A scrappy, can-do attitude drives the corporate culture of Costa Mesa’s Ceradyne Inc.
The maker of heavy-duty ceramics for body armor, dentistry and solar panels, among other things, isn’t big on formalities.
Ceradyne has a no-frills headquarters and nonstop running factories, employing 2,500 people in four countries.
The company’s many long-term engineers, salespeople, manufacturing and administrative workers who make up Ceradyne’s 800 local employees liken themselves to a close-knit family.
Much of what Ceradyne is comes down to Chief Executive Joel Moskowitz, who founded the company 40 years ago.
“We’re a very informal company,” Moskowitz said. “We don’t have too many structured meetings.”
Moskowitz, 69, has grown Ceradyne from a four-worker operation that started on a $5,000 investment, traded hands among big companies and now is publicly traded with a recent market value of $950 million.
“By most measures you couldn’t be more successful,” Moskowitz said.
Besides Ceradyne’s offices and factories in Costa Mesa and Irvine, it has operations in Kentucky, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Georgia, Michigan, Canada, Europe and China.
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Tunalioglu with armor: became project manager after telling boss she wanted to run $100 million armor contract |
Contracts with the Pentagon for ceramic body armor used to protect troops in Iraq and Afghanistan have been a key driver. The military work infuses Ceradyne with a sense of duty and purpose. A “We support our troops” banner hangs above the factory floor in Irvine.
Moskowitz, who is talkative and outgoing, is the persona of Ceradyne. He strikes up and tends to customer relationships.
His top lieutenants are David Reed, president of North American operations, and Jerry Pellizzon, chief financial officer. They’re responsible for running daily operations.
“The management is better than me because they’re technologically competent and all younger than me,” Moskowitz said.
Reed and Pellizzon have offices on each side of Moskowitz and handled business when he was being treated for Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, a cancer of the lymph nodes, a few years ago.
“We’re run by consensus,” Moskowitz said. “It’s very team oriented. Big egos get kicked around here.”
Ceradyne’s top brass gets together twice a month to discuss acquisitions.
The company has looked to expand its products beyond military contracts, which made up 63% of Ceradyne’s $188.5 million in first-quarter sales, down from 77% a year earlier.
Engineers are given bonuses for innovation and are encouraged to speak their minds.
Three of Ceradyne’s top executives, including Moskowitz, and four other engineers hail from upstate New York’s Alfred University, a school of less than 2,500 students that produces some of the best ceramic engineers in the country.
Many Ceradyne engineers are known to blow off steam at the local go-cart track.
North American operations head Reed,also an Alfred graduate,joined the company in 1983 after responding to a sales job ad in a trade magazine.
“Alfred instilled a practical approach to getting things done,” Reed said. “Everyone here is solution driven.”
Reed’s role with Ceradyne mostly is on the marketing and sales side, working with his military contacts.
He keeps an informal relationship with his boss, roaming into Moskowitz’s office whenever he needs to, Reed said.
Stressing Logic
Logic is the basis for resolving the few disagreements that come up at Ceradyne, according to Reed.
“You ask what you have to do and let’s not worry about bureaucracy,” he said. “Everyone works until the job gets done.”
Financial chief Pellizzon also oversees human resources and technology.
He joined the company in 2002 after leaving Irvine’s Met-Rx, a maker of nutritional products that’s now part of Bohemia, N.Y.-based NBTY Inc.
Ceradyne’s entrepreneurial outlook was partly behind Pellizzon’s wanting to work for Moskowitz, he said.
He’s also a fan of the company’s humble qualities.
“There’s a lot of openness and trust here,” Pellizzon said. “In some bigger companies you get pigeonholed.”
Much of the manufacturing leadership in the company comes from Ken Morris, vice president of operations, who reports to Reed.
Morris is never at his desk because he doesn’t have one. His days are spent roaming the various factory floors of the company, searching for ways to increase efficiency and spurring the workers on.
Morris met his wife while working for Ceradyne from 1983 to 1994. His second tour with Ceradyne began in 2005.
Morris previously was a U.S. plant manager for Japan’s Kyocera Industrial Ceramics Co., part of Kyocera Corp.
“I felt like I lived in Japan,” Morris said.
The Kyocera mantra: “All work and money is made in the gemba,” the Japanese term for the factory floor, Morris said.
Ceradyne’s local factories are made up of people of all races with most being Hispanic. Meetings are run in Spanish and English, Morris said.
“We’re all races and religions here, yet we’re pulling together for one thing,” he said. “It’s a small company with family values.”
Moskowitz is known for buying gifts for employees, including barbecues and decorative glass designs.
Meral Tunalioglu, assistant director of armor, has spent 17 years with Ceradyne after starting on the factory floor. She’s part of a core group of directors who have been with the company for years.
