Not willing to rest on the first generation's laurels, the family that runs IPM Hose & Fittings holds itself to high standards.

For Hisham El Sherif, a Madvac Inc. product without hydraulics would be like a house without electrical wires. Like the homeowner in need of a switch or plug would be out of luck in a wireless home, a Madvac mobile vacuum litter collector would never be able to suck up glass, bottles, paper, cans and other sidewalk debris that gets scattered around the city streets without hydraulic components.

"Hydraulics are a key component of everything we do here," says El Sherif, president of the Quebec-based firm, which for the last year has bought all of its hydraulic hose and fittings from IPM Hose & Fittings of Ajax, Ontario. El Sherif says the company switched distributors after becoming dissatisfied with another supplier's customer service and inability to deliver orders on time.

So far, so good, says El Sherif, of his choice to switch to IPM.

"We can tell that they're truly committed to servicing our account," he says. "When something comes up, we just call over to one of the owners and get the problem solved or the product delivered quickly and efficiently."

El Sherif says Madvac also benefits from IPM's willingness to stock product and make sure the right components are on the shelves when needed. He says it took a few months for IPM to learn Madvac's needs and to adjust inventory levels to match those requirements. Since then, however, the hydraulic hose and fittings are always on the shelf when he orders them.

"We have only high praise for them and the way they conduct their business," says El Sherif. "They always have what we need, when we need it, and that makes the difference."

IPM Hose & Fittings has been working with customers like Madvac since 1976, when Anthony Stone started his own hose distributorship after immigrating to Canada from Trinidad a few years earlier; he brought with him years of experience in the hose industry. Stone built his company from the ground up, and by the late-1980s had established a relationship with Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. that raised the visibility of his firm's industrial hose business. A few years later, he entered into a partnership with Dunlop Hiflex Hydraulics in the United Kingdom – a supplier that IPM continues to work closely with today.

In the 1980s, Stone's two daughters and their husbands joined him in running the family business. When Stone was ready to retire in 1998, son-in-law Mark Forget took over as president and now runs the company with wife Sharon, who is accounting and administration manager, her sister Susan Byer, customer service manager, and Susan's husband Jeff, vice president of purchasing and operations.

IPM's second generation brought to the table a broad mix of backgrounds. Forget had a background in sales, so he was a shoe-in to head up the distributor's sales and marketing efforts. With a legal background, Sharon Forget was put in charge of the company's accounting and administrative duties. A former banker with an analytical bent, Jeff Byer handles the purchasing and detailed projects like manufacturing time studies. With years of experience in the retail arena, Susan Byer moved into her role as head of IPM's customer service department.

"The situation is very unique here in that we don't step on each other's toes," says Forget. "We all brought different qualities and strengths to the job, and they just happen to be in different areas of the company, which makes for a nice fit."

That "fit" has played out well for IPM, which today has 24 employees who work from a 30,000-square-foot location, selling industrial and hydraulic hose and fittings to rental, construction, agricultural and forestry customers throughout Canada.

Forget won't divulge sales figures, but says IPM's sales grew by six percent and profit margins stayed stable in 2002. He expects sales to increase by another 15 percent this year.

Since 1998, IPM's executive team has taken steps to ensure the firm's longevity and success in the competitive hose marketplace. After taking over the company reins in 1998, for example, Forget says the foursome decided to get out of a number of low-margin markets and instead concentrate on specialty products.

Tony Rampton, export sales manager for hose and fittings manufacturer Dunlop Hiflex Hydraulics, has been doing business with IPM for about nine years and says the distributor's willingness to keep product on its shelves – a strategy that Dunlop steers away from – has helped the manufacturer break into the Canadian market.

Dunlop, which has its own warehouses in Europe and the United Kingdom, thinks of itself as a factory that is "supplying" its warehouses, says Rampton, and as such, tends to stock very little inventory.

