Julie Arenz is committed to her family, her team and her business. She is the third-generation owner of R&L Spring Company and Medicoil, businesses housed in two side-by-side buildings in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. R&L provides parts to OEMs in power sports, automotive and other industries. Medicoil specializes in micro-precision coils and wireforms for medical devices.
R&L’s story began in 1972.
“My grandfather was a springmaker and worked for various companies in the Chicago area before he started his own business,” she says. “I think he wanted to be taken more seriously for his talents and have more control over his destiny.”
Carrying Forward the Family Legacy
Arenz’s grandfather, Royden Forsythe, led the company until 1984 when he passed it to her father, Scott Forsythe. The next 40 years saw significant growth, new customers in the medical device industry and a move from Harvard, Illinois to Lake Geneva, Wisconsin in 1997. Since Scott’s retirement, Julie has continued the legacy of recognizing employees’ talents and ensuring their well-being.
The younger Arenz helped at R&L in high school, gained experience during college and worked at manufacturing giants Harley Davidson and Rockwell Automation before returning to R&L full-time in 2017. She met her husband, Brad, at Rockwell Automation in Milwaukee. They’ve worked together since, tag-teaming work and life.
“If either of us is busier than the other, we divide and conquer,” she says. “He’s a very hands-on dad. I feel fortunate to have that support system around me to be able to do what I do. He’s on the sales and customer side — keeping our customers happy and focusing on growth opportunities.”
Innovating for the Future
“We’re continuing to automate and streamline our processes in materials handling to be more efficient. That’s a big focus of ours, as well as improvement on the technology side,” she says.
This past year, the company upgraded to a new enterprise resource planning (ERP) system to help with data and planning information. Arenz says integrating these day-to-day operations has proved helpful so they can react and respond to real-time data.
“Eventually, we will integrate these capabilities on the sales side, too. It’s a major project we’ve been working on for several years,” she says. “I’m proud to say we successfully executed our transition with minimal impact on our customers, which is most important.”
In addition, Arenz and her team are selectively pursuing AI technologies in areas of development – particularly forecasting and planning. She wants to understand the risks and rewards implicit with these emerging tools. “It’s fairly new to us, but it’s an area we’re expanding in,” she explains.
Supporting the Industry’s Future
R&L and Medicoil are partnering with local schools and talking to students and teachers about the industry.
“Manufacturing has great job security, benefits and high pay. If you’re talented and ambitious and want to be successful, companies like ours are willing to invest in your career growth.”
“If you’re a good setup coiler and want to have leadership experience, maybe you advance to a team lead,” Arenz says. “And we’ve had team leads advance to supervisors and plant managers.”
Networking is important to Arenz, too. It helps her keep informed about the industry and manufacturing in general. She holds local leadership positions and participates in SMI events.
“I think we’re stronger together, and there’s a lot of information to share to help each other. SMI is doing a lot of great things to try to bridge that gap. I look forward to seeing how I can further contribute,” she says.
Juggling Business and Life
The days (and nights) are full for Arenz. With two energetic young sons, Oliver, 5 and Jack, 3, family is a top priority. When not at work, the days and seasons burst with outdoor play, camping and big family fishing trips.
“My two young boys are my world. They love being outside and active, and I enjoy doing as much outdoors as possible all year-round,” Arenz says. She acknowledges it can be challenging to balance a company with a full family life. But she is proof it can be done with communication, cooperation and a forward-thinking mindset. Oh, and it helps to love what you do.
“There are a lot of spring companies in the world — in the Chicago area especially,” she says. “But the industry seems very fragmented, and I think you need to find ways to differentiate yourself. As we continue our journey into the future, we have a great story to tell, and I think there are people out there who still haven’t heard it.”
“These last eight years have assured me that I love what I do, and I’m passionate about continuing the family legacy,” Arenz added.
Reprinted by permission of Springs, the magazine of the Spring Manufacturers Institute.