How many times have you attended a church social function and been asked to help put the tables away?
Looking at the 40 heavy tables that need to have their legs folded and put onto rolling racks is enough to give even the strongest person the heebie-jeebies.Or, how many times have you attended a convention and admired the hotel employees who quickly turn a meeting room into a banquet room?
These two scenarios are applicable to Mity-Lite Inc., 1301 W. 400 North, a publicly held company producing light tables of many sizes and shapes and which just recently announced it was starting to ship its version of a light stacking chair to match.
Guiding the 40,000-square-foot operation and the 90 employees is Gregory L. Wilson, chairman and president, a Brigham Young University graduate who has started several businesses and took Mity-Lite public last April by selling 1 million shares to raise $5.3 million.
To acquaint visitors with his company, Wilson likes to show a video of a man trying to move some regular tables, much like people have to do at church functions all the time. With majestic music playing in the background, the man (who was paid to look foolish) wrestles with the heavy table and loses.
The scene shifts to a woman setting up a Mity-Lite table that is 30 percent lighter than conventional tables, and the video also shows a little girl tilting a table rather easily. People jump on the tables, pound them with sledgehammers and try to burn the top with hot food.
All to no avail.
Wilson said he founded the company because the major customer of a furniture company he was working for couldn't find a durable and light table to meet its needs. He decided to design a product with space-age technology and also apply a new distribution system. "I think I've built a dandy little company," said Wilson.
The "dandy" company produces 35 table models that come in three colors. They are made with a variety of folding table leg and custom color options. Mity-Lite also produces table carts, tablecloths, skirting and skirt clips.
Mity-Lite tables are made of scratch, stain and water-resistant plastic that comes from national suppliers. The flat sheets of plastic are heated to 300 degrees and go through a thermforming process that puts the limp plastic on both sides of a wooden frame that is built on-site.
Materials for the legs are shipped to Mity-Lite in boxes, and the metal is shaped to whatever is needed at the time, a process that may involve welding. The leg pieces are then assembled with rivets and bolted to the table. Trim and corners are added that can withstand a drop of two feet without damage.
Wilson said his inventory of material for constructing the tables is purposely low. The materials hit the back door, are put into the 350 tables Mity-Lite makes daily and out the front door quickly to customers.
In addition to the heavy machinery that produces the tables, Mity-Lite has its own machine shop where machines are altered to fit the company's needs. For example, many of the machines are computerized for constant quality and efficiency. All of the leftover and excess materials used in construction are recycled, Wilson said.
Mity-Lite tables are sold in all 50 states and several foreign countries. The company has a sales office in Swindon, England. Among all of the employees, five languages are spoken, which helps the company deal in foreign countries, Wilson said.
A prospectus that company officials wrote when they went public says a Mity-Lite table weighs less than particle board or plywood tables, can withstand a drop from a greater height without damage, has a higher load carrying capacity and has a better surface. For this a customer pays more money, but Wilson said the savings in the long run is worth it.
Mity-Lite isn't sitting on its laurels: The money from the sale of shares in the company is used for working capital, business expenses and expanding the product line. Wilson said the company makes racks for the tables and in addition to making the stacking chairs, Mity-Lite will get into manufacturing podiums, flooring and staging or anything used in multipurpose rooms.
The company has a contract to supply tables to the Hilton Hotel chain, and every college and university in Utah - not to mention hundreds of churches - has numerous Mity-Lite tables. The company services its products under a five-year warranty, but Wilson said the repairs are minimal because of the types of material used in construction.
A Salt Lake native, Wilson's parents died when he was young, so he was raised by an uncle, Ben E. Lewis, former executive vice president at BYU. He was exposed to the family farm in the Teton Valley that bordered Idaho and Wyoming and graduated from BYU in 1972 with a degree in economics. He received a master's degree in business administration from Indiana University.
Wilson said his business sense began at BYU because most of the papers he wrote centered on starting businesses. After receiving his master's degree, Wilson worked for Ford Motor Co. in Dearborn, Mich., in the controller's office.
Then he spent three years at Stereo Optical Co. in Chicago, where he developed a love for small manufacturing. He later started a welding business in Pleasant Grove, was a venture capitalist behind a computer software company and then worked in a church furniture manufacturing company.
Wilson attributes the company's success to ambitious and hard-working employees and his management team of Stanley Pool, vice president of sales and marketing; Kenneth A. Law, production manager; V. Douglas Johnson, controller; Bradley T. Nielson, chief financial officer; and Brent Bonham, director of research and development.
After a day of heating plastic, bending table legs or building table frames, many employees enjoy playing softball on one of the two teams sponsored by the company.