In Europe, if you want to make a structural change, the walls and regulations are amazing. –Russell Lane

With the company well established in Europe, Atlas faced the challenge of expanding into China. "The textile business was moving to the Far East, and our manufacturing was in the U.S., Germany and the UK, three of the most expensive countries in the world," says Chuck, Bill’s younger son. "We were then shipping it around the world to Asia to compete against their own low-cost manufacturing. It was crazy." Atlas executives knew they could not compete in a marketplace as quickly evolving as China’s without a dedicated presence there. They began by broaching the idea to their Chinese representative, a division of a public company headquartered in the UK, which was establishing a new factory. "It was easy to set up a joint venture with them, as they were used to Western governance," Chuck says. "With [the partnership], we brought them an immediate line of products for their new production facility."

THE ATLAS family. From left: Gigi Lane Johnson, Russell Lane, Chuck Lane, Pam Lane and Bill Lane.

Atlas’ strategy in China has not been without problems. "Obviously, the positive is that it is inexpensive, and that is a challenge to our other facilities," notes Chuck, who moved to Hong Kong with his family to oversee operations. "When you want to get something done, it happens very fast. Labor is cheap, and once you give people direction, they have a can-do attitude." But Atlas’ executives sometimes struggle to understand this environment. "The Chinese mindset is very tough to deal with for Westerners," he adds. "It is even different from Hong Kong, and we are just learning to work with our Chinese managers. I understand that I’ll never totally understand their culture, and I can’t put an American culture into our Chinese division. I have local managers whom I can give direction to, and I let them use the local culture to get it implemented. If I were to say how it should be done, chances are it wouldn’t work."

ILLYCAFFE Challenge: Expand the company’s existing global reach by moving into countries where consumers do not yet fully appreciate the family’s core coffee products.

Atlas uses numerous prefabricated metal components, and at the Chinese plant, Chuck has wrestled with his vendors over quality-control issues. "We need to work on accountability through our supply chain," he explains. "It is sometimes tough to get someone who is willing to take responsibility and make a decision, so top management has to give a lot of direction and make many decisions."

Chuck often speaks with his father, sister and brother in Chicago. Atlas manufactures weathering division products in the United States and Germany, and the company may ponder moving more of that production to China. But the family will not gamble on that until they have resolved the quality-control issues and are more comfortable with their operation. Still, additional investment in Asia seems to be in Atlas’ long-term future if the company aims to become dominant in these lower-cost markets.

"Does this take away from what we are doing here? Perhaps," Bill admits. "Have we lost jobs for the U.S., the UK and Europe? Probably. On the other hand, we have increased our potential revenues because we have become more cost-competitive in our fastest-growing market, Asia. If we double sales–and we are on track to do that–we will make a significant shift in our bottom line, and that will create a stronger company, which should be good for the entire organization." –Dennis T. Jaffe

Andrea Illy, the third generation of family behind Illycaffè, sees his efforts to bring Italian espresso drinking to Asia as "sort of missionary work." With his Brioni suit and Bulgari cuff links, the understated 41-year-old looks more like a movie star than a missionary. But coffee has been something of a divine calling for the Illys since Andrea’s grandfather, Francesco, founded the company in Trieste in 1933 and became the first Italian coffee purveyor to sell his brand throughout the country.