Low-tech successful innovation

I first met Leon Yulkowski roughly seven years ago. He was recovering from hip surgery but wanted to give me a tour of his factory, Total Door Solutions in Pontiac Michigan. Although I considered myself healthy and he recently had undergone hip surgery, I was barely able to keep up with Leon as we moved from department to department.

Leon was both physically and mentally hyperactive, as I image he has been his whole life. He is a true entrepreneur who started a lock company in 1950. After selling the business to Slage, he invented a unique door system and started Total Door Solutions. Rather than just creating a door and incorporating hardware from many sources, his factory designs and builds doors integrating unique hardware created by his own plant. I don’t know how many patents he’s credited with but there are many. At the time of our interview he was making ten to fifteen patent applications per year!

Leon came to mind when I recently came across an article that his company has bought an old department store in Pontiac and is spending $3.25 million to turn it into a state-of-the art new factory. Leon is not a young man. While his daughter is listed as general manager, Leon is still listed as CEO and I can imagine that he is still innovating.

His is the kind of innovative and entrepreneurial spirit that is so very keen in turning around our old industrial cities into robust centers of innovation and employment. His is not a glamorous businesses of electrons and biology. His is a very practical nuts-and-bolts type of business with products needed by every architect and builder. While so many government leaders concentrate on encouraging and promoting high-tech businesses (many of which are also high-risk), they might do well to take a close look at attracting, encouraging, and financing practical low-tech manufacturing companies that offer innovative solutions and products.

Will Limkemann
www.siqualtd.com