Classic Consoles is expanding plant
Jeffrey Will, founder and entrepreneur of Classic Consoles, a division of Will Power Enterprises, Inc., is standing on the concrete floor of the addition under construction.
Most any new model car is equipped with a center console that offers its owner a drink holder, arm rest and storage compartments, but classics didn’t feature the now common amenity, he says.
Will took his background and expertise in the upholstery business and a love for classic cars to the drawing board and began building consoles in Tallahassee, Fla., in the late 1990s. And in the summer of 1999, Classic Consoles relocated to the Milestone Industrial Park in Cairo, Ga.
A decade later, Classic Consoles introduced several new products to the classic car industry.
“These new products encompass several classic cars from the Chevrolet Corvette to the Chevrolet Corvair, and even the famous Ford Model “A,” says Will.
The consoles are custom made to fit between bucket seats or in front of a bench seat.
“The addition of these newly designed consoles and drink holders to our existing product lines for the Mustangs, Camaros and VWs has allowed us to begin an expansion of our facility in the Milestone Industrial Park,” says the company’s president. The new edition is scheduled to be completed in October 2010.
“This expansion will increase the production capacity of our facility and will also include reorganizing of the existing production work stations in the original building,” explains Will. “We will be able to enlarge our packaging and receiving department when complete.”
He added, “Our expansion, although modest, marks our 12th successful year doing business in Grady County.”
Why the expansion? “We’ve run out of space,” says Will. “I have two guys working at night because I don’t have room for them during the day.”
The 1,000 square foot addition under construction will join the main building and house the cutting and sewing operations.
Will says he has found a niche with “collector cars” such as Corvairs, noting that more than one million Corvairs were produced between 1960 and 1969. Classics, according to Will, are cars and trucks that are over 25 years old.
He attributes the company’s growth to a combination of factors: industry growth, discovering a market niche, streamlining the manufacturing process, and a dedicated workforce. Although customer satisfaction is the end goal, Will says he operates with a philosophy that “everybody inside here has got their own customer base. And they have to respect that next guy who is going to get the product to finish it off. We’re all internal customers,” he says.
“The main thing is creating a work environment that they want to come to every day,” Will said.
Currently, he employs eight full-time and two part-time workers.
“The staff at Classic Consoles would like to thank the citizens of Grady County for allowing us to be a part of this great community,” added Will.
For more information about Classic Consoles visit the company web site: www.classicconsoles.com.
