A-1 e e tt h e J1, a t. ion J s Iv_[ em 0 s t manufacturer-distributor ·of;ff?_§t.~n~ ers and replacement parts for the auto- .

~: motive, ttm::k, fleet, farm-and industrial

.. markets; ke~ blanks, key :c~tti~~- ~gfiipment and related hardware items.

All of us at Curtis Industries welcome you to our home in Eastlake. We look forward to showing you, who are among our suppliers and customers, the way in which the products you sell to us, or buy from us, are handled in this new building.'

If you are here because of your inter-.

From this functionally-integrated office-manufacturing-distribution facility - with well over 100,000 square feet of air-conditioned spaceCurtis regularly supplies over 80,000 customers. Virtually all orders are filled and shipped on the day they are received.

est in a career with Curtis, we want you to see how everyone at Eastlake works together. Everything we do is planned to back up the hundreds of Curtis salesmen, all trained on the job to serve customers in all fifty of the United States.

This is where we make the finest keys and key-cutting machines in the world. This, too, is where we assemble, package and ship the thousands of different automotive and industrial replacement parts, fasteners and hardware specialty items which account for the largest part of our over-all sales volume.

Customers who rely on Curtis for their "stock in trade" include hardware and automotive supply stores, automobile dealers and repair shops, department and chain stores. Industrial and construction firms, institutions and government agencies and the operators of taxicabs, trucks, fleets and all types of off-the-road equipment also look to Curtis for thousands of small items and functional parts required to meet their day-to-day operating needs.

Curtis Industries employs more than 600 craftsmen, engineers, administrative personnel and salesmen.

Your interest in Curtis is appreciated and we welcome this opportunity to show you our facilities and to have you meet the people who make Curtis the company it is today.

William R. Kerver, President

Role of the Curtis Sales Representative

Curtis is and always has been a sales-oriented company. Its president and chairman are both former salesmen who emphasize the importance of service and the critical role salesmen play in making sure the customer's needs are met quickly and accurately.

Because of the broad responsibilities given to its sales force, Curtis carefully selects each representative. By keeping the calibre high, Curtis has always been able to make all promotions from within its own staff.

Today there are more than 300 sales representatives located in fifty states. A company incentive plan enables some of these men to earn as much as $25,000 annually. Incomes in excess of $12,000 annually are common.

Due to the increasing demand for Curtis products, it is estimated that about 25 new division sales managers and supervisors will be added in the next three or four years. The job promotion potential provided by the constantly expanding size of its sales staff attracts the type of men who guarantee Curtis' customers the finest service available anywhere.

Manny Schor, Vice President, Marketing

Customer service repre«entatioes at each of the 40 customer service desks in this pace-setting Service Department check the credits, clear the orders, expedite the order filling and do the billing for an average of twelve salesmen and their accounts in a set territory. Aided by carefully designed multiple-copy forms that reduce the paper work req uired for entering, filling, shipping and billing an order to one writing, they achieve a speed and accuracy that enables Curtis to ship better than 95 per cent of all its orders on the day they are received.

An In"", ,-"e hnowledgeoftheautomotive replacement parts industry and the retail hard ware business is reflected in Curtis' pre-packaged assortments of small automotive parts, fasteners and hardware specialties. Close personal contact between Curtis salesmen and thousands of retailers whom they see every few weeks keeps the company abreast of developing needs. Merchandise is received in bulk and packaged at stations along conveyors like the one shown here, enroute to the basic stock shelves on the left which occupy the largest single portion of the building. The operator in the foreground is assembling webbing straps on point-ofsale merchandising display racks prior to packaging the assortments in individual shipping cartons.

Key blanks are punched from coils of a special leaded key brass alloy at the rate of 72,000 a day by this 40-ton blanking press ina totally enclosed department where noisier operations have been isolated. The blanks drop on to wire "strings" carrying approximately 300 at a time for transfer to milling machines which cut the grooves and then to embossing presses which apply identifying numbers or symbols and decoration.

The milled grooves which determine the final fit and operation of any key are cut with extreme accuracy by these special automatic milling machines which Curtis engineers developed in their effort to provide key blanks of the highest quality. Unlike conventional equipment, these machines are capable of milling the parallel grooves on both sides of a key blank simultaneously, with each machine finishing as many as 6,000 keys in an hour.

