Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6 Page 7 Page 8 Page 9 Page 10 Page 11 Page 12 Page 13 Page 14 Page 15 Page 16 Page 17 Page 18 Page 19 Page 20 Page 21 Page 22 Page 23 Page 24 Page 25 Page 26 Page 27 Page 28 Page 29 Page 30 Page 31 Page 32 Page 33 Page 34 Page 35 Page 36 Page 37 Page 38 Page 39 Page 40 Page 41 Page 42 Page 43 Page 44 Page 45 Page 46 Page 47 Page 48 Page 49 Page 50 Page 51 Page 52 Page 53 Page 54 Page 55 Page 56 Page 57 Page 58 Page 59 Page 60 Page 61 Page 62 Page 63 Page 64 Page 65 Page 66 Page 67 Page 68 Page 69 Page 70 Page 71 Page 7240 S G M A G A Z I N E | FA L L 2 0 1 6 B U S I N E S S + C U LT U R E 41 “In the beginning, the jobs were not glamorous, but we developed those relationships and they were great opportunities,” Clinton said. “We did the smaller jobs that other companies didn’t want.” Building this trust with companies became an essential foundation for CJB Industries. “Because we were willing to do these smaller jobs, the ones other companies didn’t want to touch, we started building relationships and used those contacts as stepping stones,” he said. “We had to build trust for the big projects to help us grow.” Other projects came, and CJB Industries was beginning to become a reality. After working in two different small locations—with limited growth potential—the need for a larger facility was becoming more evident. Two Decades of Success Officially founded in March 1997, CJB Industries began leasing a building from Bill Holland, which was an old pole barn located on five acres in a small industrial area on Cypress Street. Soon afterward a client offered six tanks and some auxiliary equipment in exchange for manufacturing services. “I had the opportunity to get these tanks; the problem was they were in New Jersey,” Clinton explained. “I was used to taking things apart and putting them back together again.” The removal of the tanks proved to be more of a challenge than Clinton had anticipated. “When Tim Crow and I arrived this guy asked if we had a wrecking crew coming,” Clinton laughed. “I said, ‘We are it.’ We had a forklift coming and a couple of flatbed trucks. We got the five tanks out OK, but by the time we started on the last one we ran out of propane. It was late on a Saturday night, and I am thinking, ‘Where are we going to get propane at 11:30 p.m. on a Saturday night?’” What is Clinton’s secret to success? He has never met a challenge he did not want to conquer. After waking up a stranger in a nearby farmhouse, he had his propane and was back to the task. “We now had a location and some tanks. We were now in the chemical manufacturing business,” Clinton said. “That is how we started.” CJB Industries’ client base was growing and so was the need for a permanent location that would allow the company to continue its expansion. In 2001, CJB Industries COVER purchased the Cypress Street location, which included a recently constructed 40,000-square-foot building. “The Cypress Street facility became Jeana’s ‘beach house.’” Clinton joked. “But the timing could not have been better.” Jeana also made the commitment to join the company full time and began taking on a variety of administrative functions, specifically human resources. “I did a little bit of everything in the beginning,” said Jeana, who earned a Master of Business Administration from Valdosta State University in 1995. “As we began to grow, we were fortunate to hire some wonderful people, and I started focusing more on the human resource side of the business.” The first Cypress Street expansion was quickly followed by a second one that included additional warehouse space and an analytical and formulation laboratory. In 2002, CJB Industries began producing automotive undercoating, which earned them the prestigious recognition as a Ford Quality One Supplier. “Moving into the automotive industry pushed us to set up ISO standards,” Clinton said. “These are quality standards and were a requirement to sell to automotive companies. It was a big step in how we began to improve our business structure.” CJB Industries now holds ISO 9001 Quality Management and ISO 14001 Environmental Management certifications. These highly regarded industry standards allow CJB Industries the ability to implement change and continuous improvements to improve products, processes, and people. Expansion continued in 2005, and Clinton described the company “at a crossroads” in the direction it would take. Would the focus continue toward manufacturing services or proprietary products? The decision was reached to focus more on the manufacturing services. CJB Industries continued to experience tremendous growth including three more additions to the Cypress Street facility, along with the demolition of the original pole barn facility. In 2009, CJB Industries became a multi-plant operation with the purchase of a plant on Gil Harbin Industrial Boulevard, located in the Azalea West Business Park. Within the Gil Harbin plant, CJB Industries produces herbicide and industrial chemical products. Over the next few years, CJB Industries expanded the facilities at both the Cypress Street and Gil Harbin locations. In 2015, the company established CJB Applied Technologies, which is focused on assisting customers in formulation development and commercial development and looking at potential future opportunities in plant health and related areas. The CJB Way As CJB Industries continues to grow in “bricks and mortar” the company is also striving to build a high-quality workforce. “Once we started to grow, we then established a set of values called ‘RITES,’ which represent the basis for what we want our employees to refer to when making decisions,” Clinton said. “It has been a process and has taken time for people to adapt, but they did, and they realize this is how we manage the business.” The RITES represent Respect, Integrity, Trust, Excellence, and Stewardship. CJB Industries stresses these core values to employees at every level within the company. “This is a great company; we want it to be a place that survives and builds and helps people develop beyond where they are,” Clinton said. “We want to help people become better and see people grow.” Each employee is carefully selected and provided training to ensure they represent CJB Industries’ core values. Providing professional and personal support to each employee, at all levels, is an important part of Jeana’s role as vice president for human resources. Though her early academic training was focused on industrial engineering, Jeana enjoys the daily interaction with the employees and the opportunity to instill the company’s philosophy and values. “What is important to us as a company is making sure that people know they are important,” she said. “They need to feel confident in what they are selling and servicing.” The Beelands are proud of the longevity of many employees that started with them in the early days and are still part of the team two decades later. “Though this is our business, it is CJB’s people that make it happen,” Jeana said. “I believe that we can do anything, but we can’t do everything. What we do is focus on what we can accomplish.” CJB Industries’ formula for success is found in the partnership of Clinton and Jeana Beeland, and their desire to provide the highest standards in chemical manufacturing and chemical packaging services within the industry.