She moved to Orange County from Turkey when she was 30.
The small-company atmosphere Ceradyne had when she started really hasn’t gone away, Tunalioglu said.
“Joel’s been a friend to me,” she said. “He’s seen my daughter grow up.”
Tunalioglu became a project manager after telling her boss, Reed, she wanted to run a $100 million armor contract.
He gave her a shot. Since then she’s run most of the big armor projects, organizing and working with customers to make sure they’re on time and up to standards.
The workers will go for six days straight, working every holiday to get a contract finished, Tunalioglu said.
“The workers are very proud to be making vests for the troops,” she said. “They know there’s no holiday in Baghdad.”
Ceradyne’s Irvine plant makes 3,000 to 4,000 armor plates a day, with 300 workers sharing four shifts.
“This is serious work. We can’t have errors,” said Lisa Pablo, a supervisor on the factory floor where the body armor is pieced together.
There’s a strong sense of patriotism among the workers, Pablo said.
Letters and e-mails sent to the company from soldiers and their relatives saying thanks are a reminder of what their products do, she said.
Workers also are rewarded for the company’s success with quarterly bonuses that can add up to 30% of a salary in a year, Pablo said.
THE TEAM
– Joel Moskowitz: 69, founder, chairman, chief executive, president. Started company in 1967 with $5,000 of wife’s money. Sold to TRE Corp. in 1974, which sold to what’s now Kyocera Corp. in 1978. Led management buyout in early 1980s. Took public in 1984. Degree in ceramic engineering from Alfred University, 1961. MBA from University of Southern California, 1966. On board of trustees at Alfred.
– David Reed: 53, vice president, president of Ceradyne’s North American operations, including production of ceramic body armor. Joined company in 1983. From 1980 to 1983, served as manager in process engineering for industrial ceramic division of Norton Co. Earned bachelor’s in ceramic engineering from Alfred University in 1976, master’s in ceramic engineering from University of Illinois, 1978.
– Jerrold Pellizzon: 54, chief financial officer, corporate secretary. Joined Ceradyne in 2002. From 2000 to 2002, was chief executive of Irvine-based DrSoy Nutrition Inc. From 1994 to 2000, was chief operating officer, chief financial officer of Irvine’s Met-Rx (now part of NBTY Inc.). From 1984 to 1993, was chief financial officer for Breton Construction Inc. 2007 OC CFO of the year.
– Marc King: 61, vice president, president of Ceradyne Armor Systems. Joined in 2004. Earlier served as vice president, business development for Mistral Inc.; president of GMA Cover Corp. (USA); vice president, Gichner Systems Group, president of its refrigerated truck body division. Was director with Allied Defense Industries Inc.’s land systems and aerospace divisions. Retired Army lieutenant colonel.
– Bruce Lockhart: 45, vice president, president of Ceradyne Thermo Materials. Joined company in 2001. Worked in ceramic industry for 16 years as development engineer, senior research and development engineer, production manager, product marketing manager, manufacturing manager. Earned bachelor’s in ceramic engineering from Clemson University, 1985. Master’s from Clemson, 1990.
– Thomas Juengling: 44, vice president, president of ESK Ceramics unit. Joined company when Ceradyne bought ESK in 2004. Responsible for all aspects of ESK Ceramics. Held various scientific, marketing, management positions in Germany and at Ceradyne’s headquarters in Costa Mesa. Holds doctorate in engineering, materials science from Germany’s University of Karlsruhe.
– Michael Kraft: 45, vice president, nuclear and semiconductor business units. Joined company in 2005. Prior was founding principal of SunGlobal LLC. From 2000 to 2002, was president for Rational AG’s U.S. division. From 1993 to 2000, held business development, marketing positions with Kulicke & Soffa Industries Inc. Also held management, marketing positions with General Electric Co.
– Kenneth Morris: 54, vice president of operations. On second tour with the company. First was from 1983 to 1984. Previously at Kyocera Industrial Ceramics Co., where he was a plant manager. Was director, development manager for impact protection materials. Served eight years as vice president, general manager of Carborundum Co.
– Jeff Waldal: 43, vice president, president of Ceradyne Semicon Associates. Joined company in 1995. Was senior materials technician at United Technologies Corp.’s Pratt & Whitney. Spent eight years at Ladish Co. Director, treasurer for Kentucky Manufacturing Assistance Center. Member of University of Kentucky College of Engineering Dean’s Advisory Council.
– Thomas Cole: 61, vice president, business development. Joined company in 2007 when Ceradyne bought Minco Inc. Was chief executive of Minco since 2000. Responsible for acquisitions, strategic expansion. Held management positions with Corhart Refractories, a venture of Corning Inc. Earned bachelor’s degree from Alfred University. MBA from the University of Buffalo.
