Inspirational story of feldstein, the invisible rich man who started from scratch.

Inspirational story of feldstein, the invisible rich man who started from scratch.

As the founder of Crestron, a manufacturer of many home automation equipment, feldstein, 70, is as healthy and energetic as someone half his age. He is also a tireless person, who likes tinkering with gadgets and inventing, and has 14 patents under his name. Feldstein owns Crestron completely, which probably makes him a billionaire (he doesn't want to comment on his personal wealth). According to the sales of similar companies in the past few years, Crestron, which has no debt and an annual operating income of $500 million, may be worth at least $654.38 billion (it will be listed on Forbes' list of the largest unlisted companies in the United States). However, somehow, apart from trade publications, feldstein did not attract much media attention, although he provided hundreds of new jobs during the long-term employment downturn in the United States.

He said, "When the American economy deteriorated, we moved all our business inside the company and paid more for it instead of laying off employees. People don't realize the importance of continuous labor. "

The implication is that this is not patriotism, but strategy. Feldstein said that Crestron has manufactured 65,438+0,500 products, and by manufacturing 80% of them in the United States, he can manufacture complex equipment in small batches with fewer mistakes. Hiring employees in the United States also enables him to cultivate a long-term loyal workforce needed to continue to expand his business. Although the company's business has been growing rapidly recently, feldstein estimates that about 65,438+05% of all his employees have been employed for at least ten years. "We recruit employees and give them a job," he said. "This is one of the most important things that work gives employees: it should provide opportunities for those who want to get a lifelong career." By keeping Crestron private rather than public, feldstein doesn't have to cater to annoying analysts and shareholders, who may ask him to move production overseas to reduce costs.

Oh, maybe you want to know: Crestron is not going to sell at present. Feldstein said loudly: "If someone asks this question, my answer is no, not how much to bid."

Crestron's success story is little known outside northern New Jersey, but its electronic control system is everywhere: automatic lighting, sound and temperature control of luxury houses; Digital screens and speakers in high-end meeting rooms; Surgical camera control and display instruments; Classroom projector; Digital signage and retail display; Even the remote control of the hot tub on a luxury yacht. The company's equipment is carefully installed in Microsoft's headquarters building in Redmond, Washington. Seven of the eight Ivy League schools have installed their equipment, as well as the penthouse suite of Trump World Tower in new york City and the intelligence room of the Pentagon.

Crestron sells its products through a small channel team consisting of 65,438+05,000 independent partners and distributors, from miniature home theater manufacturers to large residential builders, supplemented by internal sales, customer support and marketing personnel in 57 offices in 45 countries. Feldstein's core business is located in Bergen County, New Jersey, 30 minutes' drive from new york. The company's campus in Lockley, New Jersey has management and production departments, training facilities and a research center covering an area of more than 654.38 million square feet. The former headquarters building near Cresskill has become an automated trial production factory, where Cresskill assembles the circuit boards used in its products.

For Crestron, it started from a room above the Kreskill deli, and the scale of these infrastructures is very important at present.

Feldstein grew up on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. His father is a sewing machine operator. George showed his qualifications in engineering when he was young. 15 years old won the first prize in the city's physics competition, and then obtained a master's degree in electronic engineering from new york University.

After graduation, he joined a company manufacturing industrial control and test equipment, and later served as the chief engineer of the company. 1969 He had an argument with his boss, so the boss fired him. (feldstein recalls: "That company closed down a year after I left." The twists and turns convinced him that he would never work for others again. "I gradually realized that I can't work for others and I can never get along with another boss," he added. "So I started my own company."

At first, feldstein contacted potential corporate customers by telephone and suggested that he could manufacture or maintain them according to their needs. Crestron's first customer is Colgate-Palmolive Company, whose task is to make a laser leveling device to help the automatic assembly line put a proper amount of powder into the detergent box. By 1973, the company's business began to stabilize and it was possible to hire an employee. Two years later, the company moved to a commercial garage, and feldstein made everything from bank deposit machines to human nerve stimulators. He said, "I will do anything as long as I can make money."

After feldstein developed the wireless remote controller for commercial audio-visual system, the company's business began to really improve. Then the company developed audio switch, video projector and lighting control panel. By 1990, Crestron had 100 employees, and its annual revenue was almost $5 million, most of which came from selling integrated audio-visual systems to major companies, universities and casinos. When Clinton was president, Crestron's SmarTouch series touch screen remote controller was installed in the White House.

With the development of the company, feldstein is facing a different challenge: letting go. "Many people have full control over the company when they grow up," he said. "Then, when they let go, they will face all these problems." Feldstein relies on his so-called "black marble" theory: if you don't know what's in the jar, but you put your hand in it for 20 times and take out the black marble for 20 times, you can safely guess that the jar is full of black marble. The same is true for employees: if you check them well every time, they are likely to continue to do well-whether you check them or not. However, feldstein said, "If I find any mistakes, I will spend a lot of time focusing on solving this problem."

This coordinated application of vigilance and trust promoted the company's operating income to increase from 1997 to $25 million. Betting on customers-specifically, high-end residential owners-also helps the company's performance growth. When the Internet bubble burst, feldstein's core customers still had money to spend. By 2004, Crestron had 500 employees and its sales revenue reached $6543.8+$700 million. Today, 40% of Crestron's revenue comes from customers who spend $50,000 to install a home theater without blinking.

