A gate company near me is a formal governance step in the project management process that decides whether or not a project should proceed. It’s like a checkpoint between phases or stages, and the project can’t pass to the next stage until it’s passed by the gatekeeper. Gate reviews have several benefits: they streamline planning; ensure that processes and tasks have been completed; manage risks; engage stakeholders; evaluate customer satisfaction; and increase stakeholder confidence. They also help keep projects on track and deliverables aligned with business strategy, goals and objectives. Periodic gate reviews are a best practice of the project management office (PMO), but many companies struggle to extract value from them. In this article, Gate Company’s CEO Greg Handler offers four best practices for improving the effectiveness of gate reviews.
In the early days of the company, Gates primarily produced leather belting for auto fans. In 1917, John Gates invented what would become the company’s signature product: the V belt. This revolutionary invention transformed the industry and ushered in an industrial revolution.
After the V belt’s success, Gates began expanding its production capacity and distribution network. By the end of the 1930s, the company had 2,500 employees and annual sales of $13 million, making it the sixth largest rubber company in the United States. The Great Depression, however, brought with it a severe economic downturn. Despite the recession, Gates remained profitable. In fact, it increased its focus on marketing and placed more representatives out in the field to drum up business.
By the late 1980s, Gates had expanded its operations into other industries. It created a power drive division by purchasing Spun Steel, Inc. and renaming it Gates Power Drive Products, Inc. The new division produced pulleys, idlers, tensioners and mounting brackets. The company also developed a chain-link production plant in Elizabethtown, Kentucky and purchased a metal sheave plant in Wichita, Kansas.
Gates also established a battery plant that manufactured nickel-based rechargeable batteries for handheld appliances. The company sold this business in 1993 to Eveready Battery Co. and focused its attention on expanding overseas.
In addition to overseas expansion, Gates invested heavily in domestic plants and acquisitions. The company opened a manufacturing facility in Rockford, Illinois; a plant in Sioux City, Iowa; a belt factory in Brantford, Ontario; and a metal sheave plant in Wichita, Kan.
Today, GATE is a global manufacturer of engineered power transmission and fluid power solutions. The company’s power transmission line includes elastomer drive belts that transfer motion across a variety of applications, and its fluid power line comprises high-pressure hoses used to convey hydraulic fluid under pressure in both mobile and stationary environments. Its customers include replacement channel and original equipment manufacturers. Its products are sold in over 100 countries around the world. Gates Industrial Corporation plc is headquartered in Los Angeles, California.