100 years and counting for Ziegler Tire

MASSILLON, Ohio — Ziegler Tire & Supply Co. owes its existence to Prohibition.

It was 100 years ago that the 18th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified, forcing the Ziegler family to shut a tavern it operated. Then, brothers Oliver and Harold Ziegler met Harvey Firestone, who encouraged them to open a Firestone tire dealership in Canton, Ohio, in 1919. The rest, as they say, is history.

Oliver Ziegler later brought two other brothers to help operate the retail/commercial dealership. The second, third and fourth generations now are working at the Massillon-based company, which has grown to 18 commercial tire outlets, six retail tire stores, two truck tire retread plants, a wholesale center and two distribution centers scattered around Ohio and stretching into Pennsylvania, Kentucky and West Virginia. The company reported $130 million in sales last year.

President Bill Ziegler, a second-generation dealership owner, first worked as an accountant at another company before joining the family business.

"We didn't have a choice. We were born into it," he joked.

At age 71, he has cut back his work week to 40 hours but has no plans to retire anytime soon. His cousin Harold Ziegler, 86, still comes into the office every day.

Bill Ziegler's son Pat and cousin John Jr., are the third-generation working in the business. John, who is vice president, worked for Firestone Tire & Rubber Co. after college for several years before joining the family business.

His son, John III, is a regional commercial supervisor for Ziegler's commercial stores. The fifth generation is still in diapers.

Ziegler Tire is the 18th largest U.S. commercial tire dealership, 21st largest U.S. commercial tire retreader and the 48th largest retail tire dealership, according to Tire Business rankings. The company also operates one of the largest independent wholesale operations in the Midwest, Mighty Tire Wholesale, generating sales of $25.2 million in 2018.

The commercial side of the business accounts for about 75% of sales. The Zieglers said they have focused on expanding the commercial business because that's what they do best, ever since the Firestone Tire founder, an advocate of ship-by-truck commerce in the early days of the automobile, encouraged the Zieglers to get into the truck tire business.

So what is the family's secret to its longevity and success?

"You got to start out with a lot of money," quipped Bill Ziegler, voicing an ongoing family joke. He recalled how his Uncle Ralph once commented to the first-generation brothers: "I don't understand it. You've been losing money since 1919, and you're still in business. You must have started out with a hell of a lot of money!"

But, he said, Oliver Ziegler had his family to buoy up the company.

"When Oliver started, he had Harold. … He had his family, which he didn't have to pay too much — or for free. ... He ran it very lean."

He said he looked at some of the old financial reports, "and they were scary! But a lot of it was because of family. Family would work cheap. If things got bad, the family would work for free probably, and just have enough to live on. And it's still that way to a certain extent.

"We all live on the philosophy: If the company makes money, we'll make money. If it makes less, we make less. If it makes more, we make more. So we're really trying to instill that everybody's important."

John Ziegler recalled how that philosophy played out during the Great Recession of 2007-09.

"It was probably one of the few times I remember we actually had pretty serious layoffs. We probably laid off 10% of our total staff, which was really tough. ... It was one of those 'tighten up the chinstrap.' We obviously survived that, but it was a tough lesson," he said, noting that management also took pay cuts. Once things turned around, the company hired back staff and continued to expand.

"It all comes down to having good people," Bill Ziegler said. "Good people in the management. Good people in the field. Good people in the stores. You can have all the fixed assets you want, the buildings and all those kind of things, but it's the employees that make the difference. We battle to find good employees."

The original four brothers instilled that family attitude in business, John Ziegler added.

"A lot of independent tire dealers that are in the tire business, with a family that has been around a long time, there is a lot of similarities. The work ethic was there, and they instilled that in the employees. And for the employees (the company) was part of their families as well."

While the dealership deals with turnover in some job positions, it also has veteran employees who have been with the company for as long as 50 years.

"There's a two-way loyalty kind of thing with the employees," John Ziegler said.

"Our biggest accomplishment is seeing our people grow, develop and being able to retire," Bill Ziegler said. "We started a foundation where we help our employees' children go to college with scholarships every year. That's the thing I'm most proud of is watching the growth of some of our people."

COO Nate Clements, who has been with the company for 14 years, said loyalty between the company and its 380 employees also extends to its suppliers and customers.

