About Rio Grande

Rio Grande is one of New Mexico's largest private employers, and has been a part of the business community of New Mexico since 1944. Founded by Saul Bell as a supplier of jewelry supplies to primarily Native American jewelry craftsmen, the company has grown to supply jewelers in every country though catalog sales, dealers and their own sales forces. Saul's sons Hugh, Eddie and Alan own the company, and together with four other board members run the team-based company through their example of teamwork. Rio Grande employs about 330 associates in a variety of business areas including manufacturing, product development, distribution, supply chain management and purchasing, sales and marketing. Manufacturing operations are very diverse, with everything from full sheet metal machining capabilities to precious metal casting and fine and electronic assembly. Sales operations encompass every type of sales organization; inside and outside sales forces, international dealer management, telephone-based customer service and sales, and walk-in sales for local customers. The marketing functions at Rio Grande are completely in-house, and include everything from an in-house photography studio to a high tech graphic arts environment that is one of the best in the Southwest. State-of-the-art technology is found throughout the company, including digital graphic controls for quality assurance and product management. Skillful use of technology gives Rio Grande an edge in their competitive markets, by enabling efficiencies that result in lower costs for customers. Superior information management also reduces the risks inherent to making strategic business decisions.

Rio Grande offers products and services through three brands: Rio Grande, Neutec/USA® and Sonic-Mill. Rio Grande and Neutec both serve the jewelry industry, while Sonic-Mill has evolved over time to serve the high tech ceramics industry. The Rio Grande brand distributes Bell Group manufactured products and products acquired from other vendors through three catalogs: Rio Grande Gems & Findings, Rio Grande Display & Packaging and Rio Grande Tools & Equipment. More than 30,000 products are sold through these three catalogs, and the jewelry industry recognizes Rio Grande as the most comprehensive provider of jewelry supplies in the world. Rio Grande's Neutec brand is the leading developer and manufacturer of induction casting equipment and supplies. Dealers have been established all over the globe to support growing worldwide demand for Neutec casting machines. The Sonic-Mill brand has developed highly proprietary technology for milling non-traditional materials. Rio Grande manufactures Sonic-Mill CNC mills for high technology applications, and offers non-traditional materials machining services through the Sonic-Mill contract shop.

Customer care and service are the basis of all activities and decisions at Rio Grande. It is part of the corporate culture to ask, "What must we do for the customer?" prior to making any strategic or tactical decision. Once the customer perspective has been clearly articulated and their needs identified, operational plans can be made to meet those needs.

The company also seeks to give back generously to the jewelry industry through support of educational institutions that train future jewelers, industry organizations such as JA®, MJSA, AGTA and SNAG. Rio Grande gives regular contributions to CERF to support jewelers and crafts people who have been touched by disaster. Through the Saul Bell Design Award they honor and reward jewelry designers with large amounts of prize money and extensive industry publicity via a juried contest. Rio Grande also hosts a highly interactive trade fair each February during the Tucson Gem & Mineral Show in Tucson, Arizona called Catalog In Motion. Catalog In Motion offers thousands of jewelers from around the world the opportunity to receive training and hands-on experience with the tools, equipment and techniques that professional jewelers use to practice their trade, and the Santa Fe Symposium brings together the top minds and latest technology in the jewelry industry to take jewelry design and production to its highest level.

Rio Grande operates in a highly evolved approach to participative management. The company is Principle based, rather than rule-based, with 15 principles serving as the foundation for all business and interpersonal decisions. Corporate hierarchy has been all but eliminated.There are only three levels: the Board of Directors, Business Coaches and Associates. All associates are aligned in functional or multi-functional teams of 5-8 people, and the teams do not have hierarchies. Business coaches are responsible for assisting teams in developing the management skills necessary to function as an effective business management unit. Sophisticated tools have been developed for the purpose of directing teams toward management sufficiency, and other tools, including the Balanced Scorecard, Lean Manufacturing principles and Theory of Constraints have been applied to ensure that the company is always in strategic alignment and always evolving.

The quality of life and work at Rio Grande is very high, and the company prides itself on its stimulating and collaborative environment. Turn-over is extremely low, benefits are excellent and the intellectual and creative challenges of running a rapidly growing and evolving company are available to associates in every function from warehouse workers to machine operators to telephone sales associates. Rio Grande offers comprehensive training programs that rival those of companies much larger, and invests heavily in associates at every level. In addition to training programs available in computer systems, communications, documentation skills, functional skills in every aspect of sales, warehousing, manufacturing and purchasing, interpersonal relationship skills and various business certification programs (APICS trainers are on staff), every associate in the company spends 2-3 days per year in a company retreat designed to reinforce the skills and attributes necessary for success in Rio Grande's participative management culture.

There is no doubt that Rio Grande is a highly rewarding place to work, a company of high ethical standards and a respected competitor within its industry. The competition for jobs within Rio Grande is high, and applicants are on the waiting list for many of the jobs within the organization, looking forward to the times when openings occur. In a world of unsteady economies and falling employee morale, Rio Grande has managed to grow steadily and healthily for 59 years, never suffering the damaging effects of recession even as companies around them struggled or failed. Their dedication to customer and employee satisfaction has made Rio Grande resilient and progressive. Their high quality associates-and willingness to invest in them-will insure their market dominance far into the future.