Taking It Personally: Braun Celebrates 40 Years

Longtime clients and others familiar with Braun Industries know the company’s tornado story—an important bit of lore it memorializes on its website. But top execs have another anecdote that perhaps even better depicts some of what they feel makes the prominent ambulance manufacturer special.

A few months ago residents of Van Wert, OH, where the company is located, suffered an early-morning power outage. Anticipating a prolonged blackout and inability to do business, Braun told its workers to stay home. The timing was bad; customers were in town for an executive meeting and tour, which would proceed, but lower-level employees were given the day to spend time with their families and hobbies.

Then the power was unexpectedly restored. It was still early, so bosses recontacted workers and told them they could come in if they wanted, or just make up the hours later. In large numbers, they began returning.

“The customer was standing there in the parking lot,” recalls President Kim Elick, “and said, ‘You’re telling me you told your employees they could have the day off, and I see car after car pulling into this parking lot, because they know you have a commitment to a customer? They don’t have to come back, and here they are, one after the other?’ He said, ‘I think I learned more about your business with the power off than I could have on a normal day.’”

Lots of businesses tout their family environments and employees’ commitment, but few get to demonstrate it with such flair. For Braun, it wasn’t the first time: A comparable effort from staff helped the company meet all its customer deliveries on time after the twister wrecked its headquarters in 2002.

A lot goes into that kind of operation. Credit some old-fashioned Midwestern work ethic and values, but Braun—which this year celebrates its 40th anniversary in the ambulance game—has also supplemented that with three generations of family leadership providing stability, consistency and an emphasis on long-term relationships. That’s bred a healthy corporate culture within the organization and a good name outside it.

“Continuity is huge, not only for our employees, but for our vendors, dealers and customers,” says Elick. “We have customers who were buying Braun 40 years ago who are still buying Braun today. Same family, same interactions. There’s been a lot of consolidation and turmoil in the industry, and people want to know there’s somebody standing behind that warranty and relationship.”

“I think our customers appreciate being able to pick up the phone and get a Braun on the line,” adds Executive Sales Manager Chad Brown. “They have a relationship with either a current family member running the organization or their mother or father or grandfather who ran it. There’s a comfort level in that.”

Elick and her brother, Scott Braun, are the third and latest generation to lead the company founded as Braun Pattern Works by Charles J. Braun in 1961. It ventured into the ambulance business a decade later, winning its first contract in 1972. As EMS systems proliferated in those early years, demand flourished, orders mounted, and by 1976 Braun had to relocate to a larger home.

Spurred by advances in manufacturing and production, growth continued during the ’80s and ’90s, and in 1999 Phil and Charma Braun took over. The next year the company broke ground on a 76,000-square-foot manufacturing and corporate office facility in Van Wert. That was expanded again in 2006 with another 38,000 square feet of manufacturing space.

That provides plenty of capacity for Braun’s operations today, as it enters its fifth decade. Times are challenging and budgets tight, but the need for top-grade product greater than ever.

“There’s certainly been a downward trend in sales across the industry” in recent years, says Scott Braun, “but we’ve been seeing outstanding loyalty from the customer base we’ve built over 40 years. And we’re still getting new customers who see an opportunity to purchase from a solid, stable, quality-conscious manufacturer.”

One that’s innovative, too. Braun has introduced a number of advances over the years—things like its SolidBody construction (units are built as single integrated modules), EZ Glide sliding door (which doesn’t swing out into traffic), MasterTech IV multiplex electrical system and VitalMax shadowless lighting system. It offers these across six current models, the most recent of which, the Patriot, debuted in 2009. It’s a combination ambulance/light-rescue/fire-suppression truck intended to help meet systems’ need for multipurpose bang for their buck. It won an EMS World Top Innovation Award the year it was released, as did the Super Chief the year before.

All of it is informed by the expertise of those dedicated front-line employees, many of whom—speaking of commitment—serve on local volunteer ambulance and fire squads.

“We involve them in decisions,” says Scott Braun. “We find great value in bringing direct-labor employees onto our research and development teams, our rapid deployment teams, our continuous improvement teams. They have the experience of building our vehicles firsthand, so they have some of the greatest suggestions for improvement.”

“They’re already passionate about giving to the community,” adds Elick. “And when you tie that into actually building the ambulances, it shows in their work. They’re not just punching in and punching out. They recognize their own daughter or son could be in that ambulance someday, and so they take it very personally, which is an awesome feeling. As an owner, you want everyone looking at it as their business.”