Is Your Organization On The Way To Becoming The Next Concord Coach?

Almost everyone recognizes the Concord coach, namely its most popular, colorful, and beautifully hand-crafted Wells Fargo stagecoach.

Fewer people know its origins: The Abbott-Downing Company (1813-1928) of Concord, New Hampshire, a world renowned manufacturer of coaches, wagons, and motorized trucks at the time. 

Not until Henry Ford’s Model T did any transportation vehicle manufactured in America receive such a high reputation as the Concord coach – A badly neglected story of industrial success by historians. In its heyday the Abbot-Downing Company manufactured a wide line of over forty types of horse-drawn stage, mail, transportation, and general use coaches, wagons, carriages, and buggies, used throughout the Americas, South Africa, and Australia. Abbott-Downing’s full story is one of incredible success and total market dominance through the mastery of Lean and continuous improvement . . . followed by the failure to recognize and adapt swiftly from horse-drawn transport to the automobile era.

My Personal Investigative Discovery

Ten years ago while conducting research on one of my earlier books, Six Sigma for Small and Mid-Sized Organizations, I stumbled upon Abbott-Downing Company by accident. I ended up using Abbott-Downing as an example of early to mid-1800s measurement systems evolution with the introduction of specifications and dimensions, patterns, templates, go/no-go gages, and a few other standard quality measurement system criteria. Their measurement systems eventually evolved into build specifications and standards of work - A great example for my book. However, the more I learned about this old NH company, the more fascinated I became with their history and operations. 

In the 1850s it’s easy to overlook that only a few durable goods were sold in the American market under nationally known brand names. Perhaps the most famous were the McCormick reaper, the Singer sewing machine, the Steinway piano, a few large transportation and financial firms, and the Concord coach. The Fortune 500 was a hundred years into the future. These organizations were the GE, Toyota, Ford, Walmart, and Exon of their era. For the remainder of manufactured goods, it was a large local network of small craft-based operations.

A Lucky Rainy Day

On a recent rainy Saturday I visited the NH Historical Society Museum in Concord, NH. While walking around the various exhibits I stumbled across a few Abbott-Downing photographs inside the factory. The photographs and captions revealed an amazing story to me, just old photographs to other visitors. What I observed sparked a deeper interest way beyond my research years earlier into the details of their operations model. I walked into the Historical Society's library and inquired about more information on the Abbott-Downing Company. To my surprise, they sat me at a table and within 10 minutes I had several books and boxes full of of information about the Company. 

My short visit turned into a three hour investigation of Abbott-Downing (For those that have never worked with me, this is how I’m wired). I looked through several boxes and thousands of pictures, company records, customer lists, sales catalogs, product features and options, and well documented descriptions about their business, manufacturing operations, and global distribution processes. I took notes and iPhone pics about my observations and findings, studied the pictures in detail, read hand written production and material logs with a magnifying glass, and copied several documents. The evidence was clear and buried in boxes for the last 100 years. I was overwhelmingly pleased to discover and confirm my suspicions and intuitions. The Abbot-Downing Company was one of the first branded durable goods manufacturers in America routinely practicing Lean – Long before Henry Ford’s River Rouge operation or the Toyota Production System (TPS). 

The Abbot-Downing Production System (A-DPS)

The findings and conclusions from my passionate afternoon provide an interesting story about Lean. Obviously the title of this section was never used to describe their documented operating practices. No branding and buzzwords, no calling in the Lean or TPS posse - They just figured it out and did it!  Their noble efforts were the "YIPS" (Yankee Ingenuity Production System) if you need an acronym. The factory photographs, sketches, and descriptions about how they fabricated parts and assembled their coaches are left up to technical interpretations, but their widespread deployment of Lean is obvious in their writings. Lewis Downing was a highly skilled wheelwright from Lexington, MA who migrated north to Concord NH. For the first five years, Downing had a small wheelwright craft business, but he had larger ideas. J. Stephens Abbot was a master craftsman of fine chaises for the wealthy sea captains in Salem, MA. Unlike many industrialists at the time, Abbott and Downing were simple, animated New England visionaries who recognized the “spirit of improvement” coming from the demand for improved roads and turnpikes. The two met, and Mr. Downing induced Mr. Abbott to join his organization in Concord to collaborate on innovative, plush coach making. They spent the next few years combining their craftsmanship skills and building low volume, state-of-the-art horse-drawn wagons, carriages and other farm/utility vehicles. It was a step above the typical craft-based manufacturing of individual parts for wagons at the time. Both recognized that wider development of roads would increase the market for greater physical mobility via horse-drawn vehicles. 

