North or South, East or West…
Eastway Supplies performs with the best!
BY JOHN MARTIN
PVF industry veteran
Happy New Year everyone, and welcome back to “Martin’s Corner.” It is great to have you all visiting the pages of The Wholesaler looking for industry news and items of interest, checking in this New Year for ideas and opportunities to help your business grow for the future. Nothing wrong with that at all.
Just think about it...this is the year of our Lord 2011! As you get older, turning that page every December 31st to yet another calendar of life is pretty self-satisfying, to say the least. Having a job today in this great industry of ours is a wonderful way to say thanks for having that opportunity. For me, it is a pure blessing, just like it is to have the privilege to write these articles and to be free to state my opinions on industry matters. As I tell Tom Brown and Mary Jo Martin all the time, ”I work pretty cheap, so thanks for allowing me to speak my piece!” They have not stopped me yet, and I appreciate it.
You know, for the past three months or so I have brought you the success stories of some strong independent wholesalers around the country — the history of their companies and the markets they serve. Their strong survival in our changing economy is very interesting to me, and is such a testimony (in my mind) to the statement of “Be sure you are right, THEN GO AHEAD!” Most of these companies have found a niche market or two to get them through tough times — and make them even stronger in the good times. Isn’t that a novel idea, huh?
I have enjoyed the process so much, I have decided to keep it up for at least few months into 2011 to share with you all several more good solid companies that should have their pictures in the dictionary right alongside the definition of “Strong Independent Wholesaler,” know what I mean? As an example, this month I want to focus on a company that was started from scratch in 1971 by a guy who loved airplanes! Yes, airplanes! This fellow had kinfolks in the area who were plumbers. I see a plan developing here don’t you? Let’s get into a bit more. Even though he started up the business building modular units for construction sites, it was finally realized that the plumbing supply route was most likely the best way to go. Enough of my playing around with words...ladies and gentlemen, give a warm reader’s welcome to Mr. Gary Glanzman, president & CEO of Eastway Supplies in Columbus, Ohio!
As I stated, the company was founded in 1971 by Mr. A.J. “Bud” Glanzman (Gary’s father) and is still headquartered in Columbus. Bud was a North American/Rockwell person making military airplanes. (Now, do you see the love for airplanes connection that I mentioned earlier?) He took early retirement right after the Vietnam war to indeed start the company. Gary started with him as he came out of high school! (I love stories like this!) Without any further delay, here’s the story of Eastway.
Martin: Good morning, Gary. What a great way to start the new year. Writing about a great success story such as your company is really a pleasure for me, and I am hoping that telling the story again is a pretty good feeling for you also. Thanks so much for taking the time to share this with the readers of The Wholesaler for their first edition of 2011!
Glanzman: Thanks, John. All of us here at Eastway consider it a great way to start the year also. We have had a great run here just building on what my dad focused on when he started the company. As I have already shared with you, my father founded the company in 1971 from scratch. He was first in the building/supply of modular construction units, then quickly focused on plumbing supplies for contractors and home builders.
Martin: Well, from “Glanzman” to Eastway Supplies, that is quite a change. How did that happen, and how did the company name originate?
Glanzman: Good question, and a simple one to answer really. We were and are currently located on the east side of town. Eastway Units was the name of the modular business he started for the same reason, and when he went the plumbing supplies route, the name just stuck. My father did not really want to identify with the words plumbing supply in the name, as he felt that might box us in later in life should we want to expand into other market segments. Eastway Supplies seemed to be good then, and it is still true today. We like it!
Martin: With that thought process about “expanding,” what are the markets that Eastway Supplies caters to today?
Glanzman: With my dad starting Eastway and my getting out of high school the same year and joining him, when I reference “we” I certainly mean his vision and leadership in the early years and my working right alongside of him to learn. We started in residential plumbing supplies with some heating supplies. Our cousin was a pretty good-sized plumbing contractor in the area when we started, so we had some darn good built-in business. In fact, he was our largest customer for many of the start-up years, then after we really got our feet on the ground, we have never had to look back.
