People in the News | He never loses his bearings

When he goes to parties and people ask him what he does for a living, said Bill Strecker, conversation just doesn't progress all that much.

"I tell them I sell bearings," said Strecker, the new president and chief executive officer of Kingsbury Inc. "Hey, it isn't sexy, unless you are intimately involved in this kind of business, but it is a necessary one. Everything has bearings in it, so it is a good place to be."

Strecker has been in that good place with Kingsbury, one of the largest makers and distributors of large bearings, mostly for ships and machinery, for 28 years. At a time when the word seems to be that there is no manufacturing in the United States - and where it does exist in this country, it is in low-wage areas - Kingsbury has been in Philadelphia, where Albert Kingsbury established it 95 years ago.

Kingsbury devised a better bearing, Strecker said, that would use a fluid film to help bear heavier loads while working for Westinghouse Electric Co. near Pittsburgh. Westinghouse was not all that confident that the new bearing would work on the heavy equipment and ships for which Kingsbury had developed it, so Kingsbury went out on his own, finding space along Tackawanna Street in the Lower Northeast.

The United States was improving its naval fleet, which was just the ticket for Kingsbury, and his new bearings helped the ships generate more power and go faster.

"They became more cost-effective, too, for large machinery involved in oil production and other big industries like that," Strecker said. "And essentially, though there are some new products, things haven't changed all that much. The basic principles remain the same. These are not your ball bearings for roller skates, but huge, industrial-size things - sometimes in excess of 16 feet in diameter. We are still in demand."

By 1968, the company had moved to the industrial area around Northeast Philadelphia Airport, where it still has its corporate offices and some production. There are also Kingsbury manufacturing and service plants in Oshkosh, Wis., and Hatboro. The company employs 270 people. The privately held company does not release financial information.

"We're just the opposite of what you think of in manufacturing," Strecker said. "We export about half of what we make overseas. It is a unique little company."

Strecker, 55, came to Kingsbury right out of school. He went to Olney High School, Drexel University, and La Salle University's graduate school of business.

"I came here as an order writer, and found I loved sales," said Strecker, who now lives in Bucks County with his wife and two children. He moved up the chain in the sales department, eventually becoming senior vice president before being named president and CEO May 1, succeeding Woods R. Brown, who retired after 14 years in the job.

Strecker sees his greatest challenge as both staying the course and expanding by acquisition.

"We may be the last of the heavy manufacturers still in Philadelphia, but we have no intention of leaving," Strecker said. "Our biggest problem will be when older workers retire, since we need skilled workmen. We're building bearings that need to work in high shaft speeds, up to 120,000 r.p.m.

"Kids now read the headlines and think there is no future in manufacturing, so we have to work now to counteract that idea, so that we will have good employees when our people retire," he said.

Kingsbury suffered a setback when the U.S. Navy cut back shipbuilding programs over the last decade, Strecker said, but it has been able to maintain profits with the steady, if not spectacular, growth of heavy industry. Strecker said he would look for compatible companies to acquire, but he doesn't fear any slowdown coming.

"A lot of our business is mature, but certainly viable," he said. "Like I said, it's not sexy, but we have core products people need, and that is a good thing." - Robert Strauss

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