"Over 100 years, there were a lot of bad times for a lot of customers, and we tried to stand by them through their rough times. So when we go through rough times, they stand by us," he said.

And it was getting through difficult economic times that was the company's greatest challenge, according to Bill Ziegler, particularly during the Great Depression.

"My Uncle Oliver expanded quite a bit after he started and then the Depression came and that had a profound effect on him. He pretty much went into his shell and didn't expand anymore. He was just trying to keep what he had. And it was that way from the '20s until the '60s," he said.

Under Bill Ziegler's leadership, the dealership began to grow steadily through acquisitions of one- or two-store dealerships in Ohio and surrounding states. Its largest acquisition to date was a three-location business in Wester, Pa.

Acquisitions were made of same-kind businesses selling anything from a wheelbarrow tire to an earthmover tire. He described it as a lot of organic growth with small operations so the company could manage the influx of new business and employees and make changes that it wanted to make to the new stores.

The Zieglers said they always are looking for growth opportunities that will extend their footprint.

Another challenge for the company is finding good employees.

"Finding people who want to work, who want to come to work every day and want to be trained, because we're looking to train them the right way, to train them safely. And someone who can grow with us," Mr. Clements said.

"We're always interviewing," he added, "because if we find good people, even if we may not have a spot for them at that time, we may go ahead and start the training process, because we believe they can grow with us. So we're always looking for good people out there. We're not ever going to stop. That is the best thing we can do. … Some of our best people just walked in off the street."

Bill Ziegler said there are several success stories of employees who started out in entry-level positions, moved to different positions in the company, and eventually managed a store.

"We've tried to concentrate on the core people that you want to grow. You know that person can help the business be more successful," he said, noting there is not a lot of turnover at the management level.

"I think it's attributed to us trying to recognize how important these people are to us and do whatever we need to keep them growing with us," he said.

"I think it's important, too, that over the years the Zieglers have built a company that if something happens to Bill or to John or to myself, the ship is going to sail on," Mr. Clements said. "The company is going to continue to run."

That strategy was tested recently when Bill Ziegler experienced health issues in May that kept him away from the business for several months.

"It doesn't matter who it is, the company will continue on," Mr. Clements said. "People step up, and our employees have stepped up very nicely."

Bill Ziegler acknowledged it is tough operating a family-run tire dealership.

"You're trying to keep people doing what they're good at, trying to help everybody get better, trying to bring younger ones up, whether they are family or not. ... I've always believed that it's good to get some outside experience first. Learn in the real world where you have to actually listen to a boss and do what you're supposed to do and you learn how to manage on someone else's dime."

Mr. Clements added: "Anytime you have a family-owned company and multiple family members, there's always going to be some challenges amongst the family. ... But these guys have proven they can do it over the years. The four brothers managed and then these guys have continued."

"One thing that we learned is I think you're harder on family than anybody," Bill Ziegler said. "I remember when I was young listening to my dad and uncles argue. You'd have thought if they had a gun, they would shoot each other. But they would do anything for each other. And I get on John's butt all the time. My dad was on mine. It's probably harder on the family than anybody."

John Ziegler first worked in the family business when he was 13.

"I always remember my Uncle Norm, when I was working at a truck stop, saying, 'Being a Ziegler you know you got to work harder than all the other people because you have got to set a good example for them,'" he recalled.

Bill Ziegler said a lot of the company's growth in recent years has involved adding to the operations and the infrastructure of its existing stores.

For instance, the dealership added fixed bays at some of its commercial locations in recent years so it could offer light mechanical service on truck trailers and tractors. It relocated some Ohio service centers to improve mechanical service to fleets in Cleveland, Toledo, Columbus and Canton.

"We prefer (to expand) through an acquisition if we get the choice because part of that reason is, obviously, if you acquire somebody they have the business and the people side of it," Mr. Clements said. "Chances are if there's a successful business, they have some long-term employees who have the knowledge, and we want to make sure we take advantage of that."

The company is experiencing growing competition from truck stops and tire manufacturers that are trying to delve into more direct sales to fleets.

"They're going after the same business we are. I think we have to make sure we focus on what has made us strong over the years, which is strong service," Mr. Clements said.

"And relationships with those customers," Bill Ziegler added.