With my dad’s first love being airplanes, and mine apparently being plumbing, I decided to take a shot at slugging my way through college on a part-time basis at Ohio State to learn more about business. I did that, and finished my education up at Columbus State Community College. They had some classes there for wholesalers and distributors in general. I liked that a lot! While most of the class would show blank stares at the instructors when they talked about “chain discounts,” I would dazzle them with the knowledge I had about buying copper, like the price was list and discounted at 50% and 8/5’s, OR a .3317 multiplier. They were amazed! I’d say my education was not classical, just practical!
Anyway, back to market segments. We were mainly residential plumbing with a run at some heating volume a couple times, but never got a lot of traction. We did add commercial plumbing pretty quick, which worked out well. We stayed pretty close to central Ohio all along, but would and will follow our good customers wherever they have work for us. By the end of the 70s we were about 70% residential and 30% commercial. During the 1970s we did have a major partnership with Cardinal Industries (manufactured housing) when that was a booming business. It was a million-dollar account during the peak of that type home market, but is all gone now. It gave us a big boost when we needed it. We remained a supply company that was dedicated to high volume residential as our “sweet spot” until the year 2000 rolled around.
Martin: Thanks Gary. Really great to hear you talk about your company. You have great passion for it, my friend. Congrats on that. Now, how about a current snapshot of the company today, your key people, number of employees, etc?
Glanzman: You know John, some people like to build new facility locations, etc., and that is fine. Having said that, we still invest and re-invest in the same eight-acre site that my father started with. We have an 80,000-square-foot warehouse of mixed space use. We have managed to heat over two-thirds of the space. It is very useable for our needs. We also have a great pipe storage building complete with crane. Handling pipe is key to contractor service, especially on the commercial PVF side of the business. We have 40 full-time employees. We have our own fleet of trucks and currently service about a 75-mile radius of Columbus as a rule. Our business is now about 35% residential, 50% commercial/PVF, and 15% other.
A key point here: in 1997 our business was almost 90% residential and only about 10% commercial. Not good! That year, I hired John Edwards from a major competitor to help us systematically forge our way into the PVF/commercial side of the business. Call it good timing, good luck, or whatever you want, but getting John at that time in our business life proved to be really good. The progress we made was outstanding. Today John is our COO, my daughter Vanessa is in charge of our HR department, and my son Mike leads our continued residential efforts. While Mike constantly complains about “having to be the guy in charge of residential during a housing collapse,” he has been with us for almost 20 years! I think we will keep him! We also have our own in-house CPA. In a single statement about our management staff: “I feel we are positioned to take advantage of any market uptick that is coming!”
Martin: Gary, is strategic planning important for companies like Eastway?
Glanzman: Thanks a lot for asking that, John. In 1990 I put together a strategic planning team of employees and created an outside board of advisors. In 1994 we began a culture-building process called “Architects of Change.” We have stuck with that management concept ever since. Some day on another visit I’ll share the outline of our “Architects of Change” concept with you. We have built the foundation of our business on this concept along with what my father gave me years ago in good solid sound business advise. If you don’t have strategic planning in good times and bad, good things are not (most likely) going to happen!
Martin: Any special events etc., that you do routinely or special projects that you guys have been involved that are a particular source of pride for you and the company?
Glanzman: Many, my friend. First of all, I’ll tell you a story about my dad and a special event. In 1996 we were going to dedicate our first new building since 1982. My wife Donna put together a surprise roast for my dad with some 300 customers present! It was the best party I have ever seen. We had it in the warehouse and I’ll tell ya, my dad cried! The customers were so happy with the recognition for him!