By 1830, their efforts had produced what was known as the Concord coach. This vehicle was built for comfort, quality, and long term reliability, with a patented leather thoroughbrace suspension system and ability to transport large amounts of baggage. This breakthrough gave their vehicles a dampened 360° swing motion instead of the harsher up and down motion of steel spring suspensions. Their handcrafted vehicles were built to last with stout oak frames and bodies, ash wheels and hubs with steel rims, ornately finished and painted to the customer’s specifications. The interiors were a “veritable Alladin’s cave of fine leather, polished metal, and wood paneling.” The rest is history – The right product for the right market at the right time.

Initially, their business grew by supplying coaches and wagons to local and regional towns and businesses. Many NH and regional towns had their own custom-painted Concord coaches which they collectively used as a network of general transportation services between towns. For example, it was now easier to ride a coach from Franconia to Concord or Keene to Nashua or Rochester to Portsmouth, and then ride another connecting coach to Boston and New York. Concord coaches served as the predecessor to rail and bus lines. As this network expanded regionally and nationally to other states, so too did Abbott-Downing's growth. They also diversified into other wagon applicatons. A few other pictures showed workers cutting large blocks of ice from Lake Winnipesaukee and loading the goods in enclosed ice wagons. I observed several pictures of branded merchant wagons that could now go to the customer to sell and deliver their goods. Horse-drawn vehicle technology created so many new personal and economic opportunities.  

As their business took off, the writings describe the woodworkers, wheelwrights, blacksmiths, coach assembly, engineers, and paint people tripping over each other in the factory trying to make and ship carriages. It was what we know as a "batch push expedite” system of production, and the past due orders, availability of the right parts, and quality problems were stacking up. This low volume model of production fell apart as the Company landed large orders from customers like Wells Fargo, the U.S. military, postal service, and hundreds of other custom coach and vehicle orders. A new "mixed model pull" operations model was needed for these multiple and challenging demand streams. They built a new, large factory campus in Concord with numerous buildings and modernized equipment. While Abbott and Downing subscribed to the labor disciplines of the era, they recognized that growth was totally dependent on their deep appreciation and respect for their highly skilled craftsmanship workforce. 

High end, hand crafted vehicle manufacturing was totally dependent upon the involvement and coordination of several specialized trades. In the writings and sketches, Abbott and Downing worked closely with their employees to reorganize the factory into several custom mixed-model lines (one piece flow), with the forging department remaining as a shared production center for all lines. Production began with the frame and suspension in a designated location, and the various tradesmen teams came to this spot to finish their part of the assembly process. Parts were pre-build and moved near the assembly location (kanban, point of use stock).

Abbott and Downing encouraged creativity, innovation, and improvement. Many other trades workmen were credited with developing new and more efficient methods to manufacture coaches. One piece of trivia uncovered in this history search was Abbott-Downing's master coach painter and template maker, John Burgum, who also invented the first family bread slicing machine, a nail cutter, an improved try square, and several other practical innovations. There is no evidence that any of his innovations were integrated into Abbott-Downing's core business. 

The pictures and readings point out that these were not identical production areas and ranged from more common mixed model lines (e.g., Wells Fargo and other customer stagecoaches) to more specialized mixed model lines (e.g., open express wagons, Yellowstone tourist wagons, ice wagons, buggies, etc.). In today’s terms they flexed their workforce and material flow, deploying the right assets to the right areas at the right times. Here are a few additional details and quotes about their production model:

• The strategy was “fine hand-built coaches and wagons by perpetuating handcraft methods and custom ordering, at the same time well coordinated production within the plant and developing interchangeability of parts.” (Premium products, full supplier integration, flow synchronization, commonality in designs, flexibility)
• The Company was totally vertically integrated and “made all parts on the premises, with the same critical exactness by their own skilled workmen. This gives Abbott-Downing a great advantage over other manufacturers who obtain steel springs here, axles there, and other parts somewhere else.” (Quality, standardization, complexity reduction)
• “In the manufacturer of express wagons and other styles, parts are made by dedicated craftsmen and interchangeable, thus enabling the Company to supply parts at any time to the workmen. Coaches can be assembled much faster in a smaller space.” (Pull, kanban, flow, mixed model cells)
• “We must develop our apprentices and helpers into master craftsmen, able to make parts for many different vehicles. They use standard patterns to cut white oak and ash wood for body parts and spokes, patterns for the millwork parts and leather upholstery, and templates to carve and enscroll lavish painted portraits, monograms, crests, striping, and other faux finishes on the exterior.” (Measurement system analysis, standardization, visual management, multi-skilled workforce)
• “The democratization of printed media has led to a fine proliferation of instruction books and sources on practical topics.” These resources covered various trades and provided design and pattern ideas for the painting and artwork. (Training, workmanship standards, workman aides)

