Finding new markets
By Staff -- Industrial Distribution, 4/1/1998
Omni Services was founded in 1976 as a hose and accessories distributorship -- but company leaders knew almost immediately that they would have to expand their horizons to succeed in the tough New England market. It didn't take long for them to realize that selling much-needed capital equipment to the plastics industry would be a way to do that.Plastics was Omni's niche industry when it began selling MRO products in the Leominster, Mass. area -- an area locals refer to as the plastics capital of the world. So when CEO Bob Mitchell and president Chuck Connors discovered that those customers could benefit from two key products -- an oil filtration cleaner and an energy-saving insulation product for injection molding machines -- they knew they were on to something.
Today, Mitchell's daughter, Karen Brandvold, heads up Omni Environmental Solutions. She took over in September 1994 and has grown the business into a successful division under the Omni umbrella. The company is a distinct and separate business for three main reasons, says Brandvold: First, it involves the sale of capital equipment. Second, the company has expanded its coverage to include New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. And third, the focus is on selling products that are good for the environment.
"The real goal is to have a different dimension to Omni Services,'' says Brandvold, who adds that Filtroil, a product that cleans the oil used in injection molding machines, reduces waste, and makes machines last longer and operate more efficiently. She adds that Insul-vest, a product that keeps the heat from leaving injection molding machines, reduces energy costs, keeps excess heat from going into the atmosphere, and acts as a safety device to keep workers from getting burned by the hot machine.
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