We are proud of our work and participation in the Nationwide Children’s Hospital job, the Battelle Memorial Institute, The Ohio State University, Roxanne Labs, and Riverside Hospital. Ohio State is breaking ground right now on a billion-dollar hospital that we hope to participate in. The Blue Jackets Hockey Arena is surrounded by mega millions of dollars of work by Nationwide Insurance. A new 600-room Hilton is going in at the downtown convention center and one of our best contractors is going to do that. Last but not least, John, they are building a new $400-million casino just for you on the old site of the General Motors Delphi plant! [Author’s note: The first time I met Gary was playing slot machines years ago in Joliet, Ill. at a meeting.....Yes a meeting!]
Martin: Great story about your dad! Wonderful project history also in your local market. I wish you much luck on the big work coming up also. Please don’t forget your favorite vendors when time comes okay? I’m especially interested in that former General Motors Delphi plant site, know what I mean!
Now Gary, have you and John had to change the focus of Eastway lately or do some things differently during this ongoing economic slump? Other than the work described above, what does the economic picture in your area look like currently?
Glanzman: Thanks for those interesting comments, and now to the very good question at hand. It seems that our commercial customers are looking to us to help them with specification and engineering for their special needs. That is where we really try to partner with the best reps and vendors. We feel if we truly can stay “in the middle” we have a better-than- average chance of securing the order.
In these days we really stress and promote excellent customer service which includes strong inventory support, great inside sales support, and simply stated, just finding ways to say “YES” to the customer. We try to supply labor-saving products anytime we can to support the contractors’ total cost of getting the job done — even though we have the commercial work coming that was outlined earlier, our housing and multi-family business will remain slow to hard to find for the near future.
We do have a few multi-family projects that are being built out, but we don’t see the single homes market being a part of the recovery. We really peaked in that market in 2003 about three years ahead of the rest of the country. As an example, our biggest builder right here in Columbus is bracing for another drop in 2011.
One more bright spot for PVF is that we do have a small refinery here in Columbus for recycled oil. Can you believe that? When built, it was about a million-dollar job for us. We are also home to Net Jets (private business aircraft!) They, too, are doing a rather large expansion. Should get me one I suppose! Just kidding!
Martin: Okay Gary. Just two or three more questions, I promise. First, have your customer’s expectations changed over the years, and how has your company adapted to these changes?
Glanzman: One thing for sure, John, and that is that customers seem to rely on us more for pricing updates, technical back up, material storage, etc. Our larger customer base is taking projects in farther reaching areas from our location than ever before, and they expect us to provide for them as usual. So in the spirit of customer relations, we do just that. Big change in our normal operating procedures, but thanks to John Edwards, our director of PVF Scott Plinke, and our great team of people, we make it happen!
Martin: That’s a fair assessment, I believe, Gary. What about the several marketing/buying groups that are out there today for independent wholesalers? Does Eastway participate in any of them, and if so, can you give the readers a couple comments about the relationship with the group?
Glanzman: Yes we certainly are. Our history with buying group tactics goes back to the mid 1970s early 1980s with a now defunct group called Interco. It was a high-flying group in its day, and as we came out of the double-dip recession from 1980–1982, we nearly tripled our revenue in five years. We were even honored as Interco’s Wholesaler of the Year in 1984. I was on cloud nine, then it all came crashing down (Interco) in 1989 due to top-side management issues. We did some deals on our own after that, but it never was the same. In 1997, we became part of the C.L. Watt long-standing and well-respected group, and then shortly after that, C.L. Watt morphed into Affiliated Distributors.
We strongly support both the plumbing and PVF Division of A-D and send delegates to all the company meetings. It is a great group, and we find that all the vendors to A-D are committed to partnering with us from a planning process to the sale — and then are eager to do it again. I am proud to say that Eastway Supplies was honored as Affiliate of the Year for A-D in 2002!
Martin: Thanks for the run down on your company’s history. Looks like you have found a home here with
A-D. Now, would you take a moment and tell us about any special activities or events that you sponsor to help build customer and vendor loyalty and relationships?
