Quillen pushes DEP after falling in love with 'controlled chaos'

Jackson, Mich. — Mack, the 2-year-old Rottweiler, greets visitors and pokes his head into meetings at Diversified Engineering & Plastics LLC. His friendly presence is the first sign that Anita-Maria Quillen's company is anything but typical.

How many plastics injection molders today, for example, are run by women, much less by someone who began her college studies as a microbiology major? Enter Quillen, the youngest daughter of Travis Pearse Jr. and Armida Pearse who bought Mid-American Products in 2001. Quillen began her journey working Fridays for her parents' company in 2004 doing odd jobs. Little did she know she would fall hard for manufacturing.

"I had absolutely no intention of staying. I wasn't going to stay in Jackson. I wasn't going to stay working here. I really just fell in love with the environment and what I call 'controlled chaos.' That is manufacturing. It is constantly changing," said Quillen, the 35-year-old CEO, who re-routed her educational plans to a bachelor's degree in business followed by an MBA.

The road, however, has not been smooth.

When she began at Mid-American Products, annual sales were $60 million. Yet Quillen noticed market changes in 2005 just as she was learning what a purchase order was and what MRO meant.

"I still have my notes in a spiral binder of how to run an ERP system," she said. "My manager kept throwing me into these big, dark holes. I just continued to learn and be successful. So, I ended up running the ​ purchasing department and HR." She was 23.

By the time the Great Recession hit, Mid-American was in trouble.

"We were just bleeding in every aspect of the business. Cash is just going. Operations is not running well," she said. But the company worked its way through bankruptcy in 2011.

"At that time, I was promoted to executive vice president. I was in Detroit working on the bankruptcy and running this operation here with another manager. It was stressful. It was stressful."

Her mindset at the time? "I have to do this. My parents were very hardworking, caring people. And to see your parents go through such a stressful situation not only in a professional but personal aspect because it's on their marriage, their financial comforts. Everything is wrapped up in this business. I guess I never really sat down and said, 'Anita, do you have an option?' I didn't really think there was an option. I thought, 'I don't know what I'm doing, but I can figure it out.' I was probably the best person to facilitate moving things along. I just fit in that hole."

She also felt an obligation to the employees, some of whom had worked at Mid-American since the 1980s.

Today, business is stable with $15 million in sales. Quillen calls the company's balance sheet financially comfortable.

"We're healthy," she said.

Quillen owns 81 percent of Diversified Engineering & Plastics, as the company is now known, with a silent partner from the Jackson area owning the rest. She bought the company, which does business as DEP Engineering, out of bankruptcy. Eighty-five percent of sales come from the automotive sector, mostly non-cosmetic parts such as mirror brackets, under-the-hood pieces in engine blocks and valve lifter guides for customers like Ford Motor Co., General Motors Corp. and Fiat Chrysler.

"We don't have one customer [that represents] over 23 percent of sales," she said, noting that DEP ships parts across the United States and to Germany, Mexico and Canada. "There isn't one thing that would significantly impact our business because we run across so many customers and platforms."

DEP employs 100. "We're a little more efficient [with human resources]. I think those days of having significant amount of overhead have gone to the wayside," said Quillen, who worked hard on reducing costs and creating a new organizational structure with individualized quarterly goals for her management team.

Like many in manufacturing, DEP has trouble finding employees for the shop floor. Quillen is fighting two battles.

First, the number of unemployed in Jackson County is low at 5.3 percent. Quillen says once the rates hit 5 percent or below, she finds those people are not employable. "They can't keep a consistent job."

In addition, heroin and other drugs are such a problem in Jackson County that many potential employees can't pass a drug test.

"We require all new employees to have a physical and a drug screen. Half of them don't show up [for the drug screening] or they don't pass," she said.

To combat these issues, Quillen is working on creative measures to make DEP more attractive to new and current employees. Two ideas include providing bus passes and bringing low-cost groceries to DEP for eligible workers. She also has two interns from Jackson Community College who can help fill the mid-manager pipeline.

Quillen has seen a lot in her seven years as CEO. Now, she sees blue skies ahead with the company recently receiving approval as a Toyota supplier. She believes DEP can double sales to $30 million in five years with the current infrastructure.

Is anything keeping her up at night?

"The mistakes from the day before — I always call them opportunities — where maybe my tone wasn't right, what did I say wrong, what could I have done differently. What can I do better as a leader to help my team grow is probably what I think about the most. I critique things that go on throughout the day. I'm a firm believer if you're a strong leader and you spend the time improving yourself every single day, your group will do the same thing."