The Latest from Diesel Supply Company
Diesel Supply Company in The Spotlight
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Our CEO Jessica Kramer talks Railway Supply Institute, the benefits of being a small business at big trade show, and Diesel Supply Company History during an interview at Railway Interchange 2015 in Minneapolis, MN. Watch the whole Interview here!
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October Newsletter
Jessica Kramer
CEO, President
Diesel Supply Co., Inc.
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Rising Star: Jessica Kramer September 2014
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Jessica Kramer
President
Diesel Supply Co. Inc.
Education: University of Wisconsin-River Falls, bachelor of fine arts with an emphasis in glassblowing
Career highlights: After college, Kramer Havens worked as a full-time glassblower and art teacher in Florida. She took over operations of Diesel Supply Co., a locomotive parts and leasing company in Hudson, Wis., in 2004 after her father and company owner Paul Kramer was injured in a near-fatal car accident. She bought the company (founded by her grandfather Al Kramer) in 2007, and has since streamlined the business to focus on manufacturing and marketing cast-iron brake shoes, as well as marketing batteries, lights and engineer seats to the locomotive industry.
Why rail? "I thought keeping the [Diesel Supply Co.] doors open until after Dad's recovery would be temporary, but it ended up being a full-fledged career change for me. ... My dad ran this business for 40 years. I saw an opportunity for his legacy to continue and I didn't want to see it end."
Five-year goal: "My business has been growing exponentially in the last three to four years with just the battery and brake-shoe business. I'd like to streamline to the point where I can hire some people — right now, it's all me. I'd like to be able to expand [the company] to a point where I have a legacy to leave to my son, should he decide that he wants to do this someday."
Active in: Railway Supply Institute, board director; League of Railway Industry Women, corporate sponsor chair
Making a difference in rail transportation by ... representing small businesses in the rail-industry and encouraging women to consider careers in railroading.
Her philosophy starts with lessons from her dad. "I don't think he ever missed a day of work. He told me, 'Half of something is better than all of nothing,' which to me meant that you go after every opportunity you can. ... It's about giving it your all, always being there to answer the phone, and recognizing an opportunity when it presents itself."
President
Diesel Supply Co. Inc.
Education: University of Wisconsin-River Falls, bachelor of fine arts with an emphasis in glassblowing
Career highlights: After college, Kramer Havens worked as a full-time glassblower and art teacher in Florida. She took over operations of Diesel Supply Co., a locomotive parts and leasing company in Hudson, Wis., in 2004 after her father and company owner Paul Kramer was injured in a near-fatal car accident. She bought the company (founded by her grandfather Al Kramer) in 2007, and has since streamlined the business to focus on manufacturing and marketing cast-iron brake shoes, as well as marketing batteries, lights and engineer seats to the locomotive industry.
Why rail? "I thought keeping the [Diesel Supply Co.] doors open until after Dad's recovery would be temporary, but it ended up being a full-fledged career change for me. ... My dad ran this business for 40 years. I saw an opportunity for his legacy to continue and I didn't want to see it end."
Five-year goal: "My business has been growing exponentially in the last three to four years with just the battery and brake-shoe business. I'd like to streamline to the point where I can hire some people — right now, it's all me. I'd like to be able to expand [the company] to a point where I have a legacy to leave to my son, should he decide that he wants to do this someday."
Active in: Railway Supply Institute, board director; League of Railway Industry Women, corporate sponsor chair
Making a difference in rail transportation by ... representing small businesses in the rail-industry and encouraging women to consider careers in railroading.
Her philosophy starts with lessons from her dad. "I don't think he ever missed a day of work. He told me, 'Half of something is better than all of nothing,' which to me meant that you go after every opportunity you can. ... It's about giving it your all, always being there to answer the phone, and recognizing an opportunity when it presents itself."
Spokane CDA-January 2014
by Cheryl-Anne Millsap
January 9th, 2014
The last 10 years of Jessica Havens life read like a movie script: Successful glass artist, dutiful daughter stepping in to save the family business, wife, innovator, industry leader and now, new mother. There goes the old “You can’t have it all” argument. In this month’s Role Model profile, we asked Jessica to share her unique and inspiring story.
SCW: You have an interesting job. Tell us what you do.
