Theodore “TJ” Perlick Molinari is set to take the helm as chief executive officer of Milwaukee-based Perlick Corp. during a crucial era of innovation for the manufacturer.
He’ll officially become CEO on July 1, representing the fifth generation of family leadership within the company. In his new role, Perlick Molinari will guide Perlick’s long-term vision and strategy.
While Perlick is renewing its commitment to making high-quality bar, beverage and refrigeration systems, the manufacturer is also ushering in a period of innovation and modernization, which is reflected by a recently announced company rebrand.
Perlick Molinari recently sat down with BizTimes Milwaukee reporter Ashley Smart to discuss the importance of honoring Perlick’s 107-year-old legacy while modernizing the company to meet customer demands.
Below is a portion of the conversation:
What preparations were taken ahead of you assuming the role of CEO?
"The most important thing to me was having the confidence of all the people in the organization and my family. Without their support, the business isn't successful. We went on a journey as a family to try to understand what it would take to get that support and if that support existed. Our family is not into putting people in positions just because they're family members. It's because it's the right thing to do for the business, and that's an approach that we've held to for the last 12 years. What's more important than family support is the support of the organization. We began getting feedback from key people in the organization, asking what they expect to see out of the next leader. We were able to undergo that process, come together as a family, listen and discern, and we aligned around a model of the way that we would like to run the business."
What does that model look like?
"The CEO is a visionary role. Then you need an integrator, a very hands-on tactical execution person, and then you have the functional leaders who report to that tactical person. A strategy is developed by the CEO and the president, and then it's executed by the president. My job is to go out and look at what's coming... to be a voice for the family, from a cultural standpoint, as to what we want to see. That's what I'm supposed to focus on in my role. And I feel very comfortable doing that."
What was some of the key feedback you received from company stakeholders?
"They were trying to understand our North Star as a company. One key component of that is what we describe as a legacy component. The legacy component includes (the company's) multi-generational relationships. When we were assessing what we need in our next leader, what emerged as something that was important to our customers was having a multi-generational touch point, consistency and continuity, so that our customers can expect where we're going."
Has anyone in the sixth generation expressed interest in joining the company?
"Our oldest in that generation is 17 years old. The youngest is four. There are 11 kids (total) right now. My cousin, Lori, is our shareholder director, and she's in charge of shepherding those kids through the learning process. We don't have a hard and fast rule yet that you need to go out and seek outside experience. It's just so happened to turn out that way for everybody here. I spent 10 years as an attorney outside of Perlick. That is something I would want all those kids to do. Lori has developed a curriculum where at a certain age, you're exposed to different aspects of the business, what it is, how it runs, when they're ready for it."
What was the purpose of Perlick’s brand refresh announced in February?
"We had come through a challenging chapter in the company's history, and we needed an opportunity to be a new Perlick. Old companies can become museum pieces. We're really looking to the future and to innovation. We've always been the industry leader, from a standpoint of product, from service, from knowledge, we are the iconic brand. You don't get that by continuing to rest on what we've done in the past. You have to continue to innovate. At our latest trade show, not only did we unveil eight new products, but also eight new technologies at the same time. This team pulled off that almost impossible task with flying colors. We have now become more relevant to our customers and more relevant to the people who work here."
What are some of Perlick’s newest innovations?
"We're currently testing geo tracking. In our industry, it's all about construction schedules and knowledge of where a product is and what's in the boxes. Freight companies are notoriously unreliable, so we have nodes in each of the boxes, so that we know exactly where those boxes are at all times. They ping the wi-fi towers (and provide a location.) We are the only ones doing that right now even though that was a huge demand and brought up by the distributors. I was able to say we are the leader. That's where people expect us to be."
How often will Perlick launch new products?
"Our goal is one product every quarter. Whether it's a refresh of a current product or a brand-new product to the market, we want to make sure that as the industry leader, we're delivering new, innovative products on a regular basis. It's good for our customers, because usually they're based on demand from the market."
How are tariffs and economic uncertainty impacting the business?
“It’s certainly challenging. Domestic suppliers have already taken price increases because they could. That impacts everybody in the next step, which is the manufacturers. We source all of our goods and all those things just got between a 5% and 10% price increase. Our dealer network has been hit with between 200 and 300 price increase notices, all effective July 1. Usually, price increases come from different companies at different times of the year, and you can space it out so a dealer can manage it. When everybody comes at the same time, they have to go back and basically refinance the projects. It's like a 15% increase in cost overall and that's not something they can eat. People are pumping the brakes as they try to figure out what's going on with price. It's causing a lull which we're experiencing, and so is everybody else in the industry."
What are Perlick’s biggest immediate challenges?
"I think most of the major hurdles that were in our way have been overcome at this point. Now it's a matter of getting on the road, telling our story and creating opportunities for ourselves. We have every right to be successful. We have a market-vetted strategy that we are deploying so we're our only obstacle right now. We have everything in front of us."
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