One of the questions you often hear asked is whether or not an independent family-owned distributorship can survive in today's industrial marketplace. National chains, alliances, buying/marketing groups and regional distributors are fighting for market share and squeezing many small, family-owned businesses.

But as our cover story (p. 30) shows, a well-run family-owned company can survive — and even prosper — despite those threats. Transply is a power transmission distributorship founded in 1972 by two brothers, Dean and Ray Gross. These men followed their dream and, armed with $8,000 in cash and a $5,000 bank loan, opened their company in a converted chicken coop in the tiny town of Dillsburg, Pa.

If there were ever a model of the family-owned company, Transply is it. In its infancy, the company employed many members of the Gross family. Other employees were added as the company grew, and Transply hired relatives of those workers. Soon there were Transply husband-and-wife work teams.

"We really are a family, even though many of the employees aren't related to us," says Dean. The company philosophy was simple: if one family member was a good worker, chances are other members of that family would be good workers. The strategy paid off. We first visited the Grosses in 1988 when Transply had some $9 million in sales. Through selective acquisitions and a strong customer focus, Transply's sales have reached nearly $20 million. Their business is now run out of gleaming new headquarters in York, Pa.

It's a testament to these brothers that they built and expanded their business to such proportions. Today, they have a succession plan in place to ensure the future of the company, not only for their family, but also for their employees.

Family-owned companies are still prevalent in the distribution business. Despite the growth of the mega-chains, about 77 percent of respondents to Industrial Distribution's 56th Annual Survey of Distributor Operations identified themselves as working for a family-owned enterprise. Many of these companies have been in business for more than 40 years, according to our survey.

These distributors have succeeded despite the myriad problems associated with running a family-owned business. Like Transply, we hope they're around for many future generations.