13 minute read
Springmaker Spotlight
Jodi Boldenow and Jeremy Sizer
Transforming Power Into Potential:
A Profile of Jodi Boldenow and IDC Spring
By Gary McCoy, Managing Editor
Alawyer by training, Jodi Boldenow, president and co-owner of IDC Spring in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area, describes herself as a “nerd” or “geek” when it comes to the spring industry.
“I love springs, because I find it fascinating that that you can take a big coil of raw material that has potential energy, but it’s not useful yet, and then turn into something powerful,” explained Boldenow. “Springs power so many things.”
Her love for springs goes hand in hand with the IDC Spring vision statement: “We Transform Potential Into Power.”
Boldenow says the statement not only applies to making springs, but also to the people who work at the company. “We can be a place where people learn technical and problem-solving skills.”
She went on to say, “It’s really fun when you have someone who comes to work at our company in an entry-level position. It’s exciting to watch their skills and confidence grow as they learn more technical abilities or find a long-term career path at our company. It’s the most rewarding part of owning a business is helping people grow.”
Boldenow says she loves the spring industry because “it’s very dynamic; it’s never boring.”
A Family Business for Nearly 50 Years
IDC Spring is in its second generation of family ownership. Boldenow co-owns the company with her brother, Jeremy Sizer, who serves as vice president. Being in the garage door spring business is only fitting because the company started in 1974 in the family garage, through the vision of their dad, Gerry Sizer.
Having worked at a local garage door company, Gerry Sizer decided to branch out and start his own installation company, known in the early days as the Industrial Door Company, Inc.
The company grew in size, and in 1981 an opportunity came along for Gerry Sizer to buy a small spring company. Twin Cities Spring was owned by a friend of Sizer’s who wanted to get out of the business. Boldenow said that her dad, being an entrepreneur, decided to give it a go and bought the company. He renamed it Industrial Spring Company, and initially springs were only manufactured for the company’s internal use.
They later branched out and are now one of the industry’s largest garage door spring manufacturers. The company’s Coon Rapids, Minnesota headquarters boasts approximately 180,000 square feet of space, with additional locations in Mesa, Arizona and Piqua, Ohio. The company’s employee base numbers more than 150 people.
“We have a real concentration in garage door springs, although our company has diversified and evolved into making a lot of different springs,” explained Boldenow. The company offers everything from torsion to extension to compression springs and wireforms. “We have made significant investments in capital equipment to position us for continued growth outside of the garage door market. We can now run wire of .080, .125-.625 in many wire types. With the new equipment it has been fun to work within new market spaces,” said Boldenow.
Boldenow says a significant portion of its products are related to construction buildings products and any kind of doors. This includes overhead garage doors, both commercial and residential, along with mini-storage and big rolling doors. They also produce products for truck doors and transportation, along with mechanical industrial applications for things such as dumpster lid covers, dock levelers, all-terrain vehicle snowplows and hose holders and trailer springs.
Second Generation Transition
After finishing law school, Boldenow came to work at IDC Spring in 1996. “I was actually interviewing at law firms and I wasn’t enjoying the process and not really finding anything that was interesting,” she related.
Boldenow’s dad told her that before going down the path toward a legal career, “Maybe we should have a conversation about you entering the family business.”
Gerry Sizer never pushed for his children to enter the business, but both Boldenow and her brother ultimately decided to come be a part of the second generation.
Not long after his children joined the business, Gerry Sizer started the process in 1998 of transitioning out. He formally retired in 2000 and now, at age 74, spends half the year in Minnesota and the other half in Florida.
Boldenow and Sizer both credit their father for quickly letting go of the business he started. “He’s a very dominant personality and he said, ‘If I stick around too long I will probably do you guys a disservice,’” explained Boldenow.
“He’s really a remarkable guy,” said Boldenow of her father. “He said, ‘You guys have got to make your own mistakes. You have to figure out some on your own, and If I’m here too much, I’m going to slow down that process and probably get in the way.’”