While the commercial locations are spread around to cater to regional and national fleets, Ziegler Tire's retail locations are clustered around the Canton, Ohio, area.

"With retail, we've been more close to home, I guess. So we're always looking for opportunities there as well," Bill Ziegler said.

The biggest change the dealership experienced was in its retread business when it converted to the Michelin Retread Technologies (MRT) system in 1999 from the Bandag Inc. system, becoming one of the first MRT licensees in the country.

The dealership installed a hybrid plant that manufactures precure and mold-cure retreads. It now is one of seven hybrid shops left, according to the Zieglers.

Ziegler Tire began retreading in 1938 with the Firestone Tempatred precure and mold cure processes. Then the company converted in the 1980s to Bandag for about 13 years and expanded to four retread plants.

When Michelin North America Inc. got into the retreading business, it signed up Ziegler Tire, which built a plant in Massillon to house the MRT equipment.

"That caused a lot of issues. Bandag was mad at us for switching to MRT. That was a tough time," Bill Ziegler recalled.

Because of territory issues, Ziegler Tire had to reduce its operations to the one retread plant. The company opened a second MRT plant in Monroe, Ohio, in 2005.

The Zieglers recently held a celebration of the company's 100-year anniversary, joining an elite group of family-owned companies that have survived a century.

"It's not something you set a goal for, but I think that is obviously a major accomplishment. You don't see many companies that are 100 years old that still have the second generation working in the business. That's something to be said, and then with the second through fourth generation still active is really nice," Mr. Clements said.

The four Ziegler brothers probably had no idea their business venture would survive a century.

"I don't think Oliver said to his brothers (after the first year in business), 'OK, 99 to go! We got to keep on charging!'" Bill Ziegler joked.

While many a tire dealership has disappeared through acquisitions, Ziegler Tire hopes it can continue as an independent family-owned company.

"We constantly get phone calls from people wanting to acquire us, but the problem is, if you want to sell it, the bigger you get the more difficult it is for someone to buy it. ... At this point in my life, I just as soon keep the company going," Bill Ziegler said.

"My philosophy was I didn't put any money into the company. It was basically my uncles and my dad that put the sweat in to begin with. There's no reason I should need to have a bunch of money out of it. I'd rather see the company go on," he said.

"And you have a lot of families counting on us," John Ziegler added. "Obviously we count on them."

Ziegler Tire sells nearly every type of tire, but the family wants to focus on its commercial truck business.

"We want to do what we're good at," Bill Ziegler said. "We know we're good at the tire business, especially the commercial business with service, so we want to expand upon that. Maybe tweak it a little bit, like when we added on light mechanical which, probably 10 years from now, will represent probably 10% of our sales."

As for the challenges Ziegler Tire faces for the next 100 years: "I think it's just staying on top of the changes in the industry, whether it's the retail industry, the commercial industry, the wholesale industry," John Ziegler said.

There have been a lot of changes in truck service over the years.

"It used to be as long as you could get the truck back up and running or the trailer up and running so they could get back on the road as quick as possible, that was the main thing," Mr. Clements said. "Now you have to take the right pictures with the smartphones. You have to track how fast the roll time is. … Some of our customers have the ability to live-track the calls, so they can log in and see the status of the call."

With consolidation on the fleet side of the business, the surviving fleets are using information and technology to reduce costs, according to John Ziegler.

"Tires are a big part of the expense. So they are looking for us to be their consultant, to be cost-reducing, efficient but cost effective."

Tire life also has expanded over the years. "When I started, if a fleet got 60,000 miles on a steer tire, they were happy," Bill Ziegler said. "Then radials came along, and there were improvements. ... You sell less units (now) and are probably not making any more money per unit, so that's a challenge.

"Our way to overcome that is to get bigger. Find more customers. Be more aggressive. Unfortunately, if someone is a small dealer, it's hard for him to compete with us or any large dealer for that matter."

Mr. Clements said the challenge going forward is "maintaining what the Zieglers have built as far as with our goals and the loyalty side of it. You remain loyal to your people, to your customers and they give that to you in return. I think that's a good foundation for maintaining and continuing to grow in the future."

Ziegler Tire's 24/7 commercial roadside service is a major part of its commercial business.