Bloomfield Manufacturing Company's Eric Harrah [Click to enlarge]

Bloomfield's Hi-Lift Jack Company and MLE Enterprises, Inc., will be submitting a bid to the Army on Thursday that could be a big economic boost to their respective companies.

If the solicitation bid is successful, the initial shipment will be for 10,000 Hi-Lift Jack manufactured in Bloomfield with the potential to supply a minimum of 108,243 jacks over a five-year period, according to Steve Dowden, who serves as High-Lift Jack's vice president of sales and marketing.

A team from MLE, Enterprises will be in Livonia, Mich., on Thursday delivering the bid and putting on a demonstration of the Hi-Lift Jack.

Hi-Lift Jack Company is one of the oldest family-owned companies in the state with its parent company, Bloomfield Manufacturing Co., founded in 1895 by the late Philip John Harrah. The company is still owned and operated by the Harrah family and is currently under the leadership of the fourth generation of the Harrah family -- directed by Eric Harrah.

"This is one project. There is the potential if we get into this. They (the Army) are trying to replace the standard scissor jack that comes with most of the Humvees," Dowden said.

Actually, recommendations have come from "citizen soldiers" who have served in Iraq and other locations around the world.

"For years, we have sold Hi-Lift jacks to the military in small quantities -- particularly for vehicles that are over in Iraq and the Middle East. The reason for that is, there are just more civilian soldiers (National Guard) than there used to be -- coming and going from the states. What will happen is the civilian soldiers will come back over here after having experiences over there and not being satisfied with the jacks on their vehicles over there. We've got testimonial after testimonial from people who say 'Hey, I'm getting ready to go back and I'm leading a squad and I'm taking a (Hi-Lift) jack for every vehicle that we have got there," Dowden explained.

He continued, "The military has ordered our jacks before to outfit specific vehicles over there so it had been a long standing thing with us. This is the first time that we have been actually involved in a government contract. It is not something that we've gotten into before. We are more of an after market supplier. We just haven't had the experience to do this. But when this project was brought to out attention, we could have gone it alone. There are also other companies in other states contracted that wanted us to work with them. But we felt like it was a good thing to obviously work with someone local and we have some ties with the MLE people there. We want to work with them and try and grow our local economy as well."

Dowden and Harrah said it's too early to predict how the contract -- if successful -- will have on employment numbers at the Bloomfield manufacturing plant. Currently, less than 50 production workers are employed at the Greene County plant working one shift daily. The company has sales representatives all over the world.

"There is some good volume there (with the contract). I think there are some unknowns. If we are talking about the minimum quantities that's not something substantial enough that it's going to make a difference. The volumes that are potentially out there, I definitely see that (increasing the workforce) being a need for us if the volumes are there that we hope were there. We operate on one shift now and I don't know that we would ever need to go to another shift, but we have the capability of doing that. There is definitely room for us to grow here and we certainly hope that would be the direction that this would take us," Dowden stated. "We are always looking for new markets to grow into. This is one of those projects that's kind of a dream project."

Harrah said the company has the capacity to manufacture about 1,200 jacks daily.

Dowden said he remains hopeful with garnering more military business -- even if this initial contract solicitation is not successful.

"The relationship that we've established with the people at MLE and the experience that we've gained will help us because this is not the only project we are going to go after with them now. There are many others that come about that we'll definitely pursue," he stressed.

Dowden pointed out that Bloomfield Manufacturing Company has been a part of the Greene County business community for decades and having firms like MLE Enterprises and SAIC (Science Applications International Corporation) with Bloomfield, Crane and WestGate at Crane Technology Park operations, is a real benefit for the local firm.

"We obviously have been a part of the community for a long, long time and we're really blessed to have the SAIC and now MLE here for companies like us that are trying to grow into that (defense) market as well," he added. "The bottom line is there is good potential here as far as dollar sales. The units are good, but anytime we've got an opportunity to expand it's a good thing."

The firm's jack -- which has become a global standard in the 4 x 4 industry -- was founded in 1905.

The Hi-Lift's predecessor was sold as the Automatic Combination Tool. The original jack was commonly known as the Handyman or Sheepherder's Jack, and years later it was renamed the Hi-Lift Jack.

Hi-Lift Jack is a rugged, highly versatile jack that thrives in situations requiring lifting, pushing, pulling, winching, and clamping. The Hi-Lift Jack offers a rated capacity of 4,660 pounds (2114 kg) and a tested capacity of 7,000 pounds (3175 kg).

Only Hi-Lift Jacks are made with a two-piece handle and socket design that is built for extended life. Cheaper imitations use a one-piece design that bends easily if lateral pressure is applied while lifting a load.

"We're definitely the leader as far as market share goes and our brand name has been established for long enough and our quality level has been good enough for such a long period of time, that anybody in the off-road industry knows the name Hi-Lift and it's one of those products that anytime you read an off-road magazine all over the world, they recommend four of five products that you have got to have if you are a serious off-roader. They always reference a Hi-Lift jack," Dowden noted.

Harrah said the contract potential comes at a time when the U.S. economy is slowing down and is showing some effect on his company.

"However, our export business is going up quite a bit because of the weak dollar," he said.

Harrah said export distributors are established throughout the world with some of the firm's biggest customers in the United Kingdom, most European countries, Australia, South Africa, Israel, Saudi Arabia, New Zealand, and Russia.

Dowden pointed out that working with a local company makes the venture even better.

"This is brand new thing for us and we are excited about the opportunities. We are pretty happy with how smooth things have gone with MLE. We are just very glad to be able to support another local company and work with them. It's good for our county and its good for Bloomfield."

Harrah agreed and said, "Anytime we can sell jacks, we're excited."

MLE spokesman Ray Darnell agrees the project has the potential to be a good thing for both Greene County firms.

"They (the Army) need the jacks to do their job," he said. "We are in the bid process. We may not get it (the contract), but we should because we are the best point. The armed Humvee is very heavy and hard to lift with a standard jack. The Army has gone out and asked for 10,000 right now. A lot of people are competing for this contract, but the thing is the jack provided by Eric Harrah's group at Hi-Lift Jack in Bloomfield, we find that the soldier in the trenches -- particularly in Baghdad (Iraq) -- the Humvee can't be brought up with its jack. They (the Army) went out and found that the Hi-Lift Jack will work for them. They used organizational firms to purchase jacks already. They are using them in Baghdad now. That didn't come down through the Army logistics program," Darnell explained. "The contract will be awarded on lowest cost. So we've got to be very competitive. We've been working hard on how to put this thing together.

"We know we are the best product and we certainly hope we are the best price."

Darnell is encouraged and excited about the potential this project holds for the two firms in a time when the national economy is shaky because of troubles on Wall Street.

"This is an example of the national economy doing things because of speculators and other issues and bad decisions made by Congress. When you get down to the grassroots, you are going to have people that are figuring out ways to work hard to do business in spite of it all, not necessarily because of it all."