Poised for Growth

New Draka EHC president discusses bringing his specialty business experience into the vertical-transportation industry.

Prysmian Group announced in April that Richard Parvesse had been appointed president of Draka EHC, which was formed by the merger of Draka Elevator and EHC Global in January 2021. Parvesse has more than 20 years of experience with Prysmian Group, beginning his career in 2001 as regional sales manager for Draka Cableteq USA, which was later acquired by Prysmian. He went on to serve in sales and business management roles, becoming vice president/general manager of the Group’s Industrial and Specialty division in 2020. Parvesse holds a bachelor’s degree from Rider University in Lawrence Township, New Jersey, and is a graduate of the Advanced Leadership Program at SDA Bocconi School of Management in Milan, where Prysmian is based. Your author (TBM) took a trip to Rocky Mount, North Carolina, earlier this year to visit the Draka EHC headquarters and speak with Parvesse (RP) about the past, present and future of the company.

TBM: How did Draka EHC and Prysmian work through COVID-19?

RP: Our management team acted quickly to develop a worldwide strategy with enough consideration for local circumstances. With safety as our priority, we initiated best practices to protect the team: social distancing, masks, temperature checks, testing, etc. Keeping a healthy, stable workforce allowed us to continue operating throughout the pandemic and support our customers. Despite significant impacts from the softening market conditions, our management team maintained our entire workforce. Our focus was to protect the team, not just in health and safety, but also from the economic impact of the pandemic. Reflecting on our actions, I think we did a lot of things right.

Despite significant impacts from the softening market conditions, our management team maintained our entire workforce. Our focus was to protect the team, not just in health and safety, but also from the economic impact of the pandemic. Reflecting on our actions, I think we did a lot of things right.

TBM: Some of what I have heard in the elevator industry is there might be jobs here and there, but now, if a sale is made, product delivery is delayed, and then there are pricing issues. Has this been your experience?

RP: Our elevator business doesn’t keep a significant backlog, meaning that the orders we receive this month, ship this month. We have warehouses full of inventory, but when parts you need are delayed, you can encounter some level of unanticipated backlog, which we’ve been working through over the last few months. In other businesses with a significant backlog, the backlog ended up being a detriment since inflation was outpacing price adjustments. Rapidly rising inflation impacted our business in a different way, leading us to provide detailed accounts of the specific cost drivers and lay out the justifications for price adjustments, which can be a slow process.

TBM: Tell me a little bit about your time with Draka and moving into this new role as president.

RP: I started with Draka in 2001 in a sales role for a division of our Specialty Cables Business Unit. Headquarters at that time was in Massachusetts, and we only had a few plants in the U.S. By the time Prysmian acquired Draka in 2012, I was managing the Specialty Cable Business Unit for North America. This business was focused on unique markets within the wire and cable industry. Our success grew from developing our products and services specific to each niche business segment, very similar to the elevator/escalator market. In 2020, about a year after the acquisition of General Cable, I was appointed to manage the entire Industrial & Specialty Business Unit for Prysmian North America, which is comprised of 18 unique market segments. Now, I am very excited to take on this new role as president. This seems to be a close-knit community, and I’m anxious to learn and grow with the business.

TBM: Tell me a little bit about the factory here in North Carolina.

RP: What’s interesting about this business is it’s not necessarily about any one factory. It’s the network of factories we draw from, and the selection of solutions we provide. The wire and cable plant in North Carolina is relatively small, but it is highly specialized, and we manufacture products here that are not made anywhere else in the world. We also have cable operations in China, the Czech Republic and Brazil. Additionally, we have a network of operations for handrail products in Canada, China, Germany and Brazil combined with a worldwide network of distribution centers to provide local customer support.

Managing people is a life-long learning experience, but I enjoy putting people into the right roles and supporting their development through continuous feedback and education.

TBM: Tell me a little bit about the merger of Draka Elevator and EHC Global. How does that fit into the whole picture of what Draka is doing?

RP: The most important connection is that both businesses share some very important customers. I think we’ve become a little bit more important to our major customers around the world than we were before the acquisition. From that standpoint, it has a lot of value. Many of our customers have expressed their desire to simplify their supply chain and consolidate their vendor list. This acquisition supports that initiative.  

TBM: What management strength/style do you bring to this role and this division?

RP: I’m here to support a team. I’ve been successful in the past by pulling teams together to assess various issues, develop and implement solutions. When making a team decision, everyone takes ownership and drives toward a better outcome. Managing people is a life-long learning experience, but I enjoy putting people into the right roles and supporting their development through continuous feedback and education. I also bring some business development experience to this new role. Prysmian is committed to invest and grow this business, so we must be planning well in advance for a balance of organic and acquisition growth. That’s also an exciting part of the job for me, accessing new technologies, capacity expansion, developing new products and acquisition strategies — all of which are very important to our future success. 

Prysmian has been a long-term value-creating business, buying several companies over the past several years, notably Draka and General Cable, without any material spin-offs.

TBM: Are there things that you’ve done in other specialty sectors that you might apply to the elevator sector?

RP: Yes. The first principle of business is: Don’t try to fix something if it isn’t broken. Before applying new rules and setting expectations, it’s important I fully understand the business landscape to avoid unintended consequences resulting from impulse decisions. First, leading with the customer in mind: If the customer thinks that everything is going well, the customer is right. If they don’t, the customer is right. I really want to focus my attention on customer satisfaction, whether that’s in areas of cost, quality or delivery.

Right now, our customers want material availability and cost containment. We will continue our focus on qualifying new vendors for supply chain reliability and increase our efforts on material and design alternatives to provide competitive solutions.

TBM: What do you think about private equity in the industry?

RP: Private equity is usually thinking about short-term value creation, buying and selling a business relatively quickly.  That said, their exit strategy could be an interesting future opportunity for our growth in the market. Prysmian has been a long-term value-creating business, buying several companies over the past several years, notably Draka and General Cable, without any material spin-offs.