Putting Your Customers' Needs First

• Vision

Having the vision or being a visionary is easier said than done. Perhaps, this real life example of a visionary will illustrate how determined one must be in business to achieve visionary results. Vision, being able to see the “big picture”, commitment…these are all attributes of a naturally born leader. E.C. Raney in 1913 founded a company called the Automatic Reclosing Circuit Breaker Company that later was named Ranco; he was one of the early inventors and developers of refrigeration and air conditioning thermostats. Many of the early temperature and pressure controls used in Automotive, Commercial refrigeration, Household refrigerators, room air conditioners, etc. were developed and manufactured by Ranco, Inc. In the 1950’s, E.C. Raney developed a unique product called a “reversing valve” which was a critical component in a “heat pump”- the unit heats homes and buildings in winter and can cool them in summer … a single appliance that can both heat and cool year-round! While this was truly a great technological achievement, the acceptance of heat pumps as a replacement for traditional furnaces was not an instant success. Many parts of the U.S. did not even have air conditioning in the 1950’s so the need/desire for this new product did not meet with instant success. E.C. Raney continued to pour “lots of money” into the reversing valve development— making it more efficient and cost effective even though sales were very low. The “bean counters” at Ranco urged him to drop the product as it was just generating more “red ink”. E.C. Raney reminded them that he ran the company and he would continue to spend the money whenever and wherever he felt the need! Ranco* would go on to become the world’s largest producer of reversing valves for heat pumps. Heat pumps are a major heating/cooling business in most parts of the world today…especially in warmer climates (the unit cools more efficiently than it heats). Was E.C. Raney a visionary … or just stubborn (and lucky)? To be truly successful in this world…you need to BELIEVE in what you are doing (even if the people around you don’t know or don’t understand or don’t even care).

* In 2007, Sanhua International, Inc. acquired the Ranco brand heat pump reversing valve business from Invensys controls.

A side note: E. C. Raney was a very intense individual who worked very closely with customers in designing controls for new applications. It is said that on one trip he was so “wrapped up” in talking about his new control that when he reached into his suitcase to pull out the product sample, he pulled out his dirty underwear instead! On another occasion, Mr. Raney was so intent on developing a new application for a customer…that he immediately left the customer’s plant and flew back to Ranco in Columbus, Ohio to begin work on his new idea…only when he got back to Columbus did he remember that he had left his wife (who had been traveling with him) at the hotel in the other city!