Grabner: Visit Leaves Lifetime Impression

John Wolz

Jeff Grabner answered a phone call on Friday, January 9, from the “presidential transition team.” For 20 minutes he answered questions and told how Cardinal manufactures fasteners for wind turbines.

Grabner, the Cardinal sales manager in charge of wind power fasteners, did learn during the “out of the blue” call that Cardinal had been recommended to the presidential transition team by the American Wind Energy Association.

Grabner wasn’t told the call was about the president-elect actually visiting the Cardinal plant. But in the next few days he became aware that the phone conversation was a precursor.

President-elect Barack Obama was to take a symbolic, campaign-style train trip from his home in Chicago to his inauguration in Washington DC. The train would logically stop in Cleveland. And among Cardinal’s products are fasteners for wind turbines.

On Wednesday afternoon, January 14, Cardinal received a call that Obama was indeed going to visit in less than 48 hours.

“Then everything started happening. It was all so fast,” Grabner reflected. “The Secret Service came in conducting intense background checks and checking every detail.”

Friday morning prior to Obama’s noon visit, everyone entering had to be screened by the Secret Service.

Each Cardinal employee was allowed one guest. Sixteen wind energy executives flew on 24-hour notice to be at Cardinal for the visit. Fastenal CEO Will Oberton attended the event.

Grabner’s grandfather – retired Lamson & Sessions CEO and the 1976-77 chair of the Industrial Fasteners Institute, George J. Grabner – also made the guest list, which totaled 150 people in the Cardinal plant in the Bedford Heights suburb of Cleveland.

Before conducting the plant tour, Cardinal president John Grabner Jeff’s father found himself in a temporary holding room “talking stuff” with just Obama and Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland.

John Grabner found Obama to be “very personable and impressive.”

Employees operated four of its heading cells a M42, one-inch diameter sockets and 2 1/2 inch diameter 28″ length hex head bolt plus one bolt threader for Obama to observe.

Cardinal hired a photographer who took more than 400 photos, including a group picture. As Obama shook hands with each Cardinal employee the photographer snapped as many photos as he could.

Except for the handshaking, the Secret Service enforced rules keeping individuals a distance from the president-elect. “You couldn’t get too close,” Grabner pointed out.

“In my opinion he is a very open person with a calm attitude. He is willing to support green energy business,” Grabner reflected on watching Obama at Cardinal. “He is friendly, down-to-earth.”

The excitement of a presidential visit will be an “impression I will remember my whole lifetime,” the 26-year-old remarked.

“The best part is that he is supporting American business,” Grabner said in noting that in addition to manufacturing in Ohio, Cardinal uses domestic steel. “These fasteners hold turbines around the world.”

Grabner said he didn’t really pay attention to presidential politics during the campaign.

Grabner is delighted Obama will be offering stimulus for green energy programs. It is more than just about wind turbine bolts, he commented. “From steel production to the testing company everyone benefits from it.”

The presidential visit effectively cost Cardinal Fastener two and a half days of lost production, but Grabner was not complaining. Workers were busy making up lost time over the weekend.

Grabner went to work for Cardinal in October 2006 and the presidential tour has already given him a “unique, unique opportunity and experience.”

By Monday Cardinal had photographs and articles on its website CardinalFastener.com with a link to tour footage on YouTube. Expect to see Cardinal’s marketing to feature the visit. “You know what our Christmas card for 2009 will be,” Grabner predicted. ©2009 FastenerNews.com