J.H.: I am the owner and president of Diesel Supply Co., Inc., a locomotive parts supplier and manufacturer. I purchased the business from my father in 2007 after working the business since 2004. My grandfather started the business in 1971 after running supply trains in WWII between Iran and Russia and then working as a field mechanic for the American Locomotive Company (ALCO). My father worked alongside him until grandpa retired in the mid 70s. I’m actually a fourth generation railroader, as my great grandfather worked as a trainman for Chicago Northwestern Railroad in the 1930s and 40s.
What brought you to Spokane?
I met my husband Todd (CEO and president at Western Rail) at a railroad convention in Chicago and since the majority of my business can be handled via Internet, and his requires a considerable amount of track for his locomotives, it was easier for me to head west than for him to move east. Also, he has three wonderful children here that I’m lucky enough to be a stepmother to, so I was more than happy to make the move.
You’re in an industry that many might see as “male dominated.” How do you navigate that?
It’s no easy task. There is definitely a ‘good old boy’ culture in the railroad industry, although more and more women are holding leadership positions at executive levels. Being a woman-owned manufacturing business presents it’s own set of challenges given the technical nature of my business. I have to be well versed in the lingo of the train operators and be able to engage them in conversation in order to be taken seriously.
You took over a family business. Were there elements of the transfer that were particularly difficult?
Definitely. I had never intended to work in the family business, nor had I ever worked a day in Dad’s warehouse. I studied art in college and graduated with a BFA in glassblowing from the University of Wisconsin River Falls and, following graduation, moved to Florida where I worked in various glass studios doing everything from production glass blowing to consulting to teaching.
It wasn’t until my father had a near-fatal car accident in 2004 that I really understood what it was he did for a living. There was no one to run the business while he was recovering in the hospital, so I quickly sold my house and quit my job in Florida and moved home to help my mother care for him and to keep the business afloat. What was to be a relatively short-term endeavor turned out to be a full-fledged career change.
Although Dad made a remarkable recovery despite the severity of his injuries, he did take an early retirement from the company at which point I was in a position to make a go of it myself. To my surprise, I really enjoyed the railroad business and gained a deep appreciation for the decades of hard work my father had put into his company. I embraced the challenge of learning the thousands of parts that comprise a locomotive, and eventually figured out a way to streamline the business into something manageable and profitable for me.
I wasn’t going to fool myself into thinking I could absorb 30 years of knowledge in a matter of months and keep the doors open, so I downsized and focused on the parts of a locomotive that were more universal and that I knew I could market to a broader clientele.
Do you feel you have had to prove yourself to co-workers or others in the industry?
Despite the railroad reaching every corner of the country, it really is a tight-knit community. My father had established a good reputation in the business and his customers and vendors were gracious enough to help me navigate my way through a very unfamiliar industry. I often had to ask them to draw me a picture of what part they were calling for so I could head out to the warehouse in hopes of finding it. There are thousands of pages of technical drawings for each individual model of locomotive and with Dad laid up and no one to show me how to use them, it was all Greek to me. They’ve since become second nature, but there were days when I thought I would never figure out which end of a locomotive was the front!
Truth be told, I think that a lot of people in the business didn’t expect me to last this long. I was up against a lot of obstacles, but failure wasn’t an option. In the beginning, my determination came from the necessity to keep the business going while my family needed it to. Eventually, my incentive to succeed came from the desire to prove to myself that I could give these boys a run for their money.
How do you deal with the pressures of being a mother with a small child, and a business owner?
I’m still figuring that one out! I’m fortunate enough to be able to run my company primarily from home, which allows me to be available to the needs of my 10-month-old son, Taggart. I never realized how short 24 hours can be until I was faced with diapers and purchase orders at the same time.
I want to leave a legacy for my son and give him the opportunity to carry on the family tradition, should he choose to, and this motivates me each and every day to answer the phone and do the trade shows and be an active leader in my industry. I currently serve on two boards: the League of Railway Industry Women as their corporate sponsor chair, and the Railway Supply Institute as a director (The only female, I might add).
You have a creative side. How do you balance that with the demands of owning and running a business?
Unfortunately, since taking over the business, I haven’t been making any art. I do enjoy collecting and supporting the arts any chance I get. We try to stay involved in the glass community in Seattle and are steadily building a glass collection of our own here in Spokane. My goal is to have a glass studio up and running within the next five years so I can get back to creating with my hands again. I would love to teach again, too.
Tell us about the new locomotive brake shoe you helped design.
