Successful Schizophrenia

At 9 a.m. each weekday, two Cadillacs purr up to the front and rear doors of the modern, lawn-surrounded factory of the Kaynar Corp. in Los Angeles. Brainy, lightly muscled Kenneth Reiner. 43, Kaynar's president, gets out at the rear door. Brawny (5 ft. 8 in.. 165 Ibs.), outgoing Frank Klaus, 44, vice president and treasurer, gets out at the front. Each is careful not to meet the other.

Klaus and Reiner work in separate offices, purposely isolated at opposite ends of the sprawling (100,000 sq. ft.) factory, have no intercoms, do not consult with each other on the telephone, rarely mix socially. Yet their purposefully separated management has driven Kaynar in 16 years from a two-man shop to the world's largest manufacturer of an unlikely combination of products: self-locking aircraft nuts and women's hairclips. Last week, with sales humming on four continents at the rate of $15 million yearly, Kaynar opened a new plant in France to take advantage of the low-tariff common market.

"Grievous Suffering." When they first met on the Purdue University campus, Students Reiner and Klaus haggled over the price of a secondhand psychology textbook that Reiner wanted to sell. Says Klaus: "The argument was academic. I didn't have any money." Klaus and Reiner soon found a source. After Minneapolis-Honeywell offered Reiner a postgraduation job--and then withdrew the offer--they drove to Minneapolis, badgered the company into a cash settlement on grounds of "inconvenience and grievous mental suffering." They headed for California, opened a candy business that folded when World War II came along.

With the remains of their candy cash, they rented a small, windowless garage in downtown Los Angeles, started the Kaynar Corp. in 1943 on the strength of an order for bolt retainers from Ryan Aeronautical Co. They picked up machinery at auctions, set up a profitable, 24-hour operation, spelling each other at the machines. When war's end grounded the aircraft nut-and-bolt business, Engineer Reiner invented the Lady Ellen Klip-pie, an improved woman's hairclip that has captured 90% of the market. Later, he invented the Kaylock nut, a self-locking aircraft nut so light that it reduced the B-52's weight by 600 Ibs., is now used by 90% of U.S. aircraft makers.

Brains & Money. Though the growing company needed Reiner's inventive genius and Klaus's gift for selling, the partners haggled constantly about how to run the business. ''All of a sudden," says Klaus, "we found we couldn't afford that luxury. What we needed was action, not conversation." They split management duties down the middle, isolated themselves from each other except for a Monday dinner, at which they make all corporate decisions. Says Klaus: "Ken Reiner's the brains of this outfit. As for me, I figure if you don't have brains, there's only one thing left--make money."

The company's success has enabled its two unlikely partners to go their separate ways in style. Klaus, the son of former (1913) World Middleweight Boxing Champion Frank Klaus, spends his leisure hours water skiing and practicing ballet with his wife and two daughters (his two sons prefer other sports). Reiner likes to battle constituted authority, from the Defense Department to the Los Angeles city fathers. He employs a full staff of lawyers to aid him in his causes. His pet project: because he deplores the state of education in public schools, he recently spent $300,000 to build a private elementary school for his own and his neighbors' children.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.