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order-picking from a stock of more than 8,500 catalogued items is held to a minimum at Curtis Industries' new plant by the use of these forward-picking bins. Limited quantities of all these resale products, sufficient for a three-day supply, are transferred from basic stock shelves extending more than a half-mile to these bins and are then rolled into position alongside the order picking conveyor where they are directly at hand. By providing two identical sets of bins, marked for identical catalog numbers, one is always on the spot while the other is being replenished. This new system is a vital part of Curtis' "ship the same day" policy.

OrdDJ -' ',--h"'/5' -tioities are now concentrated along this 160 foot aisle in the newly completed plant addition" The actual picking is done from portable forwardpicking bins on either side of the roller conveyors which flank a belt conveyor that carries completed orders to the packing line at the extreme end of the plant.

All heavy duty products in the new lines added to serve industrial plants, institutions and the truck, farm and fleet markets are concentrated on the left hand side of the conveyors. Bins on the extreme right carry the myriad number of automotive and hardware resale items gathered from stock shelves out of sight which occupy the largest portion of the entire plant.

Routine use of air freight adopted by Curtis in 1955 to relay parcel post and other shipments to customers in eleven western states enabled the company to eliminate its west coast warehouse. Sales since have built up to a point requiring an average of 300 "air lift" shipments a day. After they have been weighed, stamped and segregated on these roller-conveyor racks, the packages go by air nightly to five strategically located western cities where they are transferred the next morning to parcel post or some regional distribution channel for quick delivery to the customer's door.

A t least a day is saved in the handling of other parcel post shipments to Curtis customers by postal clerks who staff the U.S. Post Office "manning unit" right inside the new plant. They have a sweeping view of the entire distribution center from this bagging and sorting platform at the head of a belt conveyor which carries outbound merchandise up from the weighing and stamping station below on the right. Once packages reach this point, they are sorted and bagged and trucked directly to the forwarding platform at the Cleveland Post Office without further handling.

Curtis History

1932-The business that became Curtis Industries, Inc., was founded in Cleveland. With an investment of $20.00 William Abrams and his son, Howard, began selling small hand-operated key-cutting machines.

1933-Morris Abrams, our late president, joined the company in June. The company's gross sales in its first full year were about $5,000.

1937-Automotive replacement parts were added to the sales lines.

1940 to 1942-To handle increased defense orders, a 5,000 square foot building was built on a site at 1130 East 222 Street, Euclid. The <new buiIding was soon operating around the clock seven days a weeks. All output was converted to war work.

1946-Curtis Industries, Inc., was formed in May and resumed key machine manufacture

and distribution of automotive replacement parts.

1947 to 1953-Sales grew from $500,000 to $2,600,000 a year.

1955 to 1957-Curtis pioneered in shipments by air parcel post. Sales exceeded $4,500,000.

1959-In August, common stock in the company was offered to the public for the first time.

1961-Sales reached $8,483,000. Operations occupying 5 separate locations were consolidated in the new Eastlake plant.

1963-President Morris Abrams died suddenly in September.

1964-Fiscal sales reached $10,221,000. Controlling interest was acquired from the Abrams family by Ohio Forge and Machine Corp. with six other diversified subsidiaries and an aggregate sales volume of $22,000,000.

Messag« to Prospective Curtis Employees:

The Curtis company structure is one of the most democratic to be found anywhere. Every member of the Curtis family has an opportunity to express his opinion or present his ideas.

Field Sales Managers are always available for discussion or conference by mail, phone, or in person. Noone can be "lost" in the Curtis organization. Every field representa-

UI know of no business other than my position with Curtis where I can be my own boss, where my income is so unllmited, where cempensetien and advancement are awarded on a basis of my own ability."

Carl Suber Austell, Ga.

tive is a key figure whose advice and knowledge is actively solicited by Curtis administrators. The Curtis business philosophy is based on teamwork ... complete cooperation with the men in the field.

Curtis' growth and present position of leadership prove the wisdom of Curtis' policy of always making promotions from within the Curtis sales force. Curtis' rapid growth is creating many new, key executive posi-

"Never In my association with any organization has the sales representative been held in such high reg_Qrd by everyone. Tr.uly, being a Curtis Area Manager is a gratifying, rewarding experience. "

Frank Upright Kenosha, Wis.

tions. As rapidly as men in the field demonstrate their sales and organizing abilities, these openings are being filled.

Twenty-five new Divisional Sales Managers and Supervisors will be needed to supervise the expanding Curtis sales organization within the next three or four years.

One of these high-paying positions can be yours!

"In the short period of my one _year with Cuitis I hav-e become especially impressed by the tremendous earning potential, the great security I now have and the close cooperation given me by top management." R. F. Smajd

Des Moines/ Iowa

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