A municipal utility had been struggling with some extreme difficulties from 25-year-old bearings in their secondary water treatment equipment. They had been dealing with the problems from the onset of the bearings' installation, and concluded that the problem was more likely from some seals. The utility called Dodge-Newark Supply Co. to come in and look at the seals.

"We had invested 20 to 25 hours of our, and the supplier's, time and energy to this account, before we even had a sale," says Kevin McCloskey, vice president of Dodge-Newark Supply Co., located in Fairfield, N.J. "We knew we had a solution to their problem, and that they would benefit from all our preliminary work," he explains.

Upon performing their own analysis and researching similar failures in the past, the staff from Dodge-Newark came to the conclusion that the problem was the incorrect installation of the original bearings. The technicians brought in their supplier, Dodge, and, with that participation, suggested a newer-designed bearing replacement that was easier to install and would eliminate the problems the utility was experiencing. The switch was made, and the utility was problem-free.

"Our commitment to the solution, including our supplier in the analysis, and having done all the homework, worked extremely well for us and the utility," says McCloskey. "We teamed with that one supplier for the solution, and both our companies supported working so much with the customer."

The utility has since switched the bearings in all its facilities. Dodge-Newark makes regular visits to all the facilities, checking the bearings and machinery, and training the utility's new employees in the proper procedures involved with the equipment.

From its conception in 1928, to today's world of enhanced performance transmission and control products, Dodge-Newark Supply Co. provides customers with innovative solutions in the areas of power transmission, motor and motion control, and fluid power.

Dodge-Newark began as one of the power transmissions–product manufacturer Dodge's local warehouse locations across the United States. Each of the company's locations served as a local office for Dodge. Working in their favor was a location in a concentrated manufacturing state—New Jersey.

In the late '20s, the Dodge management decided that complemen-tary products from other companies should be sold from the office shelves as readily as their own. The company wanted to move from direct sales to sales through multi-line distribution.

Dodge-Newark was bought by its local manager, Charlie Reeves, who spearheaded the factory operation, along with long-time Dodge employee Lawrence Seggel, as a minor partner.

"Reeves, sadly, became terminally ill shortly thereafter," says McCloskey. "Seggel purchased the remaining interest in the distributorship from Reeves' estate. The company continues to be held by the Seggel family."

As did all businesses struggling during the Great Depression, Dodge-Newark had to depend on their own business sense and their local market. With their placement in New Jersey's concentrated manufacturing area, and a good base of business in place, the company survived.

"Building on its tradition of technical application focus, Dodge-Newark acquired several patents on machinery during World War II, and promoted them for use in the war efforts," says McCloskey. Growing out of the role of a manufacturer, the new distributor nurtured its technical capabilities, and even two generations later, still aspires to that philosophy.

In the late 1970s, two of the last three Dodge offices, Dodge-Chicago and Dodge-Los Angeles were bought out by larger distributors. Dodge-Newark is the last of the distributorships tracing its roots to the original Dodge-direct factory stores.

"The distributorship started with a focused, brand-loyal philosophy, coordinated with a high level of application capability," says McCloskey. "It continues to hold to that philosophy today."

The life and times of an independent distributorship, though, have been difficult. Without a corporate influence requiring a constant level of renewal, the distributorship has found that not catching up sooner makes the transitions harder later.

"Our number one drawback has been ourselves," says McCloskey. "[Our philosophy] goes back to the Depression, where we survived without laying off employees, which was good, however in the '90s, we were still applying those principles, but with much less success."

Dodge-Newark, in the light of computers and technological advances, tried to adapt to the changing times without losing people. But as the market became unforgiving, management had no latitude, and the company experienced some severe philosophical shocks. Cost and personal adjustments became a reality.

"In our family, there was always the story of how, in the Depression, my grandfather went without so that his employees could still have their jobs," says Peter Seggel, Dodge-Newark's president since 1991, the third generation to lead the company. "It was a family tradition to not lay people off. In light of that, having to lay people off in the '90s was a difficult decision."

That, and a realignment of their place in the industry, helped Dodge-Newark through the rough times.

"We continue to enhance our own position in the technical market to become different and more distinguished on the finer technical issues," says McCloskey. "We have to go out and find customers who need these services."

These services include everything a customer might need, from drawings and concepts to full equipment installations.

But Dodge-Newark has some clear-cut advantages to staying independent in a heavily, ever-increasingly corporate industry.

"We're relatively flexible on costs," says McCloskey. "We are able to select commitments, and at some levels, are less panicky about revenues. It allows for more clear-headed decisions."

McCloskey calls Dodge-Newark a channel player, because they perform within their channel between the point of manufacturer and the point of use (customers). This channel is comprised of cost-based activities, and being an independent player, Dodge-Newark is able to choose which activity they wish to perform. In that, the company is able to fill their customers' needs in the most profitable way.

"We also are able to maintain our own brand selectivity," says McCloskey, saying that Dodge-Newark has less than 12 brands that they stand on as a foundation.

