Seizing opportunity
Wrench company has firm grip on what it takes to succeed
The founder and president of Chicago-based Logger-Head Tools has improved on the age-old product. He created the American-made Bionic Wrench product line that's racked up millions in sales, successfully competing against companies that manufacture their tools in China, and that dominate the market.
Proving that innovation can be retroactive as well as forward, Brown's work on the lowly wrench has earned LoggerHead Tools a 2006 Chicago Innovation Award.
The company introduced its first product, the 8-inch Bionic Wrench, in May 2005. Designed for the tool-intimidated novice and professional tool users, it weighs less than a pound, and can replace 16 U.S. and metric wrenches.
The Bionic Wrench won't slip or round off nuts and bolts like other gripping tools, and it's easy on the hand. It is the first wrench of its kind to distribute gripping force on all sides of a nut or bolt. It has two handles similar to pliers, but, unlike traditional wrenches, has a closed head. With a simple squeeze of the handles, the product's six steel jaws converge and firmly grab a bolt or nut on all sides. Brown, who launched LoggerHead Tools in January 2005, holds nearly 30 U.S. patents and has more than 25 years of product development and business experience.
He wanted to design an innovative, value-added "wow" product that solved a real problem -- one he and many others have experienced first-hand, scraping their knuckles and stripping bolts while wrestling with old-fashioned wrenches and pliers. He thought if he could design a tool that "had the ease of use of pliers," but the versatility of a wrench, "that would be a neat product," one that would appeal to a large and diverse market.
Since the introduction of the Bionic Wrench, the company has added 6-inch and 10-inch wrenches and the 8-inch Bionic Grip, an open-ended version of the tool.
The Bionic Grip can do work that's difficult or impossible to reach with a closed-headed wrench. The company generated $840,000 in sales last year and expects to exceed $6 million this year. Its tools are sold in retail stores, including Ace Hardware and TruServe, and will be in 1,000 Lowe's stores in November. LoggerHead's products also are sold in roughly 20 different catalogs, on QVC and online.
LoggerHead Vice President of Sales and Marketing Joe Palumbo says Brown's decision to seek input from would-be consumers as he designed the product has been a big factor in the company's success. LoggerHead employs eight people and operates primarily as a virtual enterprise.
It makes use of state-of-the-art Virtual Private Network technology to conduct business and communicate with staff.
"We don't want to have a lot of overhead that adds cost and doesn't enhance value for the customer," said Brown, who noted the company has a goal of introducing one innovative truly "new-to-the-world" product to the market each year.
LoggerHead contracts with Pennsylvania-based Penn United Corp. to do its manufacturing. Producing the tools domestically is important to Brown, who grew up in a blue-collar family.
"I believe in free trade . . . in globalization," Brown said. "I know all the benefits of it. But my experience in the marketplace as a product developer is that people are going to China way too quick. They go to China for things that should stay in the states.
"When you have a value-added product, protected by intellectual property, you can get added value for that in the market. And if you do it right, run a low-overhead operation, do things strategically, I believe you can build your business as an American-made product."