• “The efficiency and flexibility of Abbott-Downing’s factory served the country well during the Civil War. Previously, lead times for coaches in the 1830s were 3-5 months.” By 1861, a local Patriot newspaper article boasted how lead times had dropped to 1 week, and by 1890 the Company was producing over 2000 coaches/year. Based on the reported 10 hour shift and 6 day work week this equates to a finished vehicle rolling out to the yard every 45 minutes. (Waste reduction, kaizen, continuous flow, cycle time reduction)
• “Distant purchasers were unwilling to depend on local blacksmiths and wheelwrights for substitute parts. They often ordered spare pieces when they bought vehicles from the Company. It’s not uncommon for a larger order of extra collars, plates, lamps, glass, braces, springs, lanterns, and harnesses to go out with a coach or wagon.” (Customer service and loyalty, brand, quality at/from the source)
• “Abbott-Downing was always successful at quickly diversifying its production to meet new market demands.” In a mailed sales circular they describe various designs and their adaptations to local and regional business markets: bakers, brewers, fire hose carriages, butter dealers, clothiers, sleigh wagons, feed dealers, hunting wagons, pie wagons, ambulances, funeral wagons, and grocers. They also captured the elite Boston and New York elite with luxurious covered buggy wagons. “They manufactured over forty different lines with an almost unlimited number of options.” (Customer and market focus, mass customization, portfolio and platform designs, flexibility, quick response, adaptive)
• An advertising circular noted that interchangeable, matched sets of parts are an advantage to overseas customers as “the entire vehicle and spare pieces can be shipped in parts, occupying less space and consequently lower cost.” They contracted with international agencies to assemble vehicles at the country of destination. (Supply chain efficiency, supplier partnerships)

Unfortunately I cannot share the hundreds of pictures, documents, and sketches in this post. But Abbott-Downing was clearly the Toyota of its day. One of the largest lessons for readers is that Lean is more common sense thinking, developing an open environment of engagement, knowing how to grow talent, and helping people to realize their full potential . . . Than it is someone else's recipe of tools, buzzwords, lists of tasks, and other wasted motions. Abbott-Downing never looked at all their improvements as a program, but a necessary means of success and market dominance. No one walked in with all the canned answers for success. There was no Toyota TPS to copy and mimic. They continuously innovated and improved the factory out of sheer necessity, holistic and creative thinking, and pride of workmanship in their own way . . . And their success lasted for almost a century. Toyota has also achieved the same 70 years of sustainable success through the same means, and in their own way. 

One of the largest lessons for readers is that Lean is more common sense thinking, developing an open environment of engagement and ownership, knowing how to grow talent, and helping people to realize their full potential . . . Than it is someone else's recipe of tools, buzzwords, lists of tasks, and other wasted motions. 

The Handwriting on the Wall

History reveals that Abbott-Downing was the leading American coach and carriage manufacturer with a long, consistent eighty year run of total market dominance and financial prosperity. Generations of people enjoyed lifetime employment with the Company. They were doing all of the right "Lean" things in their operations to maintain their competitive edge. The workmen were engaged, loyal, happy, and functioned as a mini-society to achieve corporate, personal, social, and local community success. A utopia of how all organizations would like to operate! 

By 1890 the road and turnpike system had developed substantially, and several competitors like Birch, Studebaker, Briggs, Kimball Brothers, and others emerged on the scene. They moved in as more localized, low cost, standard mass production manufacturers for the mass market. Abbott-Downing’s adamant resistance to change and concentration on custom high end handcrafted vehicles was the beginning of their demise. The Company was rapidly losing market share to competitors. In the absence of strategic renewal, Lean was pointed on all the wrong things. Not a Lean problem, but a transformation strategy and alignment problem. Therein lies another lesson about Lean: Lean is not a business strategy, and all the Lean in the world doesn't help much when an organization is on the wrong strategic path. Then technology created a whole new paradigm of transportation. Within the next twenty years the emerging market for electrical interurban transport, steam railways, and motorized vehicles had forced the horse-drawn coaches from main traveled roads and routes everywhere in the U.S. 

Therein lies another lesson about Lean: Lean is not a business strategy, and all the Lean in the world doesn't help much when an organization is on the wrong strategic path. 

