BY SHARON NEFF

In an industry where big is usually seen as better, Haley Marine Gear Inc. of Greenville has taken a rather different approach. It has remained a relatively small, family company as it has successfully produced gears, clutches and couplings for the marine industry for 25 years.

According to E. Ray Haley, founder and president of Haley Marine Gear Inc., this enables the company to be more customer oriented.

My strategy was to compete with the larger companies, which are generally slow and unwieldy, and arenÕt tuned in to giving quick service. We wanted to be technically correct, react quickly to customer needs, and just outwork the big guy. It worked.

Haley Marine Gear, Inc. includes three divisions - Haley Marine Gears, Inc., gear manufacture, fabrication, cutting and grinding; Haley Clutch and Coupling Co., for the manufacture of pneumatic and hydraulic clutches and torsional couplings; and Haley Marine Gear International, which provides worldwide technical service and support which is based in Belle Chase, LA. Along with Ray, sons Lee, Kyle, Darrel and Neal provide leadership for these divisions.

Haley started his company in a small shop in Greenville and now the business has over 75 employees with customers throughout the U.S. and overseas from South American to Asia to the North Sea. A large percentage of the international business is with South America where many of the old riverboats from Greenville are now working.

Most countries, even those not friendly to the U.S., want American diesel engines. Our products mount on these engines. We've just tagged along with the U.S. diesel engines, says Haley.

The company has technical capabilities and capacities that allow for specialized services and products. Using reverse engineering, Haley can take a gear from any year, make or model marine engine with no documentation, and manufacture an exact duplicate with the correct metallurgical composition and the same tolerances. Or, they can rework the old to greatly improve its performance. Haley Marine can also design products for speciality applications. A customer may want to drive something from a particular spot from a particular engine that has never been done before. Haley will design and manufacture whatever is needed for the job. In addition, the company has the machine tool capacity for any size job. Because of the capability of the machinery, they can handle jobs from 0 inches up to 98 inches, in an industry where only a handful of companies have the capacity for the over 12 inches - 98 inches jobs. Service personnel will travel anywhere in the world to repair, replace or assemble these products.

Ray Haley has also served on several technical committees in the industry. Haley has chaired the American Gear Manufacture Association (AGMA) committee that developed the first marine gear rating and materials technical standards in the U.S. He has served as chairman of the U.S. Technical Advisory Group for ISO, International Marine Gears Standard Association, dealing with the world marine gear standards. In addition, Haley was president of AGMA in 1993-94. All of this involved an enormous amount of time which Haley considers a wise investment.

Haley also considers investing in education another good decision. Haley Marine has been a benefactor of a new math and science building at Mississippi Delta Community College in Moorhead. The success of technological industries, such as the marine gear and clutch industry, depend on having a pool of well-educated and skilled young people from which to draw. Haley Marine Gear also calls on the services of Dr. William F. Jones from Mississippi State University as a consultant. He is a torsional vibration specialist and his expertise is invaluable, says Haley.

Haley Marine Gear Inc. and its divisions have just celebrated 25 years of successful service in the marine industry.

We got here by working very hard to meet customer needs, says Ray Haley. We don't play golf, we make gears and study. DBJ

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