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Hal Wing has climbed a few ladders in his day.
The Springville farm boy started at the bottom, juggling a day shift at Albertson's, a night shift loading hogs and a weekend shift at a service station, and clambered on up to own the country's largest ladder manufacturer, Springville-based Wing Enterprises.
So when the guy who went from sowing rows of corn to outbidding Jay Leno on a 1936 Harley-Davidson says his industry is ready to climb the next rung, it's likely worth hearing.
"The ladder is older than the wheel," Wing said, noting that with the exception of the classic Little Giant articulating ladder, a foldable design pioneered by Wing Enterprises, everybody's still using their grandfather's ladder. "Now we have the most amazing thing to happen to ladders in 45 years."
Cue the seven-patents-pending Little Giant Select Step; it's a 24-pound A-frame stepladder that telescopes from five feet to eight feet on each side for placement on flat ground, slopes and even stairs. Wing is sure it'll outdo everybody in safety (e.g. Comfort Platform instead of finger-pinching spreader bars) and convenience (e.g. quick-snapping Rock Locks to adjust the legs).
"The ladder category has been stale for many years; it's not a very sexy industry," Little Giant CEO Ryan Moss, also of Springville, said. "This is a game-changer."
The Select Step marketing campaign begins in earnest come August with a new in-house-filmed infomercial. If Little Giant's previous infomercial is any sort of bellwether, the three-year QVC spot spiked daily ladder sales from 200 to 25,000, Wing's single-day record, then the 250,000-square-foot Springville facility is about to get lively.
Wing Enterprises has added 20 employees to its 300-head roster this year, and another 100 are needed locally for the Select Step debut, Moss said. The company is also expanding in China and Europe (sales only; all the building stays in Springville) and has a handful of other specialized products, including an outrigger-balanced extension ladder, on the way.
It's an odd time to roll out such an ambitious product line, given the economy, but Wing Enterprises has always been an employer first, and a ladder company second, Moss said.
"There is a ripple effect every time someone gets hired," he said, if nothing else because it has a positive effect during a time of uncertainty. "We want to add as many as we can. That's what business is all about."
Wing insists he never started in ladders to make money; he would have been content farming. But when people kept coming to him asking if he was hiring, he always said yes, sometimes puzzling his wife as to how he would pay them all. He jokes that he got "dragged into this" simply because he wanted to provide jobs.
"I never thought it would be more than a mom 'n pop shop," he said.
His employee-first philosophy seems to pay off. Six of Wing's original 10 employees have stuck with him all 38 years. Moss, in fact, started out with Little Giant 26 years ago, pushing a broom around. Wing keeps an impeccably clean shop, closes the factory on Sundays, and gives every employee a paid vacation day on his or her birthday.
He also has a system for organizing and developing his staff: different colored shirts indicate new hires, foremen, quality inspectors, etc., so the young pups and old hands can help each other along.
"A lot of people and foremen in past factories where I've worked treated me like garbage," said Dan Runner, a maintenance worker going on one month with Wing Enterprises. "These guys treat me like family."
This growing employee base will provide enough infrastructure for the surge Little Giant expects with the new products, Moss said. If it's a 600-percent growth like last time, all the better.
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