My father came up with the idea 15 years ago of making a better locomotive brake shoe that was lighter, stronger, and safer than what was being offered. Dad’s business model was based around locomotive sales and leasing, with the parts business being a cushion for the cyclical nature of the railroad economy.
When I bought the business, there was far more competition in the locomotive end of business, and twice that in parts distributors and manufacturers. I realized that in order to be competitive, I would have to focus my energy on a select few items that could weather economic downturns as well as service a wide variety of locomotives, not just a select few.
We were already distributors for locomotive starting batteries and lighting, so I ramped up advertising in that department, and really focused on building the brake shoe business, which we manufacture out of a foundry in Minnesota. I sold off 30 plus years of miscellaneous inventory in the warehouse and began development of another brake shoe that utilized the same metallurgy as the shoe my dad developed, but had an application on a much wider variety of locomotives.
I spent a year testing the brake shoes on locomotives in Washington, where I could oversee firsthand their performance and make the necessary adjustments to perfect the fit of the shoe to the wheels. I wanted to be able to tell my customers that I could stand behind my product and wasn’t just a salesperson on the other end of the phone.
I’m certainly not the biggest manufacturer of brake shoes out there, but I’m definitely giving the other players a run for their money, and I’m doing it with a product made entirely in the United States.
What are the rewards of doing what you do?
The flexibility to work from a home office much of the time is a huge advantage as a new mom. I often find myself processing orders and creating shipping documents in the middle of the night when the baby sleeps. I couldn’t do that if I worked off site. Being mobile and having the ability to meet the needs of my family is incredibly important to me. I wouldn’t have been able to do this 20 years ago without the technology in my purse. It’s a huge advantage.
Most rewarding, however, is how proud I know my father is of what I’ve accomplished in the past 10 years. He joined me last week on a business trip to Southern Minnesota and as he sat back and watched me negotiate the terms of a new business venture, the knowing smile across his face said it all.
by Cheryl-Anne Millsap
January 9th, 2014
The last 10 years of Jessica Havens life read like a movie script: Successful glass artist, dutiful daughter stepping in to save the family business, wife, innovator, industry leader and now, new mother. There goes the old “You can’t have it all” argument. In this month’s Role Model profile, we asked Jessica to share her unique and inspiring story.
SCW: You have an interesting job. Tell us what you do.
J.H.: I am the owner and president of Diesel Supply Co., Inc., a locomotive parts supplier and manufacturer. I purchased the business from my father in 2007 after working the business since 2004. My grandfather started the business in 1971 after running supply trains in WWII between Iran and Russia and then working as a field mechanic for the American Locomotive Company (ALCO). My father worked alongside him until grandpa retired in the mid 70s. I’m actually a fourth generation railroader, as my great grandfather worked as a trainman for Chicago Northwestern Railroad in the 1930s and 40s.
What brought you to Spokane?
I met my husband Todd (CEO and president at Western Rail) at a railroad convention in Chicago and since the majority of my business can be handled via Internet, and his requires a considerable amount of track for his locomotives, it was easier for me to head west than for him to move east. Also, he has three wonderful children here that I’m lucky enough to be a stepmother to, so I was more than happy to make the move.
You’re in an industry that many might see as “male dominated.” How do you navigate that?
It’s no easy task. There is definitely a ‘good old boy’ culture in the railroad industry, although more and more women are holding leadership positions at executive levels. Being a woman-owned manufacturing business presents it’s own set of challenges given the technical nature of my business. I have to be well versed in the lingo of the train operators and be able to engage them in conversation in order to be taken seriously.
You took over a family business. Were there elements of the transfer that were particularly difficult?
Definitely. I had never intended to work in the family business, nor had I ever worked a day in Dad’s warehouse. I studied art in college and graduated with a BFA in glassblowing from the University of Wisconsin River Falls and, following graduation, moved to Florida where I worked in various glass studios doing everything from production glass blowing to consulting to teaching.
It wasn’t until my father had a near-fatal car accident in 2004 that I really understood what it was he did for a living. There was no one to run the business while he was recovering in the hospital, so I quickly sold my house and quit my job in Florida and moved home to help my mother care for him and to keep the business afloat. What was to be a relatively short-term endeavor turned out to be a full-fledged career change.