Boldenow said her father’s only caveat was that he would complete a monthly review of the company’s financial statement. He told the siblings that if he saw the company going into the ground, he would reserve the right to step in. He never did.
Within five years, Gerry Sizer started selling his company stock to the siblings and gifting what he could. As Boldenow says on her LinkedIn profile, “We give thanks to my dad, a wise teacher, who positioned us to become an industry leader and to be able to leave a legacy beyond the business.”
Driven by Values
Boldenow describes IDC Spring as “a values-driven spring manufacturing company with a simply amazing team of people.”
She says the company’s core values drive everything they do. “If you stay true to those (values), the business just kind of takes care of itself no matter what business you are in.”
Boldenow says IDC Spring’s values include being people focused, integrity, teamwork and personal responsibility.
New team members will often tell Boldenow that “there’s just something different here.” And when she asks the new employees what they think is different, they often cite the company’s culture and values.
Like other spring manufacturers, IDC Spring’s greatest challenge has been its ability to attract qualified workers. Boldenow says it’s been an ongoing struggle for the past 10 years or more.
“It has been our No. 1 hurdle and obstacle to more growth,” she explained. “We could grow more if we could recruit
Dealing with COVID
COVID-19 has had a dramatic effect on every individual and company in the spring industry, especially when its full impact was felt in March 2020. Jodi Boldenow says when COVID first came on the scene at IDC Spring, “We had to work at helping all of our employees be as safe as we could and provide a sense of calm, that we are going to be OK,” she explained. She said there was a lot of elevated fear and uncertainty they had to deal with.
The next challenge was dealing with supply chain disruptions, leading to shortages in areas such as wire, die casting, paints, banding and electronic components for equipment.
Boldenow said the next challenge was dealing with absenteeism within the company’s teams, but not due to a number of COVID positive tests. She said absenteeism was caused more by “other life challenges.”
“There’s a lot of published data on this now that COVID has had other significant impacts on people’s lives in mental health, child care and general family issues. It’s raised a lot of anxiety and depression and just been a big life disruptor,” Boldenow related.
“So, we had employees who just needed more time away from work to take care of life stuff,” she said. “We’re a people-focused company and we’ve really gone out of our way to support our employees as a whole person.”
“We’re very supportive of people needing that extra time, but it’s pretty significant. It goes in waves, but COVID has driven a higher level of absenteeism than we are accustomed to.”
She said that though not unique to IDC Spring, the final consequence of COVID has been the company being busier than usual.
For instance, Boldenow said consumers who canceled vacations turned their energies toward completing long overdue home improvement projects.
“Take the construction industry, which was considered an essential business in all the states where we do business. It hasn’t slowed down, and a lot more people are staying home and tackling home projects,” said Boldenow. “So, we have been busy, which is a blessing.”
Boldenow says IDC Spring initially felt the impact of COVID when they garnered only 30 percent of the revenue they were accustomed to.
“Nobody knew how long that big downturn was going to last. It was very scary for a while there. And unfortunately for other industries, they still haven’t recovered and it’s devastating for many small businesses,” explained Boldenow.
“I haven’t forgotten that we’re among the luckier ones because our business bounced back and is now busy.”
Boldenow concluded, “2020 has been an extremely challenging year, and Jeremy and I are so proud of our team! Our people stayed strong, demonstrated teamwork and flexibility, while taking great care of each other and our customers during the most difficult of times. This is a year for the history books and our team rallied and got through it together.”
more help. And we’ve worked really hard at making sure we are an employer of choice, with competitive wages and benefits and a great work environment.”
Referrals from current employees have been the best source to find new workers. Boldenow says they have also used social media (see related article about how IDC Spring uses social media on page 30) for recruiting, primarily through LinkedIn and Facebook. “It’s still tough but leveraging social media in our recruiting is critical.”
