Newell reinvents Mohawk Ltd.

NEW HARTFORD — Cathy Mary Newell, president and CEO of Mohawk Ltd., says there is a solution for everything.

In 1959, Newell’s father, Gordon J. Newell, Jr., founded Mohawk Communications, Inc., a repair, calibration, and supply company that primarily served two U.S. Air Force bases: one in Rome and the other in Dayton, Ohio. This was the height of the Cold War when bombers were America’s primary line of defense. By the 1970s, however, missiles were replacing bombers in the primary national-defense role, with a subsequent reduction of the bases and their eventual closing.

“I got a call from my father while an undergraduate at the Rochester Institute of Technology,” recalls Newell, who was an accounting major. “His bookkeeper had just passed away, and he wanted me to come home to help out in the business. My mother, on the other hand, urged me to finish my degree. My mother won the argument. As soon as I graduated in 1979, I did join the company, and began its reinvention.”

First, Newell had to find some new markets that could utilize the company’s talent and knowledge in electronics. “At the time, Western Electric was repairing New York Telephone Company’s equipment,” recalls Newell. “This first venture into the Telco industry led to Telco customers across the country. A variety of other markets followed: utility, power, cable, construction, homeland security, municipal, and hospitality. In the 1980s, the company expanded into custom trailers and truck bodies serving a new group of customers in the law-enforcement, entertainment, and food-services industries.”

New name 
“The company changed its name to Mohawk Ltd. to reflect its diversity in products and services,” says Newell. “In 1999, the company expanded into the alpine-track-vehicle business as a dealer for Kassbohrer — PistenBully snow groomers and tracked vehicles. Next, we added our custom fleet trailer line, providing fiber-optic trailers and command centers in the mix after 2000. In 2009, we added the rental business — LMR — luxury-mobile restrooms. In reinventing the company, the focus was not just on growing the business but also on diversifying the revenue streams using our existing talent pool.”

Newell leveraged the company’s experience in the repair and calibration of electronic-test equipment. 

“Our staff became very experienced in circuit boards, digital and analog meters, Ethernet and fiber-optic test equipment, gas detection, and cable-locating equipment, to name just a few, and we supported dozens of OEMs (original-equipment manufacturers),” she says. On the hydraulic/pneumatic/mechanical side, Mohawk was experienced in air tools, saws, grinders, jack-hammers, generators, heaters, and a variety of outside plant equipment and tools, again supporting dozens of OEMs.

Growth
Newell bought the business from her father in 1991. At the time, the company had 13 employees, occupied one 20,000-square-foot building, and posted $2 million to $3 million in sales. Today, Mohawk Ltd. employs 55 people, occupies more than 100,000 square feet of space in four buildings, and generates annual sales between $10 million and $16 million. 

“Where we used to focus on the Northeast geographically, the company now covers the entire U.S. and then some,” stresses Newell. “Our capabilities today include repairing, refurbishing, and calibrating [more than] 2,000 different types of equipment, tools, and product lines. Mohawk Ltd. is a designated authorized repair center for a number of leading manufacturers. Currently, 90 percent of our business comes from the private sector with another 10 percent from the public sector. Repairs and calibration still represent 70 percent of our business with 30 percent in product sales.”

Mohawk Ltd. has plenty of competition, including some of its own customers. 

“Our ability to compete is based on our expertise, customer care, and product offerings to our customers,” exclaims Newell … “We strive to offer [one-stop] shopping; … [hence] our motto is ‘one source, many solutions.’ The entire staff excels at customer service. When you call Mohawk Ltd., you get immediate, personal customer service and technical support. We also offer weekly pick-up and delivery service from Maine to Virginia. There is no fee for evaluations, and we don’t require return-merchandise authorizations. We’ll track the warranty status for our customers and provide logistical support to OEMs, if required. In addition, we maintain a large parts inventory to provide fast turnaround time for our repairs. That’s another reason why our customers keep returning to us.”

The team
Newell is particularly proud of her management team. In addition to Newell as president, the team includes Diane Fetterolf, CFO; Christine Celia, director of human resources; Kathy Cianfrocco, director of quality assurance; Linda Lane, director of marketing; David Gray, director of sales; and Randy LeFave, director of national Telco accounts. Newell also notes the support from her professional advisers: Celia & Allen of New Hartford handles the accounting, Richard G. Parker of New York Mills serves as the company’s attorney, and First Niagara provides the primary financial services.

Attracting and retaining talented employees is a concern for Newell. “It’s hard to find trained mechanics and electronic technicians in this area,” she laments. “At Mohawk Ltd., we have worked hard to create a pleasant environment with competitive salaries and a generous benefits package. The employees also appreciate the flexibility we offer in creating their work schedules and the investment we make in their training and education, all at company expense. I think it’s safe to say the employees appreciate the work environment here, because we have almost zero turnover. We have also reached out to Mohawk Valley Community College and created internships in our production departments. In addition, we are creating internships with my alma mater to help develop market plans and do research and engineering projects. These internships will be 10 to 20 hours a week. The goal is to attract new talent to the organization and to learn the latest and greatest.”

Newell stresses both in the company’s literature and in person that Mohawk Ltd. is a Woman Business Enterprise (WBE) diversity supplier. “Mohawk was certified as a WBE in 1993, shortly after I purchased the company,” intones the company CEO. “This has opened the doors to a number of large customers, which are required to set aside a percentage of their outsourcing for woman- and minority-owned businesses. The percentage has recently expanded under Gov. [Andrew] Cuomo to more than 30 percent. Mohawk was also certified by the [Women’s Business Enterprise] National Council (WBENC) in 2010. We promote throughout New York our WBE and WBENC certifications, which are accepted by more than 1,000 corporations.” 

The WBENC is also an approved third-party certifier for the U.S. Small Business Administration federal-contracting program. WBE and WBENC certification require not only extensive documentation but also a site visit. Newell has also been recognized by DiversityBusiness.com as one of the Top 100 women business owners in New York state and among the Top 500 nationally.

Confidence
Newell’s optimism is irrepressible. “I’m optimistic about the economy,” she asserts. “The regional economy is poised to grow rapidly with all of the high-tech focus on nanotechnology, drones, and cybersecurity. I see big opportunities right here in the [Mohawk] Valley. In addition to growing our existing multiple lines of business, I plan on further diversification into other areas, such as light manufacturing, as an avenue to leverage our capabilities. I also have a vision to turn our current location into a business park. For me, every day is an adventure and a new opportunity.”

Newell grew up in New Hartford where she currently resides with her husband. The couple has a son in college and a daughter in junior high school. Mohawk Ltd.’s CEO has no plans to retire: “I still have so much I want to accomplish, and I’m having too much fun.” In addition to running a business and raising a family, Newell somehow has found time to be active in the community, serving on many boards throughout the years, including the Mohawk Valley Chamber of Commerce (now the Greater Utica Chamber), Boys and Girls Club, Mohawk Valley EDGE, and the Fort Schuyler Club. She is currently the treasurer for the area Cerebral Palsy association, and she is the entrepreneur-in-residence for Utica College.

It looks like Newell, who confesses to being in her 50s, still has plenty of time to keep reinventing the company and to keep finding a solution for everything.