers including tanks for RV makers.
"We do some custom work but not a lot," he offers, noting that his plant is one of the few CSA-approved plastics facilities in Western Canada. "Ninety-nine per cent of our stuff we make."
This designation hasn't opened the door to export sales, however. The company used to sell into the U.S. but, when SGI discontinued his company's liability insurance for export activity, McMartin withdrew from the American market five years ago and now focuses exclusively on Canadian buyers.
Consequently he doesn't ride the same roller coaster as Saskatchewan manufacturers reliant on export buyers when the Canadian dollar goes up. In fact, a higher Canadian dollar is actually good for his business because it reduces the cost of inputs such as components bought in the U.S. or plastic which is affected by oil prices. About the only problem with a higher Canadian dollar, McMartin offers, is the influx of American competitors if the American dollar gets too weak.
Although the company has chosen to restrict its activity to the smaller domestic market than the larger arena offered by exporting, it has not inhibited McMartin's ability to come up with new products.
And how does he select his next line? Is it in-depth research followed by extensive development processes, focus groups and consumer testing? Not really. It's a much more personal process for McMartin who relies on his own personal needs to determine what the next product will be.
"If you need it, you build it," he explains. "Because if you need it, probably somebody else does too. I'm a good consumer."
At age 56, McMartin jokingly adds that he probably should have retired already but, because he's such a good consumer, he can't because he spent too much money along the way.
Development of new lines today is restricted by the company's ability to set aside time to attend trade shows to present the new line to prospective customers. So, rather than broaden his offering, McMartin prefers to refine existing offerings "more so than to bring on new lines. We used to go into different markets. Now we concentrate on a few markets," he says.
"It takes three years to bring a new product to market. That's for the next generation. I've done my share."
Whether that next generation includes another McMartin is a work in progress. His son has been working for Hold-On off and on for years and presently is on the payroll while taking a break from a different career pursuit. But he's not sure if his son will opt to follow in his footsteps.
"He's seeing if he likes it," offers Dad who isn't pushing his child one way or the other.
While he's there, however, he will be enjoying the benefit of working at the side of a man who, after 30 years at the helm of his own enterprise, can draw upon a range of experiences to formulate a philosophy about being an entrepreneur, concepts designed to focus the business on some basic tenets that can sometimes be counter intuitive.
Here are some examples of Floyd McMartinisms.
"In good times you get used to things walking in the door. If you get a little bump in the market, you're not ready for it."
Or ... "if you're working overtime, you're making money."
Or ... "in good times, costs go up and you don't make as much money."
Or ... "we don't toot our own horn."
Or ... on his motivation ... "An old school teacher told me I'd fail and that's always in the back of my mind."
Another of those practical developments was the decision early in his career to shift from a product line based on steel to plastics.
"Funny," he says. "I got pressure tickets but plastics was easier."
So he started by designing and installing his own oven to form the plastic. Since then the company has grown and, secretive as always, McMartin conceded only that "now we've got a whole bunch."
The company's website reports that "the tough years in the '80s meant he had to diversify and the plastic recreation line was developed. It was a sound decision and between the plastic tank business and the plastic dock systems that were developed later, they became the bread and butter income for this fledgling company. When other agricultural companies were closing their doors, Hold-On was holding its own."
Oh, and by the way, where does the Hold-On name come from?
McMartin says it came from one of his earliest products, a clip that attached to the side of a grain box to hold a shovel. It would 'hold on' to the shovel. Similarly he manufactured a three-point hitch to 'hold' attachments onto a tractor. It all holds together.
People People People
Like many other manufacturers in the province McMartin and Hold-On wrestle with the challenges of finding workers in rural Saskatchewan.
Employing anywhere from 12 to 25 workers, depending on the season, Hold-On relies on its ability to find talent in its immediate area.
"Probably about 90 per cent of our staff is local farmers," McMartin says, but notes that the company has chosen to drop some labour-intensive product lines simply because it's too hard to secure the required labour.
"It (business) is not easy because of the labour problems," he adds.
And, like many in business today, he knows the frustration side of investing in training only to see the workers leave.
"You work around it. Just keep jumping through the hoops. But in the last six months we find it easier to get good people. They're even calling us now."
Not so long ago, when Hold-On advertised for employees McMartin could expect one or two replies and the company would scramble to hire them, even before checking out references. Today, ads are generating significantly larger numbers of respondents and, usually, more qualified individuals.
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