A bank executive (who asked not to be named) bought a 4,500-square-foot apartment on the top floor of the Montage Hotel in Beverly Hills, California. This apartment has installed the basic controller of Crestron, but the buyer hopes this apartment will become the "ultimate single house". After spending about $245,000, this apartment has the latest lighting, temperature and ventilation control and home entertainment equipment. In a room, the projector turns the dome ceiling with a diameter of 35 feet into a huge display screen. Customers can also change the color of the fireplace according to their own mood. This fireplace made of onyx is backlit by multicolor light-emitting diodes (LEDs).

His clients may be extravagant, but feldstein is not. He hosted a management lunch in a local restaurant; Wear shirts and slacks with button collars at work; Bike 40 miles a day (if the weather and work schedule permit)-until you reach the foot of Bear Mountain or along the Hudson River. He has a pilot's license. As we all know, he often takes his clients on his extra 300L aerobatic monoplane, and sometimes he flies the company plane to provide customer service. "When I started this business, I often sat by the phone all day, waiting for the phone to ring," he said. "I am very grateful to my customers."

Crestron is a family business. Feldstein's 39-year-old son Dan is the vice president in charge of the company's business operations, and his 44-year-old daughter Wendy is the head of the engineering service department.

"Although my surname is not feldstein, he has always been like a father to me," said Randy Klein, an old subordinate who has worked in the company for 2 1 year and is now the company's executive vice president and chief operating officer (COO). "Technically, he is my' boss' in the organization chart of the company, but he always treats me equally. We learn from each other. " Klein said that the biggest challenge of working under George feldstein was to "keep up with him".

Feldstein often visits the pilot production plant in Kryski-partly to stay alert, but also because he is busy. "I sit at my desk for about an hour every day, and I run around the rest of the time," he said. "I can't understand that a CEO who is responsible for the operation of a car company doesn't even know how to build a car." In the factory, rows of workers in blue protective overalls are assembling circuit boards. Even the simplest task-inserting various components into the circuit board and soldering them to the corresponding positions-requires skill and precision. More detailed work, such as operating one of Panasonic's two high-speed patch production lines, requires a lot of professional knowledge.

During an inspection, feldstein stopped to give some warnings to the assembly line workers who didn't tie the grounding wire to their work clothes. This is a minor violation, but it may have serious consequences: workers who are not grounded may damage the circuit in the case of electrostatic discharge-just like you sometimes get a slight electric shock when touching the metal door handle (when his newly developed humidifier is completed, feldstein plans to install several such humidifiers in the assembly area, because static electricity is often easily enhanced in the dry air in the assembly area).

Experienced assembly line workers can earn $ 17 per hour, which is more than twice the minimum wage in New Jersey ($7.25 per hour) and higher than the average wage of electronic equipment assembly line workers in New Jersey ($ 14.90 per hour). Feldstein proudly said that employees also have medical insurance and a 40 1(k) pension plan, and can also enjoy coffee powder ground from real coffee beans. Most of the workers are Hispanic women from upstate New Jersey, Brooklyn and the Bronx, new york. Many people have two jobs. Feldstein said, "We are trying to arrange a bus to take employees from new york to the factory. We have been recruiting people, so there are not enough parking spaces. " Feldstein spends about $654.38 million on employee training every year to teach them new assembly technology and help them obtain safety certification. He added: "Most people in our management started from the bottom, including some of our vice presidents."

A larger part of the company's budget-about 15% of the budget-is used to develop new electronic products. In view of the rising prices of electricity and natural gas, energy management equipment (that is, energy-saving control equipment) is particularly popular. "Crestron's market positioning is still dominated by luxury goods," Frost &; Sullivan analyst Konkana Khaund said, "But if they can make full use of this energy theme, it will open up a whole new sales field."

Craig Foster, a senior analyst at ABI Research, a market research company, believes that the trend of home automation will only accelerate, and it is not limited to Hollywood executives. Foster estimated that by 20 16, the global shipment of all related products, from sensors to servers, should rapidly increase to120,000 units, which is 20 times of the current level.

Energy management is part of the theme of automation investment, but there is a stronger trend at work. Apple has sold 654.38 billion iPhone and 40 million iPad tablets, plus competitors' smartphones and tablets-for Crestron and its competitors, all their products will soon have adaptive built-in interfaces.

Even better, their distribution channels will soon be much larger than they are now. Telecom companies, cable TV companies, security companies and energy utilities companies began to introduce new bundled automation packages. On June 5438+ 10 this year, wireless operator Verizon launched a home monitoring service, which was operated by controller manufacturer and startup 4Home. Another home automation company, iControl Networks, signed cooperation agreements with cable TV companies Comcast and ADT Security Services.

Perhaps more crucial to Crestron's future is: What will happen when feldstein finally loses its energy? He said: "succession planning is essentially' everyone continues to do what they are doing.' Klein, 59, is likely to be appointed as CEO.

Until then, feldstein will continue to tinker with his invention: "I'm not going to retire. Even on weekends, I feel anxious because I didn't go to the company. "

;