Free Enterprise And Innovation

UNDERSTAND - SIMPLIFY - FOCUS - INNOVATE
This philosophy provides the continuing motivation to develop innovations, which are the best driver of economic development and a guarantee for job security. It is a philosophy of the essential, of customer value, of simplicity. A philosophy built on the conviction that things created for a purpose and with logic, do not need to be completely renewed, but must instead be subject to continuous evolution.
EFFICIENT - RELIABLE - INNOVATIVE

Clarence C. Hobart "C.C." (1854- unknown)

That is the corporate philosophy of the now Hobart Corporation, started in 1906 by CC Hobart.

My first experience with CC Hobart was as a 15 year old.  I got a job as a dishwasher at a hotel near my home.  There was nothing glamorous about the job.  It was exactly as you imagine.  Basically I took dirty dinner and silverware, put it all in special containers and onto a conveyor belt, pushed a button and the belt would drag it all through a huge dishwasher.

 

This logo is what I remember most about that dishwasher!

Anyone who works in a commercial kitchen anywhere is familiar with that logo and the Hobart name.

Certainly, one of the hallmarks, most important hallmarks, of free enterprise is the concept of CREATIVE DESTRUCTION.

Basically, when entrepreneurs and inventors are left to their own means they will innovate.  Creating a product, or taking another product, they will change it and make it different, better, faster or more productive.

As regards creative destruction, does anyone remember the typewriter?

At the turn of the last century C.C. Hobart was partnered and working with a young man named Thomas Edison.  They were creating what they called a "dynamo."  Literally the night before the fully-assembled, $1100 dynamo was to be delivered to their client, the factory burned down.  They only had $200 of insurance on a building containing $3800 worth of equipment.  The two men went their separate ways.

CC was convinced electricity was the wave of the future, and moved to Troy, Ohio to open The Hobart Cabinet Corporation and begin creating.  His first products consisted of wood cabinets to house parts for electric generators, lighting systems, dynamos and flywheels used in the first electric coffee-grinding mill.  It also produced office filing cabinets and desks. 

But remember his philosophy - innovate and innovative.  This is a time line of just SOME of the electric inventions CC Hobart introduced to the world.  .

1905 - electric meat choppers :: 1914 - first commercial mixer :: 1922 - combination meat chopper and mixer :: 1926 - first commercial warewashing machine (dishwasher) :: 1928 - first commercial potato peeler :: 1930 - first electric meat slicer :: 1933 - first electric air whip machine (to create whipped or cream toppings) :: 1942 - helps the war effort with telescoping mounts and fire-control generators :: 1946 - meat saw with "easy clean" design :: 1946 - "moneyline" scales which can be read from any angle :: 1946 - angled meat slicer :: 1955 - heavy-duty bakery mixer :: 1956 - automatic weighing and labeling system :: 1958 - "Saniquick" cold-water glass washer :: 1965 - high-volume, automatic meat weighing and wrapping system :: 1969 - 20 commercial product lines, 32 manufacturing operations and customers in over 100 countries :: 1972 - automatic meat patty machine :: 1972 - pioneers the use of universal product symbols, later becoming the UPC code :: 1982 - the first scale and labeling system which interfaces with store computers :: 1984 - "Scalemaster" technology which gives retailers centralized control of scale files :: 1992 - refrigeration is CFC free :: 1995 - first combination oven/steamer :: 1997 - 100th anniversary :: 2001 - first food-equipment manufacturer to introduce microbial product protection :: 2001 - first fast-food "smart" scales :: 2004 - first "opti-rinse" spray nozzles for dishwashers :: 2006 - the oldest operating Hobart mixer (from 1913) found to still be in operation.

Remember, after their initial invention, each of these products was creatively destroyed and improved upon, even until today.  The Hobart Corporation files as many as 1000 patents annually.

In America's free enterprise, capitalist system, our products get more efficient because of our ability to innovate; our products get more productive because of our ability to innovate; our products get more profitable because of our ability to innovate; and our ability to innovate does not come through gubment edict, mandate or taxes.

NO GUBMENT BUREAUCRAT COULD POSSIBLY HAVE COME UP WITH OR CAUSED TO HAPPEN ALL THE IDEAS THAT HAVE MADE THE HOBART CORPORATION THE INNOVATIVE GIANT IT HAS BEEN FOR OVER 100 YEARS.

BUT FREE-MARKET ECONOMICS AND FREE-ENTERPRISE CAPITALISM DID!