Zildjain is the world largest producer of cymbals (they control 50% of the market), and have become a legend in the music industry. Founded in 1623, they have never outsourced OR laid off an employee. The story of Zildjain is, quite literally, magical. And, well worth understanding.

The story begins as one of the sultan's alchemists who, like most of his counterparts, is attempting to turn base metal into gold.


In one of his experiments, he finds that an alloy of copper, tin, and silver has unique sound qualities, especially when used in cymbals. This magical alloy produces louder, clearer sound than any other cymbals. When the Sultan of Turkey is shown his work, the Alchemist is invited by the Sultan to live at court, manufacturing cymbals for the Sultan's elite Janissary Bands. In 1623, permission is granted to leave the palace and start a business outside of Constantinople.

Over the last 400 years, the Zildjain family business has been passed down through the family for fifteen generations, relocating to America in 1929, and settling into its current location in Norwell, MA for Zildjian's 350th Anniversary. Zildjain is the oldest family-owned business in America. Empires may have risen and fallen, and languages may have changed, but one thing that this Armenian-American business holds true in any language is that outsourcing is a No-No.

But this does not mean that Zildjain is merely a wonderful little story about a quaint manufacturer.

Zildjain is a highly progressive manufacturer who has captured more than 50% of a competitive international market, with only 125 workers. They not only sell traditional cymbals, they are leaders in digital products; yes, there are digital cymbals and Zildjain's made-in-America products are acknowledged as the best in the world. How has Zildjain managed this extraordinary streak of productivity (and profitability)? By being extraordinary managers. They have a production floor with 70 workers, and robots. Their equipment is state of the art. When a machine can do a better job, they buy the machine… AND retrain the workers to do a new job at the same pay… that returns value for the pay. One worker mentioned in a recent Today Show segment showed a worker that has been retrained seven times in the last 40 years. Absolutely brilliant, absolutely great management, and absolutely not the way that 90% of corporate America works.

Zildjain says they are interested in quality, and that’s how they manage their business. Workers get incentive pay for exceeding production quotas, but they also get incentive pay for doing their job well (i.e. not making flawed products). That’s not the way that most corporations pay. For example, there are a lot of law firms that pay rainmakers for bringing in accounts, but few firms base compensation for the quality of work number of errors per contract, efficiency of eDiscovery management, etc.). Few law firms have a system of metrics to even track errors and quality issues. At most, they get feedback from clients, especially clients who terminate the relationship because of a complaint.

If you are contemplating an outsourcing program, what can we learn from the history of Zildjain? Here are five lessons for you to consider:

QUALITY MATTERS: Zildjain’s main concern is quality. They are the extremely rate firm that truly follows the rues of quality, and every function performed within the firm is paid based on quality. Does that sound like your firm? Are you allowed by your HR department to make that absolute connection? Can you test, track and remediate every flaw? Are non-performers terminated immediately? Part of the Zildjain philosophy is that no one who performed is EVER fired. Why would you fire a good worker? A good worker is the most valuable and rarest resource! You can see that a policy of never firing and a policy of total commitment to quality can go hand in hand. Think about how closely quality and employment are linked in your firm, and if you even have control over terminations (especially in a down economy). Do you need to think of your firm as a two segments. One with difficult to find skills and one with commodity skills that is more aligned with outsourcing.

VALUE CHANGES: Zildjain BELIEVES in change. Nearly a century ago they discovered that they could change the thickness of cymbals to create a much wider range of products. Zildjain invests heavily in robotics, and is constantly on the look for ways to improve services. Their facility includes a pressure chamber that allows you to reproduce the sounds of any size room or hall. And they move seamlessly from physical to digital cymbals. Is your facility state of the art? For example, if you have any sort of a document editing facility: have you replaced keyboards with voice input; when did you automate copy-editing; can clients send you text as audio files rather than text in email? The state of the art is constantly changing. That change doesn't just mean adding new technologies, it also means constantly rebuilding your services and retraining your staff. If you do not have the focus or the resources to keep your services within the top 1% of the world, look at cloud services. Just as Zildjain buys robots, you need to buy automated services that can outperform what you are doing today.

RE-TRAIN: Never forget to train and retrain! Research has shown that total outsourcing, a program that outsources all work within a function (regardless of complexity or proprietary knowledge), is rarely the right solution. In knowledge work, the workers themselves are the repository of your business knowledge. You don’t want to lose that. If a worker is very good at one function, after retraining, they will probably be very good at another function. But to retrain, you need to plan ahead. When you start your outsourcing program, have you planned for training of staff? Even if you don’t have enough open positions for everyone, if you are transferring any individuals do you have the ability to re-train them? How will they fit into the new organization?

YOU CAN’T BEAT THE MACHINE: When a new technology or machine becomes available that will increase quality and reduce cost… buy it! Always! In the battle between man and machine, the machine wins. In manufacturing, the “machine” could be a robot or a manufacturing device. If you manage knowledge workers, the “machine” could be a faster computer or better printer, but it could also be a Cloud Service. Cloud Services can help with sales, sending out invoices, backing up your data, manage your expense forms, write your contracts, etc.

NOT EVERYONE CAN BE #1: Zildjain is the top firm in their field, with a dominant share of the market. Not every firm can be the best, but we can all be better than we are today. If you’re going to outsource, or automate, or re-engineer your operations to become better don’t just look at cost. Zildjain has lasted 400 years because they have balanced the needs of the customers, quality and cost. They make the best product, but there are other firms that sell the best low cost product or a niche product. Not everyone should (or can) be the best. Whatever the right combination of quality and cost for your operation, you have to know what your goals are in order to achieve them. Zildjain planned to become the best manufacturer of cymbals in the world, and they succeeded. What do you want your operations to be?

Maybe the biggest lesson from Zildjain is that it is possible to be the best in the world, to build your products in America, and still be likely to hold that position for another hundred years. You need to know what you want, invest in your most valuable resources and know how automation and outsourcing will get your where you’re going!