And near the top of the list, if not at the top. Tindell’s has130-plus years of experience serving its communities.
It’s the job of the current team to build on the tradition. And walking around Tindell’s Knoxville headquarters facilities, one can see it happening.
The location is undergoing an earth moving project to expand its installation services space from 12,000 to 34,000 square feet. The most obvious sign of growth is a massive retaining wall added near the back of the facility.
“Installed sales are expanding rapidly,” says CEO Johan van Tilburg. “And we’ve outgrown our current facilities.”
Dave Hunt, Tindell’s VP of operations, is looking forward to the new space that will all expansion of the showroom. “Guys who know how to sell it and talk about it will be right there with the displays, and everything all together,” Hunt said.
Beyond the headquarters facility, Tindell’s owns yards in Morristown, Sevierville, Cleveland, Maryville; a truss plant at Karns; a distribution center at the Forks of the River Industrial Park in Knoxville. Tindells operates on a hub and spoke system, with the DC in Forks of the River serving as the central origin point —an outbound-only shipping facility —for all the large framing packages to go out on tractor trailers. The outline locations generally provide backup and fill in orders.
That system has worked since long before Van Tilburg acquired the business from the Carl Tindell, chairman and van Tilburg’s father-in-law, keeping the business in the family.
Van Tilburg, who plays the role of “strategy and vision guy” of Tindell’s, shared his management philosophy: “Let the people who know what they’re doing, run the day-to-day operations.” It’s a concept that van Tilburg says was influenced by Rob Wilson, of Wilson Lumber in Huntsville, Alabama.
Employee incentives play a big role in some important areas. The Installed sales work force is paid on production in system that can earn them around $40 per hour. It’s a system that fosters loyalty and stability.
