Howald's innovation drives Tweet/Garot
President receives Rotary Club award
By Richard Ryman
rryman@greenbaypressgazette.com
Tweet/Garot Mechanical's office sits on a hill overlooking southwest Green Bay. That's appropriate, because in his time at Tweet/Garot Tim Howald has developed a knack for seeing over the horizon.
Because of his business success and community involvement, Howald is the 2006 recipient of the Rotary Club of Green Bay's Free Enterprise Award, which will be presented Monday night at the Radisson Hotel & Conference Center in Ashwaubenon.
Howald's company was among the first to use mobile phones ?when they weighed pounds instead of ounces ?and fax machines and a safety director.
"We got accused one time of being a little extravagant," said Mike Sturdivant, a Tweet/Garot vice president who has worked with Howald during his leadership of the company. "We had the first cell phones. That was one of the best tools we've ever bought."
Howald's community involvement ?both the known and the not advertised ?also has been significant.
"We've had people that have family issues, and Tim very quietly gave them time off and paid them for it, and maybe even gave them money," Sturdivant said.
Major Bob Fay of The Salvation Army in Green Bay said Howald has been involved in numerous projects over 17 years, always bringing his organizational abilities to bear.
"That's a particular gift of his," Fay said. "He not only has the ideas, but he's right there to direct traffic and see them through to completion."
Howald's road from Euclid, Ohio, to Green Bay ran through West Bend, Ind. Howald was a sophomore at the University of Notre Dame when he met his future wife, Judy Tweet, who was a freshman at St. Mary's College.
That, in turn, led to working two college summers as a laborer for Tweet Brothers Plumbing & Heating, followed by a couple of years with Procter & Gamble Co. in Cincinnati after graduation. Returning to Green Bay to be closer to family, Howald joined his father-in-law, Andy Tweet, at the plumbing company.
"Andy had all these ideas about growing the company. He made it all sound simpler than it was, quite frankly," Howald said.
Simple or not, they moved forward, merging Tweet Brothers, Edward Garot & Son Plumbing and Heating and Withbroe Sheet Metal in 1979.
Howald ran the sheet metal segment of the business, but became responsible for the whole thing when Andy Tweet died of a heart attack at age 56. Howald was 33.
"I was coming at it from a college MBA, so who is going to deal with the bankers, the bonding company? It was a logical fit," he said.
He did not, however, run the company alone. Tom Brawner and Sturdivant, who ran the plumbing and piping segments, respectively, have been Howald's constant companions in the management ranks, joined by Ray Withbroe in the late 1980s.
"It's amazing how we all got along," Howald said. "I cannot ever remember one of us saying a cross word to the other person. We are close friends. Our families are friends."
For many years, Howald served as company president and ran the sheet metal division.
The trio worked hard to make the company reach and surpass Andy Tweet's vision.
"You ran the business during the day and did the estimating at night," Sturdivant said. "We were all busy enough we stayed out of each other's business."
Sturdivant said it was still a small company when Tweet died. Howald took it to the next level.
He wasn't left adrift when Tweet passed, Howald said.
"A lot of the things Andy exposed me to, I wondered 'Why was I here?' In hindsight, I know why," Howald said.
Innovation has been a significant factor in the success of Tweet/Garot. Computers, safety managers, prefabrication, modular units, Lean construction techniques; all were adapted.
"We brought our guys in and said we are going to empower you to do more things," Howald said. "We had fax machines and cell phones as early as we could to facilitate that."
Howald hired his first safety director in the early 1990s, a move that was questioned by friends and peers.
"They said the company wasn't big enough. I said we were too big not to," Howald said.
Employees are in the midst of a streak of more than 2.5 million hours without a lost-time accident.
"We get a project, the first meeting we have is about safety," he said.
The company also spearheaded a project among contractors to develop a statewide drug-testing process acceptable to clients. Sturdivant said more and more clients were requiring testing, but with different standards.
"Our company was instrumental in setting up that program," Sturdivant said. "The Lambeau Field renovation project adopted our guy's program. They had him do it for them."
Tweet/Garot continues to seek ways to cut costs while still providing quality work, which Sturdivant says is the key to everything.
"We want to make sure it's done straight, level and right. Tim's the leader of that," he said.
Howald said the company is adopting Lean construction, which is more difficult than Lean manufacturing because the geometry changes with each project.
"We know we can save steps doing it. We know we can better utilize our manpower," Howald said.
The company already improved efficiency by prefabricating many of its products, such as for bathrooms in a given building. There is a prefabrication shop on Velp Avenue.
"We don't put the thing together on site. A guy has about a 10-minute connection. He doesn't spend three hours in there," Howald said.
Howald and crew have brought that same sort of organizational ability to The Salvation Army's Christmas dinner for a decade. Over the years, the dinner grew, and so did Tweet/Garot's participation. Thirty or 40 people volunteer for the annual event.
"The Salvation Army has said they've never seen people that work so well together. We get an incredible amount of work done," Howald said.
Employees also are encouraged to be Salvation Army bell ringers and to volunteer for other community projects.
Howald said involvement in the community "is absolutely essential."
Sturdivant said both Howalds share that view.
Howald said he met many of the previous Free Enterprise Award winners while doing outside projects.
"A lot were through community organizations. Those people have always been so important to these efforts," he said. "What the CEOs of these companies bring are their leadership skills, the skill of their companies and the number of their employees."
