Retired Chairman & CEO Arvin Industries – Helena, MT
Byron Pond retired in 2000 as Chairman and CEO of Arvin Industries, Inc. in Columbus, Indiana. Arvin Industries is a company in which Mr. Pond helped build into a global leader for the design and production of automotive light vehicle exhaust systems and ride control products. Mr. Pond was President and CEO of Maremont Corporation in 1986 when Arvin Industries, Inc. purchased the corporation. The two companies had similar automotive product offerings, so over the next four years Pond led a management team through a complete integration of the businesses. As the project neared completion Pond was appointed an Arvin Executive Vice President assuming responsibility for the company’s automotive operations and the following year he was named Arvin’s President and Chief Operating Officer. Concurrent with his new assignment Pond embarked on a program to dispose of Arvin Industries non automotive assets, which were about 20% of the company’s revenues. At the same time he introduced lean manufacturing and total quality production systems to Arvin’s automotive operations worldwide. These initiatives were supported with internally created educational programs designed to remake the company’s culture. Over the next five years, as noncore assets were being divested, Arvin Industries acquired additional exhaust and ride control businesses that more than offset revenues of the operations that were sold. Pond was then promoted to Chief Executive Officer of Arvin Industries in 1993. The remaking of Arvin Industries, Inc. into a focused automotive company concentrating on exhaust systems and ride control products was completed in 1995. The company then concentrated its full management effort on improving financial performance. The continual lean manufacturing and quality improvement initiatives helped raise Arvin’s revenues to over $2.5 billion dollars, which increased operating margins by more than 50% and more than doubled the company’s market capitalization.
