Was it Plato who said “Necessity is the mother of invention?” Or Frank Zappa? Regardless, a literal case in point of the adage in action was the founding of Upstate Case Manufacturing Company in 1991. “I had a regional lighting company with a partner and we needed cases,” said founder Bill Whittaker, “so we just started making them. I’d worked in the entertainment industry for 20 years in lighting, including a stint as Kenny Chesney’s lighting director, and used my connections and my history with the industry to build the client base. I kept doing lighting for about 11 more years while building the case company, working on it whenever I came off the road.”
Based in Upstate NY
He came off the road for good in 2002 to devote 100 percent of his time to the company, which he’d located in Utica, NY, because he’d been born and raised in the area. “I always had a good knowledge base of woodworking and mechanics and spatial relationships, so the original challenges were small,” Whittaker recalled. “But as time has progressed, the technology of tooling to streamline production and the involvement of computers has greatly changed the manufacturing process and actually made it more of a challenge.”
Upstate Case now turns out about 600 cases per year, and Whittaker estimates the company has sold about 20,000 of all sizes and purposes since it began. Upstate Cases’ clients have come from every sector of industry and commerce. The entertainment industry is an obvious customer, with its need to safely transport lighting, stages and instruments. Professional sports teams, including the Tennessee Titans (football) and the Nashville Predators (hockey) get their gear from game to game with Upstate cases. Many companies use the company for storing and shipping their trade show displays. The health care industry transports sensitive medical devices in the cases, while defense contractors and the Department of Homeland Security use them for…well, we can’t say. Another secret use of the cases is by the magician Leon Etienne, who employs them in his act.
Says Whittaker, “We’ve had requests for cases that are four-inch cubes up to large enough for an adult to stand in. There’s a lot of variation. We’ve done simple boxes and work boxes that are full of intricate details, like drawers and dividers and compartments, even built-in coffee pots. We offer a line of plastic cases called Flambeau that are water resistant.”
Generally, the cases are made from plywood substrate, then laminated with ABS plastic in a choice of 12 colors. “The customer first sends me a drawing or explicit instructions about what they’ll be putting in the case,” he explains. “I do a CAD drawing based on that, get their sign-off on the design, and it goes into production. Depending on quantity, our turnaround time is about two weeks.” Order sizes vary — perhaps 20 or 30 cases or, on occasion, local musicians or videographers might just need just a single case for their equipment. “While we do a lot of custom work, we also tend to target customers who will return with the same design request time after time,” Whittaker notes.
Lightweight Motor Boxes
In another example of need inspiring innovation, Upstate Cases developed a case that has become a standard for rigging companies all over the U.S., including Mountain Productions, Applied Electronics and Stagemaker. Called the Flylite Case, it is an off-the-shelf product for motorized hoists and chains. Whittaker says they are the lightest chain hoist cases in the entertainment industry.
“These grew out of a need that one of our clients, a big motor distributor, had for cases,” Whittaker explains. “They weren’t happy with the product they had, because the conventional wisdom for motor cases was to build wooden cradles within the cases for the motors to rest on. As those cases traveled down the road from show to show, vibration got into the motors and things would loosen up and basically fall apart. I came up with the idea of using foam suspension as opposed to the wooden suspension to prevent the vibration of the truck or plane from transferring to the motor. That was a big success, and as far as I know, we are the only ones doing it.”
Upstate has produced 2,500 of the motor boxes so far. They’re constructed with a corrugated substrate with a plastic laminate, making them 30 percent lighter than the conventional plywood box, which reduces shipping costs. The cases come complete with heavy duty four-inch 600-pound polyurethane casters and stacking cups that customers can use to stack up to four units fully loaded with hoists, chain bags and chain. The Flylite single and triple half-ton hoist cases have separate chain compartments that can easily accommodate 125 feet of chain.
Surviving the Recession
Upstate Cases has been experiencing an average of about 20 percent growth per year, with the exception of 2008, when the recession struck. “That was pretty dramatic,” said Whittaker, “but even then, after about a year, we fell back into the groove.”
The company’s customers seem pleased as well. “All in all, it’s been a very positive relationship,” says Jon Lenard, manager of the electronics division at Applied Electronics. “Bill approached us about five years ago with some great ideas, the great Flylite products and great pricing. We gave him a couple of orders to start and he turned those around very quickly, with high-quality, well-built cases for rigging gear. He has always been extremely responsive to orders that come up suddenly with tight deadlines, and he always has a solution for us.”
Upstate may see a new state in 2014, as the firm is looking into the possibility of opening a facility in Nashville. The location offers better national shipping logistics and is a thriving entertainment hub. Says Whittaker, “I used to live in Nashville and still have many friends in the industry there, so we think it would be a good fit.”
Focus on the Customer
Explaining his company’s success, Whittaker says, “We’ve been in business since 1991 and have grown and prospered. I attribute that to hard work, strong customer service and a lot of great clients. We tend to bend over backwards to meet demands. People come to us because their original vendor couldn’t fulfill the project, and we find a way to get it done. Anything that anybody comes to us with, whether it’s big, small or needs to travel by truck or by plane, we can provide a case product that will work for them.”
For more information, visit www.upstatecase.com.
