About Us
Company Overview
Wright Manufacturing is an innovative leader in lawn maintenance technology, dedicated to manufacturing the safest, most durable and highest quality lawn equipment in the world. Since its inception over thirty years ago, the company has revolutionized commercial lawn maintenance with products such as the industry-leading Grass Gobbler™ and its revolutionary line of stand-on mowers. As a testament to our innovation, Wright's engineering teams have received over 50 U.S. patents with more pending future approval.
A member of the Maryland World Class Manufacturing Consortium, Wright has also come to represent manufacturing quality and efficiency worldwide. The company's 99,400 square foot plant in Frederick, MD uses the latest techniques in efficient 'just-in-time' production and the highest quality control, while constantly reevaluating and updating our manufacturing processes to reflect new concepts in design and production.
Our Mission
To enjoyably, safely, and profitably participate in the business of manufacturing and promoting the most safe, useful, durable, and excellent quality lawn equipment in the world.
We endeavor to relentlessly and continuously improve and remove waste from our processes and systems according to lean concepts. We will treat, with the highest respect, each other, our internal and external customers, suppliers, and stakeholders while promoting each other's real success and progress in life.
REINVENTING THE LANDSCAPE OF MOWING
BILL WRIGHT’S DEDICATION TO EXCELLENCE REVOLUTIONIZED THE LANDSCAPING BUSINESS
As a nine year old boy, Bill started his first business by cutting lawns for extra cash. He continued this into his twenties while also working as a car mechanic and earning money to help pay for his education. Bill liked to tinker and often bought used and new commercial mowers, souping them up to improve their performance. He eventually went full-time mowing under the name Lawn-Wright; his crews mowing 500+ lawns per week. In sharing his innovations with other landscapers, he enjoyed helping them work smarter, quicker, more efficiently and to a higher standard. Here are a few examples of mowing firsts from Wright:
CLIP SOFTWARE As Bill's landscaping business grew, so did the demands of the office. So Bill taught himself database programming to create the first scheduling, routing and invoicing software for commercial cutters. Within five years, CLIP had over 1,000 users and Bill sold this business to focus on commercial mower design and manufacturing.
GRASS GOBBLER™ Frustrated with flimsy grass catchers that clogged up, Bill bought a welding machine and fabricated the first aerodynamic, continuously welded, tubing frame commercial grass catcher. Other landscapers wanted to buy them and dealers wanted to sell them. Wright Manufacturing was born.
VELKE SULKY™ Bill's mowing crew members were walking behind their mowers up to 20 miles a day, fatiguing and slowing down as the hours went by. Bill was inspired to develop a stand-on sulky for commercial walk-behind mowers with his mower mechanic, Jim Velke, which is now known throughout the industry as the Velke Sulky™.
STANDER® MOWER The Velke Sulky™ allowed experienced landscapers to mow all day at the top efficiency of their walk-behind mowers. But Bill and his engineering team didn't stop there. They took the improved efficiency and productivity of standing to the next level by inventing the first stand-on mower. This marked the beginning of an entire category of commercial mowers. Wright continues to create and perfect a complete line of Standers designed with the landscaper in mind to tackle any job.
E2B4
Everybody — Everyday
Building Mowers — Building Teams — Building Companies — Building Lives
Motto - described as a sentence or phrase expressing the spirit or purpose of an organization. In fact, our motto is an expression of the heartbeat felt by the team at Wright. This motto was developed through a series of conversations among the leadership as they attempted to capture the inner voice of the team. (Inner voice as is described in Deep Change by Robert Quinn, pgs. 202-205) - I paraphrase - an organization is a living and changing entity and like an individual has an inner voice. This voice strives to align itself (actions, communication, intentions) with its closely held values. The inner voice selflessly desires success of the entire enterprise forgoing personal success of individuals. It realigns resources to affect change, bringing power to its core values as it finds root in the foundational morals of the organization.
We had one of those unique moments when this phrase was first written on the white board. Immediately we knew we had captured the true spirit and heart underlying the purpose of the Wright team. We could call it our purpose statement but we hesitate to use such a formal term given it is the outward expression of our inner voice. Motto seems more fitting.
This white paper is an attempt to describe what E2B4 means and how we believe it draws us to the stakeholders surrounding our business and how we desire to engage all in the value stream. The value stream begins with those mining the ore used to make steel to those using our products to accomplish their goals as they build a business and/or make a living. All in this process are value stakeholders. Some add value, some consume value, but all are part of the value stream connected to Wright.
E2
Everybody — Everyday
This overarching phrase initiates our desire to have each member of the Wright team show up every day. By showing up we mean to arrive on time, ready to fully engage in the process of providing ever-increasing value for our customers. We launched into a Lean journey in 2001 accepting at that time the two key pillars that Toyota set out as foundational to a lean culture (Continuous improvement and Respect of people). These require our team to attentively care for each other, our customers, and all other stakeholders and to participate in continuous improvement. We value each person and the unique contribution they provide.
B4
Building mowers
While we produce more than mowers this phrase represents the key products the Wright team designs, manufactures, and provides its marketplace. Wright endeavors to deliver the most innovative, safe, and efficient products in the commercial market. This desire drives us toward continuous improvement and the constant process of eliminating waste. This being the part of our motto that involves only the Wright team causes us to recognize our great responsibility to do this with excellence. We will be known and judged by our ability to design, manufacture, and support our products. We take great pride in our workmanship and stand by our products through their lifecycle. We are motivated to do our work knowing we provide value to our customers as they build teams, their businesses, and their lives.
Building teams
At Wright, we have invested much time and energy into the process of building and sustaining high performance teams. This process has resulted in an engaged workforce and vested individuals. We are committed to continuing this process and extending these efforts to the distributors, dealers, and landscapers who align themselves with us as well as vendors who provide us valuable products and services.
Building companies
Our business relies on many others (suppliers, government entities, consultants, distributors, dealers, and landscapers). We seek a trust relationship and desire to engage each of these in a mutually profitable manner. Wright is committed to the two-step distribution process; we approach our relationship with both distributors and dealers in a way that desires their success as much as ours. Clearly we will not succeed if they do not. We serve professional distributors who serve professional dealers who in turn serve professional landscapers; each represent independent businesses that are indeed the backbone of the great American economic engine.
Our team exhibits an excitement to understand the better we are at our work (designing, manufacturing, and supporting high quality products) the more successful distributors, dealers, and end users become. We are thrilled to learn of the success of these individual businesses. We celebrate their achievements! Our desire is to continue to create and introduce not only products that serve these businesses but also programs to further engage them and new ways to provide even greater value. We strive to assist in their success!
Building lives
Each business we touch through our products and other means of outreach is made up of people desiring a meaningful and joyful life. We wish to be a part of making their lives meaningful and joyful. Yes, we think of the individuals employed with the distributors, dealers, and landscapers who utilize our products to build their businesses. We wish for their personal success. As we strive to continuously improve our products, to improve our processes, to eliminate waste, etc. we believe we are touching their lives. This motivates us to truly approach our work Everybody - Everyday in a way that brings honor to their lives and work.
Internally Wright has developed a culture of engagement, empowerment, and freedom. In response, our team communicates a high degree of satisfaction and enjoyment. It is our intention to contribute to the lives of all in our value stream seeking this same result.
We hope those of you who are represented in the value stream of Wright Commercial products will join us in seeking each other's greatest happiness and success in life!
