The Grass Is Greener

By conducting business in a non-traditional way, Chouinard created a company with a different outdoor style that makes $270 million in yearly revenues. This organization is among one of the first in America to provide onsite daycare, as well as both maternity and paternity leave, and flextime. Patagonia reuses materials, questions growth, ignores fashion, makes goods that last, and discontinues profitable products. With a laidback atmosphere for employees, its production is at full capacity. Mr.…

Even before Claussen began pushing his architectural vision, others were busy designing the inner workings of the plant. Jan Knau, an engineer, was only 27 when he was asked to come up with a flexible assembly line for the factory. Knau, then just a junior associate, contacted BMW’s top 15 assembly engineers. He invited them to a two-day workshop at a BMW retreat near the Austrian Alps. After a series of marathon sessions that included discussions of every facet of the ideal assembly line, Knau…