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SOMETIMES CHANCE MEETINGS CHANGE the course of history. Just
think, if H.B. Reese hadn’t gotten peanut butter on his chocolate in 1928, there
might not have ever been a Reese’s peanut butter cup. And if not for a chance
meeting in 1992, Garden Grove, California-based supplier Evans Manufacturing
(UPIC: EVANS), a PPAI member for more than 20 years, might not even be in
the promotional products business.
EVANS MANUFACTURING’S WINNING STRATEGY INCLUDES CUSTOMER-FRIENDLY
TECHNOLOGY AND MARKETING INITIATIVES
By Julie Richie
24 •
PPB
• AUGUST 2016
INNOVATE
PRO
FILE
AHEAD OF
THE GAME
“The founder of Evans was
a friend of mine,” says CEO
Alan Vaught, a serial entrepre-
neur who became a partner in
the company in 1992, and its
owner in 1994. “In the begin-
ning, while we were pursuing
retail, we stumbled into a pro-
motional products distributor.
The distributor explained to us
how the promotional market
worked. We said we weren’t
interested—it sounded like a
distraction to us.” But the dis-
tributor was persistent and
called every day to see if they
would change their minds.
“Finally, we agreed to give
him a price for custom logoed
clips so he would leave us alone.
He came back a week later and
had sold more clips to a Century
21 office than we had sold in
two years of our retail efforts. It
didn’t take long for us to realize
we should forget the retail busi-
ness and focus on the promo-
tional market. Since then, all of
our products have been designed
for the promotional products
industry,” Vaught says. And the
company has now grown to
employ 600 people.
Tech Focus
Evans has been previously
written about for its effective use
of technology, early conversion
to paperless operations in 2004,
and just-in-time manufacturing
strategy. Vaught, who has always
been mechanical and enjoyed
working with his hands, is com-
mitted to implementing techno-
logical changes that make the
company as efficient and cus-
tomer-friendly as possible.
Currently, Evans is working
on having a robust system that
will support electronic transfer of
CEO Alan Vaught
owned several
companies before Evans, including
a company that made hardware for
racing sailboats.