Bridging the Knowledge Transfer Gap
IDC Spring belongs to many trade associations, including SMI and CASMI. They are also part of the National Association of Trailer Manufacturers, the International Door Association and DASMA (Door & Access Systems Manufacturers Association).
Boldenow says they have become more involved in SMI over the past five years. “I really appreciate the new seminars and the technical training that SMI offers. SMI recognizes that there’s going to be a transfer of knowledge, as some of the folks at our company and across the industry are entering retirement. SMI has been very intentional about recognizing that there’s a significant teaching and training opportunity here.”
When asked about the lessons she’s learned during her time in the spring industry, Boldenow said there are many that come to mind, such as: everything is cyclical, always reinvest, surround yourself with amazing people, don’t take on too much debt and rely on a very strong faith foundation.
She also mentioned a strong work ethic, handed down from her father. “As my dad always said: ‘Just work harder than anybody else.’ One of the tricks of the business is just bootstrapping it, even when it’s hard. Just pull up on those boots, by the straps, go out and get to work.”
Boldenow said she and her brother, who both work out of their main office in the Twin Cities, are often in early and stay late. “I think hustle goes a long way.”
Next Gen Considerations
Boldenow and her husband, Jeff, who works in new sales development for the company, have three children, and her brother Jeremy and his wife, Angela, also have three. Between the two families, the children are in the age range of 11 to 24. Boldenow and her brother would like to see IDC Spring become a third generation business.
“We’re not pressuring our kids to do that. We really believe you’ve got to love it,” said Boldenow. “This is hard work. And if you love it, it’s fun. But if you don’t love it, it could really wear on a person.”
Boldenow’s children have worked in the business doing things such as pulling weeds, landscaping and sweeping the parking lot as well as order entry, springmaking and secondary assembly work. All the time Boldenow said they worked hard to instill the values the company was founded upon, such as values and a strong work ethic.
IDC Spring has a 10-year written succession plan in place, but Boldenow says time will tell who ends up working in the business. So far the Boldenows’ two oldest sons have expressed an interest in being part of IDC Spring’s future.
“We believe to enter the family business, you need a college education, to be out in the work world for a couple of years and then come back from that experience with some of your own skills to help bring the company forward to the next place.”
The Boldenows’ oldest son, Cullen Olson, earned a degree in business with a double major in operations and supply chain management and family business from the University of St. Thomas. After working for a couple of years for Target Corporation as an inventory analyst, he recently joined IDC Spring.
Connor Olson recently graduated from Bethel University. He’s a CPA and is currently working for Deloitte as an auditor. He most likely will come to work for the business in a couple of years in accounting or finance.
Callie Olson is a psychology student at Bethel University and works part-time in the customer service department at IDC Spring doing order entry. “She loves it here, and I can see that maybe long term she will end up here too, but time will
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tell. Everyone needs to find their own passion and gifting and that may or may not be in the family business.”
The Sizer children are ages 15, 13 and 11, so Boldenow says it’s hard to know at the moment how they will view becoming a part of the third generation, “But I’m guessing it just might be in their DNA.”
Lake People
Living in the land of 10,000 lakes, Boldenow and Sizer describe their families as “lake people.” They have a cabin in Northern Minnesota where they frequently enjoy going to get away.
“We do a lot of fishing, swimming, boating and paddle boarding,” she explained. “We’re all about the lakes and we also like to hike. We just enjoy being together as a family there.”
In conclusion, Boldenow reiterates what the spring industry has meant to her and her family. “We’re grateful for it. It’s been a really positive 46 years. Lots of ups and downs, but the industry’s been good to us. There are lots of good people we’ve met along the way; lots of family businesses just like ours, who have a heart for people and manufacturing and it’s been a ton of fun.”
She paused and said, “I have had the good fortune of working with amazing people, and in a fun industry. So, I feel lucky every day! Even with all the challenges of the business, I still love it.” n
