By meeting weekly quotas of 6,000 to 8,000 pieces of specialty holsters for military and quasi-military radio communication devices for Motorola Corp., Hague’s been able to perform what its fourth-generation predecessor, Chace Leather Products Inc., had hoped to do.

Motorola, a Fortune 100 company, “was willing to sit down and recognize the true cost of doing business. They gave us the pricing to allow us to recover,” said William Hague, a city native who took a chance with two Virginia partners a year ago when Chace was failing and looking to sell its company.

Hague, his partners and nephew Tim Coutu, who’s continued from Chace as general manager, negotiated a new contract in July with Motorola that pays 40 percent more.

The pact reflects the higher cost of leather and steel and the capability of the 47-person workforce — doubled from less than a year ago — to meet production and quality control expectations, said the co-owner.
They’re producing at least four times as many pieces for Motorola as they could last winter after Coutu convinced Hague the remnants of Chace were a worthwhile investment.

It didn’t hurt that a dozen extended members of Hague’s family, including his sister, had been working for the landmark textile manufacturer, founded by Leonard S. Chace in 1909, that could no longer fill its contracts and pay its bills.

Hague and his wife, Donna, were sharing a celebratory pizza lunch with workers on Friday, the day after the white and blue billboards first proclaimed “Hague Textiles” at the sprawling two-story mill plant at 507 Alden St.

“The (Hague) signs going up are really a significant landmark for us,” said Hague, who’s consulted for companies with military contracts since retiring in 2001 as a Marine lieutenant colonel with 27 years of service.
“It’s a sign,” he said, “that we’re really here for the long haul and as a new company.”

Ultimately, bad credit with suppliers, a 20,000-unit backlog to Motorola and layoffs converged to end Chace’s operations about six months ago, according to Hague and others.

Chace had manufactured Motorola units since 1980.

“Raise a frosty glass to our continued success,” said Coutu of Fall River, who’s worked at the company for 21 years, the past 16 as a manager.

He described the yearlong, uphill climb.

In recent months, the work force has caught up on its backlog to Motorola, producing more than 80 lines of holsters for radios and accessory items. At the same time, their delivery and quality control has been 100 percent, Coutu said.

“We’ve broken every record they’ve ever had, and every month my goal is to break it again,” Coutu said.
He said the company has expanded export of the Motorola line to two foreign countries — Israel for its army and Brazil — to go along with production to Germany and Malaysia.

Asked how they compete with cheap foreign competition, Hague and Coutu said a combination of high quality control and production offset Asian labor costs. Some military equipment contracts also require United States production, they said.

Investing what Hague estimated was $2 million for materials and supplies and about $250,000 for Chace’s manufacturing equipment, he said, the city and prior owner supported them.

It’s helped keep $9 to $13 an hour jobs in the city and add about 20 more workers since Hague first assumed limited operations. For several months, they’ve been meeting Motorola quotas.

Hague said the Fall River Office of Economic Development this summer gave the company a $125,000, low-interest loan. Meanwhile, Leonard S. Chace III, the former president, allowed Hague to pay the other 50 percent on installments to match equity on Chace’s FROED loan.

While Chace tried unsuccessfully to sell the firm to potential buyers since the fall of 2007, “they bent over backwards to keep jobs in the city,” Hague said, “once they recognized they were not coming back.”

Hague holds a long-term lease with Chace on the century-old mill building on 2 acres. He has an option to buy it, which is their goal.

Hague said they continue to have problems with suppliers because of the old company’s past credit problems. Some require up-front payments.

Bill Hague made a point of crediting Coutu. “Without Tim, this couldn’t have happened,” he said. “We relied heavily on him.”

On company hiring, he said, “As we expand our customer base and demand grows, we’ll hire more people.”
From what had become a desperate situation with workers being laid off, their health insurance impacted and some reportedly loaning funds to the former company, Hague also vowed, “As we recover our losses of the original start up and become financially stronger, everyone in the company will benefit.”

“We gave everyone a company vacation in July,” Coutu said.