The Get-Up-Early Man

To "the man of distinction" and ''the thinking man," U.S. TViewers last week could add a brand-new advertising character: "the Massey-Ferguson kind of a man." As the first farm-equipment manufacturer to launch a network TV campaign, Toronto's Massey-Ferguson Ltd.. the world's largest maker of tractors and self-propelled combines, described their man as "a special kind of man; he's a doer, not a talker. He's a get-up-early, keep-'em-rolling kind of man."

Though the ads were pitched at the farmer's ego. Massey-Ferguson did not have far to look for the real prototype of the man it described: Massey President Albert A. Thornbrough, 46. When Kansas-born Al Thornbrough became the firm's executive vice president three years ago, the company was on the brink of bankruptcy. This week, by virtue of his aggressive policies, the company proved a remarkable comeback from 1957's losses of $4,700,000; it announced 1958 earnings that topped $13 million, or $1.25 a share. While sales in Europe, Africa, Australia, South America--even in Canada--were down slightly, sales in the U.S. had jumped 46% to a record $130.3 million, pulling worldwide sales up nearly 7%.

Evil Days. When it was called Massey-Harris, the firm captured a major, market in the late 1930s by coming out with the first self-propelled combine, began manufacturing tractors abroad after World War II, just in time to cash in on rising worldwide demand. But by 1956, poor management, complacency and half-hearted selling had put it far behind competitors. As sales fell, inventories rose so high that it just about ran out of cash.

Chairman James S. Duncan resigned because of "ill health," and Colonel W. Eric Phillips, backed by 30% of the voting stock, became chairman and chief executive officer. Phillips, who had brought Thornbrough to Toronto from the Ferguson tractor division a year before, promoted him to president with authority to overhaul the company.

Cash in the Till. Thornbrough temporarily shut down several U.S. plants, slashed prices of the company's products below cost to clear out inventories, get cash in the till quickly. He streamlined the company by merging the Ferguson and Massey-Harris distribution systems, which often competed with each other, into the new Massey-Ferguson Ltd. He put in tight inventory controls, raised salaries and bonuses of salesmen and branch managers to give them more incentive, brought in a crack young management team to push sales.

Massey-Ferguson is now working to acquire the tractor plant of England's Standard Motor Co. Ltd., and the diesel engine facilities of England's F. Perkins Ltd. The firm has expanded its operations in France, doubling its stockholdings in Standard-Hotchkiss, a French tractor maker, to 50%. But energetic Al Thornbrough still looks to the U.S. for the even bigger market that Massey-Ferguson must have before it can shuck all its troubles. He has purchased Mid-Western Industries of Wichita, Kans., a leader in the light industrial-equipment field, doubled the size of the Detroit tractor plant. Before long, he will announce a brand-new line of larger tractors designed especially for the U.S. market.

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