"IPM has taken our Dunlop brand and really opened up the market in Canada for us," says Rampton. "Unlike American firms in our trade that are excellent at having everything on the shelves, ready to dispatch right away, we work with very little inventory. IPM has adapted to our working methods and as a result, turned into a very good customer for us."

Rampton says IPM also stands out because of its status as an ISO9001:2000 certified distributor. Dunlop can supply basic components and be confident that IPM can assemble them in the same high-quality fashion that the manufacturer would. ISO 9001:2000 is a quality management and assurance standard published by the International Organization for Standardization. Certification to ISO 9001:2000 means that a company has in place documented procedures for conformance with quality standards in product design, development and manufacturing.

"They can sell to large OEMs in that same way that we do," says Rampton. "We'd have no problem directing a company like General Motors – which we sell to in the U.K. – to IPM to purchase our products in Canada."

Forget points to the ISO 9001:2000 certification as one of IPM's true differentiators in the marketplace.

"To the best of my knowledge, there are not a lot of hose companies that are accredited with ISO 9001:2000," says Forget, adding that IPM opted for the accreditation after several customers began requiring it of distributors who wanted to be on approved vendor lists. A new component of the 9001:2000 certification, he says, is a customer satisfaction measurement. To meet it, IPM sends out surveys to ferret out customer input on timely deliveries and packaging – issues that were previously not measured or documented.

The new certification also requires IPM to show continuous improvement in those areas.

"If our on-time shipping was at 92 percent, then we have to demonstrate that we can make it 93 or 94 percent," says Forget.

Another certification that IPM has earned comes from The Technical Safety and Standards Authority, a Canadian certification company that certified IPM to make custom hose assemblies that can receive Canadian registration numbers. "In some ways, it's an even more intense certification than the ISO registration," says Forget.

Capable of pressure testing in an enclosed cabin that can exert up to 36,000 pounds per square inch, IPM custom-assembles hoses with swage of up to eight inches and crimps industrial hose up to five inches.

"There aren't many companies in Canada that can do that," says Forget. "Nor are there many that work in the BSP and metrics thread areas, which are our specialties."

For Peter Herfst, president of Kuritec Corp., IPM's numerous certifications and innovative testing, assembling and crimping abilities add up to technical competence in an industry that demands it.

"The folks at IPM can look at customer needs in any industry – be it light or heavy industrial – and truly fill those needs to the customer's satisfaction," says Herfst, whose Branford, Ontario, company manufactures thermoplastic hose and tubing.

Customers have taken notice too. In fact, Graham MacDonald, project manager at Framatome ANP Canada Ltd., in Toronto, says his firm, which provides services to the nuclear power generation industry, was a driving force behind IPM's ISO certification efforts.

"The fact that they were willing to go through the entire certification process proves that they're not just looking to churn out garden hose," says MacDonald. "They want to deliver high-quality, highly specialized products to customers that demand it."

From IPM, Framatome purchases process hoses used during chemical cleaning of steam generators. Often, while in the middle of one of those cleanings, Framatome realizes it's missing a fitting or a critical hose. To fill the need quickly, MacDonald calls on IPM for help.

"They don't quit on you," says MacDonald. "Even for products with special requirements, they're able to expedite our orders and get them to us quickly."

Like many industrial distributors throughout North America, IPM finds itself up against increasing competition and eroding margins. By focusing less on commodity sales and more on specialty hose markets, Forget says the company has been able to grow during a time when many of its counterparts have seen sales stagnate and even decrease.

"We've learned not to try to be all things to all people while continually defining our own objectives and goals in terms of where we're going and what we want our company to be," Forget explains.

Membership in the executive forum of NAHAD-The Assn. for Hose & Accessories Distribution has helped the company be more objective about the way it runs its busines. Forget says participation in the group is like "getting a free board of directors." When the forum converges at IPM's facilities, members get a firsthand look at the firm's operations and often make suggestions on areas they feel could use improvement.

"That's one way we've been able to continuously add value for our customers, keep margins up and compete against large systems integrators," says Forget. "Customers still need hose experts who can do custom assembling and testing. That's where we come in."