A Vision for the
Future
By Anne Straub
Brevard Technical Journal
|
Long after most companies changed their personnel departments to the more modern "human resources," Paravant Computer Systems Inc. stayed with the former label.
The semantic distinction was subtle, but it was important to company president Rick McNeight. "People aren't resources to me, they're people," says McNeight, one of the founders of the Palm Bay company.
He eventually bowed to convention when his personnel director became president of the local human resources association a few years ago. But the principle of respect for employees remains a cornerstone of his business philosophy and, he believes, a key ingredient to his and the company's success.
Paravant Computer Systems employs about 125 people in Palm Bay, developing and manufacturing defense electronics. The company, which has increased revenues about 20 percent a year over the past 10 years, is known for its rugged computer systems designed for the military.
Engineering was a natural career choice for McNeight, who was always building things as a child - including a clubhouse complete with electricity. He began his career working for ITT in Cape Canaveral and soon felt the pull to branch out on his own. As director of software engineering, he knew the frustration of being given much responsibility, but not enough freedom.
"I couldn't take care of the people who were really doing a good job," McNeight says. "I started a company so I could take care of employees and treat them as people so they were not treated as numbers."
That entrepreneurial drive got a bit of a push when ITT announced it was closing the facility and McNeight was told his only job was to find a job. "Another guy that I had to let go told me, 'I'm starting a company, would you like to join me?'" McNeight recalls. He liked the area and didn't yet have a family to support, so he bit. "I asked him, 'What are you going to do?' and he told me, 'I don't have the foggiest idea.'"
The picture wasn't quite so bleak: The two knew they could parlay their software experience into a company in the computer field. At the time, IBM's PC was not yet widespread, and the would-be entrepreneurs' research showed that portable computers were going to be big by 1990.
So in 1982, McNeight and four other engineers started Information Management Group -- "'Group,'" McNeight says, "made us look bigger" - as a value-added retailer for Epson, which was making the closest thing to a laptop at the time.
The company handled technical problems for Epson's product. The computer was portable, but people were trying to use them outside - an application not covered in the design.
"We quickly found there was a niche," McNeight says. The company became Paravant and began working on a rugged portable computer. Its proposal won a $650,000 Small Business Innovation Research grant in 1986.
Two years later, McNeight traveled to Tallahassee to receive a governor's award for innovation for the company's rugged handheld computer. That award was presented by then-Commerce Secretary Jeb Bush. In a scene that must have felt familiar, McNeight visited Tallahassee last September to receive a Florida Governor's Business Leadership Award, presented by Gov. Bush.
"It was terrific recognition of 20 years of community involvement," says McNeight, who also is proud of the company's award as Florida Today's Volunteer Business of the Year for 2001.
The accolades are no surprise to Linda South, executive director of the Brevard Workforce Development Board, one of McNeight's board memberships.
"He's very direct, focused. He's probably one of the best examples of critical thinking on our board," South says. She remembers the board discussing a training policy and making some changes after McNeight questioned the policy and raised some critical issues. "We addressed it, and it ended up a better product," she says.
She describes McNeight as a visionary regarding the investment he makes in employee retention, training and work atmosphere. "He understands better than other employers the importance of keeping employees on the cutting edge of what they do," South says.
The training is not all technical, but also covers human interaction. The company regularly puts teams of people through the Dale Carnegie course, which McNeight says reflects his priority of dealing with people in a positive fashion and showing respect.
McNeight saw those principles in action in his father, a small-town postmaster who defied tradition and sent his daughters to college in the 1950s. His father taught him that people have different needs and should be treated as individuals, McNeight says. He again experienced the importance of such values as a young manager at ITT, when he was hiring and managing people older and far more experienced than he.
His earlier experience also is reflected in the companies' reward programs, which allow any employee to nominate another for a job well-done. The financial award can range from $25 to $500. For McNeight, the practice is a way of preventing the frustration he felt when even as a manager, he had trouble rewarding his employees.
Paravant also offers an award for personal progress and another for most steadfast, which last year went to the company's two custodians. The workers coped with the changes brought by two moves, as well as a period of construction at the recently renovated facility at U.S 1 and Robert Conlan Boulevard in Palm Bay.
"People really want to do a good job and they want to be recognized," says McNeight, who makes a point of knowing each employee so he can write them a personal note on their birthday.
Financial incentives play a motivating role, as well. The company rewarded employees with stock options before it went public in 1996 (Nasdaq symbol PVAT). Now, it uses profit sharing to keep efficiency high. McNeight thinks that, and not the hourly wage they earned, was what motivated a group of employees to give up a weekend to paint the new facility rather than hire an outside crew.
"The people know here, the more money they save this company, the more they get back," he says.
Today, Paravant is increasing its share of the market for rugged handheld computers and continues to make larger computer systems, laptops and wireless interfaces. Growth is tied to the building of the U.S. Army's digital battlefield, in which strategists and soldiers have access to a computerized map that shows the positions of friendly and enemy forces on the battlefield. The map could be on a larger unit inside a tank, or a handheld used by troops.
Handheld units hold potential for a variety of uses, such as an application that Paravant is working on. The handheld computer would allow a field medic to electronically read downed soldiers' dog tags to retrieve identification and medical history.
The companies' products are waterproof and dustproof and are tested at the Palm Bay facility for ruggedness in extreme heat and cold.
Turning 52 this month, McNeight describes himself as very motivated, but not driven. When the time came to create a holding company for Paravant Computer Systems and its other interests, McNeight passed up the head job because he didn't want excessive travel to take him away from his family. He continues the schedule he set when the company was young and his first daughter was born, working long days, but no weekends.
"Somehow, the company goes on," McNeight says.
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