A TMG LEGENDCraig Radabough

Legend Summary

  • First serving as SSC’s banker from 1983 to 1991, Craig was offered an opportunity to join SSC as the Marketing & Sales Manager in 1991. At the time, the company had 35 employees at one location.
  • Reflecting on his career with SSC, Craig shared, “I’ve enjoyed working with three generations McAlears: Pat the sales/marketing guru who drove our Single Source Supplier initiative and new product introductions and set us on the path towards tremendous growth, Marilyn who held us accountable for watching every nickel and dime, their son Mike who was visionary, forward-thinking and a technology early adopter, and Mike’s son Matt who brings the energy and boldness required to carry out Mike’s vision plus his own.” Craig shaped who we are and has created a lasting legacy of customer service. As Craig put it, “If we are not taking care of our customers, our competitors will.”

Legend Facts & Memories

  • In 1991 before cell phones, laptops, email, and the internet, Mike taught me how to use a Macintosh SE with a 9” black & white screen to produce our first direct mail pieces in-house.
  • I visited dealers in 35 states over the years, initially making sales trips using fold-up maps (I had amassed an amazing collection of U.S. City maps), using payphones on the road, stopping and asking for directions. Mike made sure we were one of the first to utilize GPS when they became available.
  • In 1991, Mike developed our guaranteed shipment program by incorporating the conveyor pizza-oven concept in our production to produce and ship custom springs faster than anyone else in the industry.
  • Our 1993 promo videos were saved on VHS tapes and loaned out to customers to view. It’s humorous to watch now and this has been saved as a YouTube video for your viewing enjoyment https://youtu.be/hauiqs9Tyqc?si=0eEi53wFn5f5T6M4.
  • In the early 1990’s, we had our very first international order!
  • A few years later in the mid 1990’s, Mike developed our current system to enter orders on the fly and the phone system to record our calls. This replaced the handwritten orders on tablets to be entered later.
  • In 1997, we introduced our Solutions Engineering Software on floppy discs; became the gold standard and most widely used spring engineering software.
  • In 2000, through a funny interaction with a customer a new industry standard was created! The owner mentioned recently helping someone install a door and had lost count of number of turns while winding up the spring. He had forgotten his chalk and was unable to draw the winding stripe, so he had to unwind the spring and start over. Since we were already stenciling the wire size and length, and he suggested we stencil a stripe the remaining length of the spring for those that forget their chalk. I mentioned this to our plant manager who incorporated this, which soon became an industry standard!