Although Dad made a remarkable recovery despite the severity of his injuries, he did take an early retirement from the company at which point I was in a position to make a go of it myself. To my surprise, I really enjoyed the railroad business and gained a deep appreciation for the decades of hard work my father had put into his company. I embraced the challenge of learning the thousands of parts that comprise a locomotive, and eventually figured out a way to streamline the business into something manageable and profitable for me.
I wasn’t going to fool myself into thinking I could absorb 30 years of knowledge in a matter of months and keep the doors open, so I downsized and focused on the parts of a locomotive that were more universal and that I knew I could market to a broader clientele.
Do you feel you have had to prove yourself to co-workers or others in the industry?
Despite the railroad reaching every corner of the country, it really is a tight-knit community. My father had established a good reputation in the business and his customers and vendors were gracious enough to help me navigate my way through a very unfamiliar industry. I often had to ask them to draw me a picture of what part they were calling for so I could head out to the warehouse in hopes of finding it. There are thousands of pages of technical drawings for each individual model of locomotive and with Dad laid up and no one to show me how to use them, it was all Greek to me. They’ve since become second nature, but there were days when I thought I would never figure out which end of a locomotive was the front!
Truth be told, I think that a lot of people in the business didn’t expect me to last this long. I was up against a lot of obstacles, but failure wasn’t an option. In the beginning, my determination came from the necessity to keep the business going while my family needed it to. Eventually, my incentive to succeed came from the desire to prove to myself that I could give these boys a run for their money.
How do you deal with the pressures of being a mother with a small child, and a business owner?
I’m still figuring that one out! I’m fortunate enough to be able to run my company primarily from home, which allows me to be available to the needs of my 10-month-old son, Taggart. I never realized how short 24 hours can be until I was faced with diapers and purchase orders at the same time.
I want to leave a legacy for my son and give him the opportunity to carry on the family tradition, should he choose to, and this motivates me each and every day to answer the phone and do the trade shows and be an active leader in my industry. I currently serve on two boards: the League of Railway Industry Women as their corporate sponsor chair, and the Railway Supply Institute as a director (The only female, I might add).
You have a creative side. How do you balance that with the demands of owning and running a business?
Unfortunately, since taking over the business, I haven’t been making any art. I do enjoy collecting and supporting the arts any chance I get. We try to stay involved in the glass community in Seattle and are steadily building a glass collection of our own here in Spokane. My goal is to have a glass studio up and running within the next five years so I can get back to creating with my hands again. I would love to teach again, too.
Tell us about the new locomotive brake shoe you helped design.
My father came up with the idea 15 years ago of making a better locomotive brake shoe that was lighter, stronger, and safer than what was being offered. Dad’s business model was based around locomotive sales and leasing, with the parts business being a cushion for the cyclical nature of the railroad economy.
When I bought the business, there was far more competition in the locomotive end of business, and twice that in parts distributors and manufacturers. I realized that in order to be competitive, I would have to focus my energy on a select few items that could weather economic downturns as well as service a wide variety of locomotives, not just a select few.
We were already distributors for locomotive starting batteries and lighting, so I ramped up advertising in that department, and really focused on building the brake shoe business, which we manufacture out of a foundry in Minnesota. I sold off 30 plus years of miscellaneous inventory in the warehouse and began development of another brake shoe that utilized the same metallurgy as the shoe my dad developed, but had an application on a much wider variety of locomotives.
I spent a year testing the brake shoes on locomotives in Washington, where I could oversee firsthand their performance and make the necessary adjustments to perfect the fit of the shoe to the wheels. I wanted to be able to tell my customers that I could stand behind my product and wasn’t just a salesperson on the other end of the phone.
I’m certainly not the biggest manufacturer of brake shoes out there, but I’m definitely giving the other players a run for their money, and I’m doing it with a product made entirely in the United States.
What are the rewards of doing what you do?
The flexibility to work from a home office much of the time is a huge advantage as a new mom. I often find myself processing orders and creating shipping documents in the middle of the night when the baby sleeps. I couldn’t do that if I worked off site. Being mobile and having the ability to meet the needs of my family is incredibly important to me. I wouldn’t have been able to do this 20 years ago without the technology in my purse. It’s a huge advantage.
Most rewarding, however, is how proud I know my father is of what I’ve accomplished in the past 10 years. He joined me last week on a business trip to Southern Minnesota and as he sat back and watched me negotiate the terms of a new business venture, the knowing smile across his face said it all.