Introduction
In the early 90s, Tripar saw its first competition for its North American based lighting OEMs coming from Asia; from Taiwan then China.
This saw the import of complete light fixtures coming from overseas, cutting out the local manufacturer, and the need for associated Tripar parts. To offset this, Tripar started targeting architectural & commercial lighting OEMs that require higher quality than what Asia was offering.
Now, 75+ years later, we’re still the largest fabricator of recessed lighting components in North America, serving hundreds of lighting OEMs.
Working at Lee Valley
The early 90s was when I switched jobs not to Tripar (yet), but to Lee Valley Tools. I got tired of working for Computing Devices Co. (CDC), the constraining world of defense electronics and the “mil spec” environment, not to mention the ethical dilemma of contributing to the military machine. Thinking about how the biologist who loves scuba diving combines the two, becoming a marine biologist, I took inventory of my skills and interests. Being an engineer and avid woodworker, the idea of Lee Valley Tools struck me; a high-quality specialty woodworking tool retailer headquartered in Ottawa that also owned Veritas Tools, a division that designed and manufactured such tools.
On a whim, I called Lee Valley late one afternoon. A gentleman answered the phone to whom I inquired whether there may be any openings in product development for Veritas Tools. I was told to drop off my resume. Being very close to where I lived, and with my resume already up to date, I banged off a cover letter, and jumped on my bike to drop it off. Upon my arrival, just past 5:00, the door was locked. I looked for a mail slot or drop box. There was none, but there were two buzzers or doorbells, one of which I pressed.
A man came to and opened the door, asking if he could be of any help to which I said that I just spoke to someone about a potential position at Veritas. His reply was “Oh, that was me. Come on in.” Unbeknownst to me, it was Leonard Lee, Founder and President of Lee Valley Tools. We went into his office, he sat down, classic feet placement up on the edge of the table corner, and began perusing my letter and CV. Well, that meeting lasted over two hours!
Hired, fired, and re-hired
It seems my timing was near perfect. As I found out that he had two people working in Product Development, an engineer and a machinist, whose combined ages were approaching 130, so he had to consider the future of this department. That’s it, I was hired as Lee Valley and Veritas Tools’ first Director of R&D! (Unbeknownst to me at the time, only his VP of Operations and I worked directly for him.) When I told friends, they told me I landed a dream job, as Lee Valley Tools had a stellar reputation; for both quality tools all laid out in beautiful catalogues, as well as superb customer service.
But, my early time there was not a straight trajectory. I was hired, fired, re-hired, and promoted – all in my first year there! Pretty wild, I know.
Being the early 90s, with two aging technical guys working on drafting tables, I introduced Computer Aided Design (CAD) to the process (CADKEY for those that may remember this software). With my two reports, and many new product development ideas, I hired a Product Designer.
I thought all was well until 3 months in, Mr. Lee called me into his office. To my shock, he told me “it wasn’t working out” and that I should look for other employment! When I asked the reason, he told me that I was too “brash!” The only consideration he offered was that he recognized that I had a young family, and so allowed me to continue while looking for another job. Man, was I pissed!!! However, with a family to support, I had little choice but to continue in my role while looking for alternate employment.
Over the course of the next few months, I had a few interviews, landing none yet, and periodically, Mr. Lee would ask me how my job search was going. During this time, a few realizations struck me. The first was that I slowly found out that both the catalogue (with its wonderful photography and copy), and Product Development were the two things that Mr. Lee cared most about. So, being the first Director of R&D, and working directly for him, I took away some of the Product Development from him, something he loved.
The second was my realization that it matters less that I think I am doing a good job, than if the boss thinks I am. So, with that “brash” comment, I changed my ways slightly. Less than one month after this, Mr. Lee again asked me how my search was going. When I told him that I had nothing firm of interest, he told me that I had changed, retracted his dismissal of me, and asked if I would stay! As I was otherwise enjoying the work itself, I graciously accepted.
Learning from Mr. Lee's vast experience
During the same year, he also promoted me to Director of Manufacturing Operations (again a new position), while retaining my responsibilities overseeing R&D. During my time there over the next 11 years, I grew the department to over 10, and we came out with a slew of new products, many of which we applied for and obtained patents. We also increasingly integrated the manufacturing of Veritas Products by modernizing and expanding its capacities with many machines, including many CNC lathes and machining centres to name a few.
My time there was not without its ups and downs. Mr. Lee was very firm in his beliefs, be it product development, design, catalogue copy, or customer service. Tough but always fair. I credit much of my own design, writing, customer service skills and attitudes to this mentorship.
I remember one of Mr. Lee’s interview questions was, ”What do your parents do?”, a question I later found out he used on others. It was his way of finding out a bit about someone’s background and where they came from. During that process he found out that my Dad owned Tripar. When he hired me, he had one directive relating to this. That although some future component need for a new product might be able to be produced by Tripar, that I never foster this. When I asked why, he replied with wisdom, saying that if there was ever a problem with quality or anything else coming from Tripar, it would put me in an awkward position. I abided by this for many of my years there, but not all.
Lee Valley, Veritas and Tripar - a great partnership
While developing a Steam Bending System (naturally for wood), we needed and obtained quotes for strapping with precisely spaced holes. Knowing what was involved and seeing the quotes, I shared these with Mr. Lee, saying that they were ridiculously high for such simple work, and so opened the door with a request to allow Tripar to quote on this. With the only work requirement being to pierce the required holes, and little opportunity for problems, he relented.
To keep this at arm’s length, I told my Dad that Tripar was going to receive this Request for Quote (RFQ), but that I wanted to be kept out of the process. I would not share quotes we had thus far, nor did I want to see his. Not to my surprise, Tripar’s was a slam dunk. And so began Tripar becoming a supplier to Lee Valley and Veritas, on this and other future components*. A relationship that continues to this day, with Mr. Lee’s son Robin (whom I worked with during my time there) at the helm.
*One of these led to my oldest daughter getting her first horse…more on that in the continuing story, in the 2000s.
Tripar's first lighting patents
Tripar obtained its first patent in 1995, “Aligning beaded fastener assembly for lighting fixtures”, and it second in 1997; “Variable aligning beaded fastener assembly for lighting fixtures”. Both were to allow arms on chandeliers and other similar light fixtures to swing inward for more compact shipping, to which the end user would swing out. Unfortunately, with a downward trend for these types of light fixtures, these were never commercialized.
First lighting patent in 1995
Second lighting patent in 1997
Tripar celebrating it's 50th anniversary in 1999
The following illustrate how Tripar’s 50th anniversary was celebrated, both externally and internally.
50th anniversary catalog ad
50th anniversary celebration: Employee prepared wall plaque presented on behalf of 100+ employees
PS. Are you looking for cool gift ideas, superb woodworking tools, gardening and kitchen tools? Visit Lee Valley’s website.
