News

By Kimberly Griffiths

Industrial Distribution, January 2005

John Wiborg, president of Stellar Industrial Supply, says that his company philosophy is to be the premier industrial supply house in the Northwest. The Tacoma, Wash. -- based Stellar is already a major player in the area, and Wiborg strives to increase his company's breadth and reach every day. With six branches and one satellite office statewide offering more than 35,000 stocking items from more than 1,000 manufacturers, Stellar Industrial Supply is well on its way to achieving its goal.

"I've always considered us a get-it-done company," says Wiborg, whose distributorship offers products that stretch from power, hand and cutting tools to abrasives, janitorial and safety supplies. "I want our customers to be stunned with the services we can provide, and I want our suppliers happy with their sales. There's been a lot of doom and gloom over the last few years among our competitors. Through our humor and drive, we've kept our company up, and therefore the sales are up. We have one multimillion -- dollar supplier whose sales are up 29.6 percent over last year."

A national leader

Tim Shay is channel specialist in Seattle for 3M. He has worked with Stellar Industrial for about four-and-a-half years, and is one of the distributorship's biggest supporters.

"Stellar is our top distributor in the Pacific Northwest in both dollars and growth," says Shay. "They have made 3M the lead lines for all our products that they carry: tapes, adhesives, abrasives and safety supplies. In doing so, they are worth more than my time, but the engagement of our reps and their reps."

Shay goes on to say that of the programs and participation within the supplier's network, Stellar has become a national leader. That alone, says Shay, is the main motivation behind continuing a working relationship with the distributor.

"As a group, they are a fine team of distributor sales reps," says Shay. "They are eager to participate in all the programs, not just for their own gain, but also for the good of Stellar, and its continued growth."

Wiborg, says Shay, is the kind of distributor who will sit down with his vendor and have a strong, honest and candid relationship with his supplier, and that translates into productive conversations about markets and the issues within them.

"Our relationship will continue to grow," says Shay, "with trust."

From small to statewide

In 1988, Wiborg and a few partners funded a small general-line industrial supply distributorship. Having done some research on the industry, area and customer base, Wiborg found that the competition in the area was highly fragmented, and "comfortable," he says.

"We funded another small company, and worked to consolidate them," says Wiborg. "In 1990, I got into the daily management of the company as president. Through establishing new branches, and our mergers and acquisitions, we now have six full-service locations and a satellite facility."

While Stellar started out as a single-location general-line distributorship, the company has expanded its divisions and products, as well as its property holdings. Some expansions, such as abrasives, were the result of key acquisitions, and others were simply Wiborg and Stellar taking advantage of an opportunity. An expanded janitorial product area is an example of Wiborg taking on a line based on how the opportunity presented itself to him: customers were looking for ways to consolidate their supplier base, and Stellar was there.

A not-so-successful example is when Stellar bought a construction supply company in 1990.

"We picked up a new customer base, which was our aim," says Wiborg. "But serving sites is an entirely different animal, so we moved out of construction relatively quickly."

In 2001, Stellar established a separate safety supplies division. Although the company had already been selling some safety supplies, an intentional effort to bring in more sales, and the hiring of a general manager, laid the foundation for a stronger division. Specific marketing, a catalog, and inside and outside sales have solidified Stellar among the safety industry now.

"The math works out better for the customer to come to a general-line distributor rather than a specialty distributor," says Wiborg. "We offer purchase consolidation, a huge selection, and knowledge within the market. We are the largest privately held safety house in Washington."

Stellar Safety Supply is one of the fastest growing safety supply companies in the Northwest, and offers customers sourcing expertise; fit testing; eye protection surveys; plant audits for gloves, respirators, instrumentation and noise; and training seminars for confined space entry, fall protection, hand tool safety and personal protection equipment.

A true partner

"I don't throw this word around a lot, but Stellar has become a true partner," says Faith Jeffrey, indirect commodities leader for U.S. Marine Corp., a pleasure boat manufacturer.

U.S. Marine had a number of suppliers for different products. Stellar consolidated U.S. Marine's supplier base and became the company's integrated supplier, eliminating what Jeffrey calls, "too many purchase orders."

"Stellar has worked to improve our programs, bring in new products and reduce our costs," she says. "They've been a good, proactive supplier for us. And after a 17 to 20 year relationship, they continue to improve on that relationship."

Stellar's customers cover a broad range of industries, and include forestry, aerospace, marine, government, nuclear, refining, construction and utilities.

"You don't get the volume we get without being everywhere," says Wiborg.

Benefits this kind of penetration gives Stellar's customers include additional discounts from manufacturers due to their large volume and their involvement with the buying group Affiliated Distributors. Stellar has been an AD member for four years, and Wiborg says the organization has been especially helpful to them, offering seminars and providing some additional clout with suppliers.

Keep doing what it's doing

Stellar itself though, claims that while they are large enough to offer a full range of services customers expect from supply vendors, they are adaptable enough to customize every aspect of their supply arrangement.

In 2000, Wiborg and the sales staff at Stellar laid out a plan for company growth and a gain in their market share. They penetrated deeper into existing accounts, broadened their markets by going after new products, targeted accounts, and weakening their competitors.

Another channel that Stellar uses to keep in touch with its customers is the Internet. Stellar has about 15,000 products on its Web site right now.

"The site has full ordering capabilities, tracking, account review, and more," says Wiborg. "All the basic tools that our customers would need. Our customers tend to be interested in that technology, and for them, buying consumables does not need to be time-consuming. The Internet is perfect for that."

Aside from the Internet, Stellar has gained market share among the non-virtual markets, improving upon its 2003 sales numbers. The Stellar sales staff has executed a specific market-gaining approach, and boasts sales 15 percent higher than last year's.

"We planned for the hitch in the economy, and how we were going to capitalize on the rebound," says Wiborg. "We took the slowing down, a period where we would not get the double-digit growth, as an opportunity to work from within. We redid the computer services, and also rolled out a new management system -- all for the rebounding climate."

Other services offered by the distributorship include: free delivery, e-procurement, custom reports, special stocking, customer training, bar coding, custom billing, and custom packaging.

As for the future, Wiborg looks for Stellar to continue to establish its strong position in Washington -- essentially, to keep doing what it's doing.

"We'll continue to look for opportunities to expand geographically, via branches and acquisitions," says Wiborg. "Growing requires great efficiency, and we'll continue to develop those efficiencies. It's fun to be building something."

About Activant / Legal & Trademark Information

###

---

Prospective customers are encouraged to fill out and submit the convenient Activant Web Contact Form.

Back to Top