The End

In 1916 Abbott-Downing entered the motorized truck business (general purpose trucks, express trucks, fire trucks, etc.), finally abandoning the custom craftsman manufacturing model to sourcing most parts and a standard mass production final assembly model. They were in an urgent catch-up mode when new technology and markets blew away their old business model. Their largest customer was Amoskeag Manufacturing Company of Manchester, NH. In the 19th century, Amoskeag was the largest cotton textile manufacturer and largest industrial center in the world. Their industry was going through their own similar cycle of demise due to the technology innovations in machinery and synthetic fibers, declining demand, labor strikes, and movement of operations to lower wage locations in the South. For those who have visited Manchester, Amoskeag is the huge, mile long rows of refurbished brick mills along the Merrimack River that once employed over 10,000 textile workers. The demand for motorized vehicles from Amoskeag and only a few local and municipal orders was not enough to turn a profit at Abbott-Downing. 

The larger strategic problem was competing head on with Ford, General Motors, Studebaker, Hudson, and others who were significantly larger, more capitalized, dominated the new market, and had set up franchise dealerships in the East (including Concord). During this time mass production in the automotive industry were rapidly dropping the prices of vehicles produced by the major manufacturers. The Abbott-Downing Company did not make the transition early enough with sufficient determination to survive. 

By act of the NH legislature the Company was resolved in 1928. It’s last remaining asset, the Abbott-Downing brand was purchased by Wells Fargo which perpetuated a great corporate financial identity for the bank in their own corporate history of America’s West. We can all think of many modern day examples where history has repeated itself for the same basic reasons. Some of you are currently employed by organizations on their way to becoming the next modern day casualties. This is not a criticism, just a fact in our warp speed global economy of extreme innovation and emerging technologies.

The Moral of the Story

When extremely successful companies face big changes in their environment, they often fail to adapt and respond effectively. I've worked for a few of them in private industry, and consulted with dozens of others to incredible success followed by demise.  In the past 15 years, 52% of Fortune 500 companies have disappeared. We have also been brought in on several engagements when it's too late by executives looking for the big miracle while the banks are close to padlocking the doors. There's no magic fairy dust or silver bullets for these situations. Most organizations eventually figure out how to recover after many rounds of painful downsizing and restructuring.  The losses - especially the human capital losses, have a draining effect on their futures.  Some become Concord coaches.

In my own experiences many executives do in fact, recognize the threat early and carefully analyze the negative implications on the business.  The problem is that they don't know what they don't know so they do not take the right strategic and/or course correction actions. Many executives are guilty of denial, complacency, postponement, and provoking mediocrity in their organizations. In all cases, too many executives and their organizations remain in this falter and decline mode for way too long. They typically unleash a flurry of symptomatic responses to their faltering conditions. They still falter. They refuse to get help and become their own worse enemy. The real problem is what we refer to as the inertia of insanity, followed by the inertia of hyper-insanity. Insanity is doing more of the same and expecting different results. Hyper-insanity is doing more of the same with greater urgency, effort, and speed (often shortcuts, workarounds, end runs, reactionary chaos, hair on fire cultures, etc.) and expecting different results. Do you know or work for one of these organizations? 

In all seriousness, the natural tendency of executives and their organizations is to follow the established patterns of behavior and thinking that made them successful - Even in response to obvious dramatic market, technology, and other environmental changes. The result is so predictable to an outsider: Stuck in the behaviors, choices, and actions that brought success in the past, executives simply accelerate all their tried-and-true best practices, which have been rendered obsolete by breakthrough changes in the marketplace. In trying to dig themselves out of a hole, they just dig themselves into a deeper hole. Finally, many executives are unwilling to accept that the deeper the hole, the more time and effort is requires to fill it in . . . All while the competitive clock is ticking away. In today's global economy gone wild, all organizations face the threat of becoming the modern day version of the Concord coach.  

Summary: The Very Best of an Era

The technology revolution brought on by the internal combustion engine in an industry dominated by new giants swallowed up Abbott-Downing Company as one of its victims. All of its finest assets of the nineteenth century – the finest custom, handcrafted horse-drawn vehicles were obsolete. By the time the Company closed its doors, the horse-drawn Concord coach and other vehicles had become collector’s items or recreational transportation at a few national parks. Yet as long as the memory of horse-drawn transportation technology is kept alive, Abbott-Downing Company will always represent the very best of that era.

The Amoskeag Mills have been preserved by developers, and many new thriving software, medical, defense, retail, professional services, restaurants, and other businesses now reside here. As for myself, my personal investigative discovery efforts provided an interesting contemporary contribution to the Abbott Downing Historical Society.

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Terence T. Burton is President of The Center for Excellence in Operations, Inc., a management consulting focused on strategic and operations improvement in small and mid-market companies, and M&A/private equity acquisition support. He has four decades of extensive operations and supply chain experience as an executive in private industry, and has implemented a wide spectrum of successful strategic improvement initiatives with over 350 clients in 23 countries.