Glanzman: Sure. We do an annual vendor summit as part of our A-D commitment to our key vendors. This is a process that allows a day for our vendors to set one on one with our key folks and actually plan out market share growth plans for the coming year. We want our vendors to feel special about Eastway Supplies. This really is a good process. The vendors like it also. We also hold in-house customer training seminars, strategic vendor & customer trips, sports tickets for customers, annual golf outing, and periodic counter day cook outs. All are well worth the time and effort, and they promote better relationships.
Martin: Gary, what about your total leadership team and philosophy? Can you give me a thumbnail run-down for this area of Eastway?
Glanzman: With pleasure. As president and CEO of the company, I maintain enough connection in the day to day business to make sure of three things:
1. COO John Edwards and our associates do all the heavy lifting. It is my job to make sure that the company stays relevant to the marketplace.
2. To give my children (Vanessa and Mike) and all the troops here at Eastway a chance to keep it going another round, know what I mean? Every generation must bring something special to make that happen. That has always been our goal.
3. To assure that my golf handicap does not go above “5” very often!
You see, as long as I don’t take on the title of chairman, then I can still say I work here, one way or the other!
We actually did monthly meetings from about 1994 to 2007 with all employees tied to performance goals set within the “Architects of Change” program. With the economy like it is, we have lately cut the planned meetings to about six per year currently. This helps us all continue to pull together for the common cause of customer service yet profitable. I am also a long-standing member of the NCWA board (local ASA chapter). It allows me to stay in touch with all my peers in the area and attend functions together. We hosted a wholesaler/vendor tour of our facility back in October of 2008 on behalf of NCWA and promoting relationships .It was really successful. About 40 different companies toured our place, and we were so proud!
Martin: Very well said, my friend. Very well indeed! Now, final question: With so much competition in the marketplace today, how does your company attempt to differentiate itself from so many national companies with multiple locations, local and regional independents?
Glanzman: We simply emphasize extraordinary customer service, every time, all the time. We offer same-day service most of the time for a customers needs. We leverage our long-standing relationships every time we can. We use the great marketing benefits that we receive by being part of Affiliated Distributors. We promote and cultivate strategic customer and vendor relationships. We are proactive to adding new products that have need in the marketplace. We react quickly and are very “nimble” in a very competitive arena. We cross-train many of our employees to be able to cover all areas at all time. In a nutshell, we want our customers to see us as a true supply house for all their needs. We strive to have what they need “today” not “tomorrow” due to strained local inventories or distribution center inventories from other parts of the country. We are here to stay!
Martin: Gary, we are out of time and space! Thanks so very much for your outstanding input on your company and the industry and marketplace that it serves. The industry appreciates the chance to get to know Eastway Supplies a little better, and I personally appreciate the time to be with you and prepare this story. You’re the best, Pal.
Well readers, there you have it. From airplanes to potties, you might say! Eastway has forged a nice business over the past 40 years or so, and it sure appears that Mr. A.J. “Bud” Glanzman put his company into mighty good hands with Gary Glanzman, his children Vanessa & Mike, John Edwards, and all the employees that have come along over the years.
It’s time to close another edition of “Martin’s Corner,” so for now I’ll say I’m sure hoping that all of you and our great industry experience great things in 2011. Blessings to you all, and I’ll see ya next time!
— John.
Born Johnney E Martin in Venus, Texas in 1944, he is one of nine children raised 100% on a cotton and grain farm that his father share-cropped. After high school, Martin went into the Army and then Reserves. From there he joined what was then Grinnell Co. in 1968 and has been with them every day of his life since then through four different owners, now Anvil International, A Unit Of Mueller Water Products. He currently serves as vice president of national account sales for the Anvil Mechanical Unit. Holding various sales and management positions for the company over the years, Martin has received numerous industry and association awards and has been involved with industry education foundation boards, and the Board of Directors of both asa and mcaa. Martin currently resides in Castle Rock, Colo., with his wife Kathy of 27 years; they have a daughter Kayla who is 25 years old. He is committed to staying involved in the plumbing and pvf industry (which he loves) for many years to come.