By Bransom “Rocky” Bean

Diesel engines were different in 1956 when RPM Diesel Engine Company first opened its doors on State Road 84 with three employees.

So was Ft. Lauderdale. Still a stepson to a sizzling Miami made popular by the hottest movie stars of the day, Ft. Lauderdale of 1956 was just entering its first residential building boom.

Just about everything has changed for RPM in these 50 years of business – the customers, the vendors and even the engines themselves. One thing that has remained constant – or nearly so – is the people in the family-run company.

Joe Rubano, the company’s chairman of the board, has been the face on the company in recent years. He joined the company in 1960. (By the way, RPM doesn’t refer to the number of revs on a tachometer; it stands for the initials of founders Reynolds, Paulie and Mulligan, Rubano’s brother-in-law.)

As Rubano walks through the RPM Diesel of 2006, it’s hard for him to hide his pride.

“Frankly I don’t see how some people stay in business,” he said. “They seem to have such a no-can-do attitude. Good service is what we’re all about.”

RPM literally sparkles with not a fleck of rust or a swirl of metal shavings. Of course, besides water, dirt is the biggest enemy of those unforgiving clearances in an injection pump.

“Between my time in the U.S. Navy and working on aircraft engines at Pan Am, I guess I’m a bit of a clean-nut,” Rubano said. “I want the place to look like a fire house.”

Everything is in its place, even on the desks of the smiling administrative staff. The walls are covered with the professional certificates of employees.

“Actually they are skilled technicians, not mechanics,” Rubano said. “We sell craftsmanship; people are our most valuable asset.”

In the increasingly complex technical world of diesel engines, Rubano said technical competence is only the starting point. It’s the company’s employees and the service they offer that has kept the company running for 50 years.

“There are bigger outfits, but I trust RPM implicitly,” said Gene Fittery, engineer on the 158-foot Feadship M/Y Highlander. “They go the extra mile and drop what they’re doing to help.”

Fittery gives RPM much of the credit for Highlander’s almost perfect record for availability.

“In my 14 years, we missed only one day, and that was because we didn’t have a part,” he said. “Once I needed a part RPM didn’t have; they found it in Jacksonville, arranged shipment and I had it in a day.”

The key to RPM’s strong customer service is being a one-stop diesel shop. RPM has a complete fuel injection and turbocharger repair facility, plus state-of-the-art engine overhaul and repair capability while stocking almost 70,000 parts.

“If we don’t have it we get it,” Rubano said.

RPM is an authorized dealer for MTU-Detroit Diesel and Volvo Penta marine engines as well as Westerbeke, Northern Lights and Kohler gen-sets. RPM is also an authorized dealer for all diesel fuel injection systems.

“Big yachts are actually easier to work with,” said Bill Bickart, RPM’s service coordinator, who has been with the company for 10 years. “They set up their maintenance well in advance so we can schedule the parts to be on the pier when they arrive.

“There’s nothing worse than holding up a job because you don’t have a 20-cent part,” he said.

As times have changed, Bickart has seen engine technology change along with it. The cams are gone and with common rail, electronics have taken over even the simplest diesel.

“You wouldn’t believe how many calls we get now as a result of lightning strikes,” he said.

Not surprisingly, fuel is changing too. ULSD (Ultra Low Sulphur Diesel) is all the rage with the environmental agencies, removing the sulphur and with it the lubricity. “So RPM sells increasing amounts of additives, and repairs those injection systems that don’t use them,” said Todd Marnes, the company’s fuel injection manager.

RPM is a happy ship itself. Still run as a family business, the RPM family extends to the staff and their families as well.

“I personally telephone everyone on their birthdays and anniversaries,” Rubano said. “It’s no surprise that there’s a big Christmas party, I suppose, but in April, the company gets together for a special awards dinner.”

Dinner this year not only celebrated 15- and 20-year employees, but also 50 years in business.

Bransom “Rocky” Bean is a yachting industry business consultant and ocean sailor. Contact him at bbean@the-triton.com.

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