"It is important for us to be valuable to our suppliers," says McCloskey. "Customers, in this economy, come and go, but the manufacturer intends to always be in the market. A customer can be your top buyer for two years, and then suddenly be gone. For us, much of what we do is work on behalf of the manufacturer, and an important goal is to maintain our supplier relations. Having good people in the market, enhances our ability to do that."

"This business is surge and wane," says McCloskey. "We include value-added services, where we'll work on machines or assembly of products and subsystems. When it's surging, we seem to get it all, but when waning, we seem to get nothing. It makes it hard to schedule business. Likewise with the phones, sometimes it's unnervingly quiet, but suddenly, the phones are ringing off the hook."

Up until the late '70s, Dodge-Newark's local market was intense. Since then, a large percentage of the manufacturing has moved out, and especially within the last three or four years.

Traditionally, the company's sales are to small- to medium-sized customers. The Fortune 500 has a lesser profile in Dodge-Newark's top 100 accounts. Even with the changes in their area, they have focused on keeping a consistent, concentrated, and technically knowledgeable profile in the marketplace.

The management of Dodge-Newark sees the current economic atmosphere as a great period of change, and even though they hold on to a strong OEM bias, they are moving into a broader industrial exposure — namely, raising their name from their geographical limitations and taking their name to a more expanded market.

"We are now promoting an application-oriented approach on the Internet," says McCloskey. "We can perform globally, and the Web allows us to be involved in technical discussions with customers. With that, we have a strong success in getting the account."

Dodge-Newark uses the AutoCad Design software, an application that allows them to exchange, develop and transfer ideas and drawings with and to customers. Most proposals can be carried out in the form of a drawing, and the customers have been responding to that.

"I was working on a project, and needed components, and was inquiring over pieces when I came into contact with Dodge-Newark Supply," says Michael Gutman, a contractor/consultant in engineering with Benjamin Moore, a manufacturer of paints, industrial coatings, finishes, and primers located in Flanders, N.J. "Kevin McCloskey paid us a visit, and based on the company's services and Kevin's follow up, a relationship formed."

Gutman was working on a developmental project, which now is in its final stages, that required some unique aspects. Dodge-Newark and its engineers helped with the project's concept, and more importantly, understood and fit Gutman's needs.

"With Dodge-Newark, I was able to single-source the entire project," he says. "Instead of going to several contractors, Dodge-Newark handled the project's purchasing, subcontracting and the like. They were a de facto project manager.

"They freed up time for me, and offered Benjamin Moore single-point accountability. They are good people who do a good job, and I look forward to working with them in the future."

As to the Dodge-Newark staff, everyone does what's best for the company — all eight salespeople must function on a hands-on level, and all technical people must be able to help out on the phones. In such a demandingly technical area, though, it's hard for a company to draw an attractive career path for people. That only intensifies in a high-cost market.

"Many of our competitors choose not to support the necessity of people who are good, technically, with products as we do," says McCloskey. "We have, per capita, considerably larger salaries for our people than other companies. That is simply because, to keep the soundest people working with you, you need to pay the higher wages."

Dodge-Newark's staff has not been easy to come by. Their experience comes quickly, but they are on a consistent five-year plan. According to McCloskey, it takes a salesperson about one year to be stabilized in the industry; after year three, they're able to work independently; and in year five, they are performing well. People are generally brought in through leads from employees, customers, suppliers and networking. Most start from a lower level in our operation, are immersed in the industry, and do some cross training before moving up.

"Our field people are very knowledgeable, and are not under any heavy scrutiny, so are given a measure of autonomy when it comes to the areas and accounts," says Seggel.

Says McCloskey, "We are a relatively young company, and we can project a 20-year tenure for the technically astute staff we have now."

Education from Dodge-Newark's key suppliers also is a constant process. Key suppliers are invited to come in to the operation and give a hands-on demonstration and lesson on the product, as well as attend sales calls with outside salespeople.

Dodge-Newark's people work on "street level," with their products, says McCloskey, so are required to have a significant proficiency with each product. It doesn't end there, either. Field salespeople are encouraged to discover other applications for the products with their customers, allowing for a larger learning curve.

"We are a company that focuses on making our customers successful. We do this by developing new products that solve their process problems, thus lowering or eliminating unnecessary costs," says Burke May, director of channel sales at Rockwell Automation Power Systems, located in Greenville, S.C. "Dodge-Newark takes these products and works like our own sales force in marketing and selling them to their customers.

"A distributor that just takes orders and plays the price game, we feel, will fail in the long term. Dodge-Newark is selling Total Cost of Ownership, not price. Dodge-Newark values manufacturers such as Dodge and Reliance because we provide opportunities with products for them to sell up, help their customers and improve their margins. We value what Dodge-Newark does for us."

A couple of weeks ago, May received a call from McCloskey, who was visiting a customer's work site. The customer was having a problem with an application of one of their products, and McCloskey had been trying to get an engineer on the phone to answer some questions. McCloskey did catch May, who went in search of and found the appropriate engineer.

"The engineer, Kevin and the customer talked through the problem and helped come up with a solution," says May. "This is a tale of persistence from Kevin, and determination of Dodge-Newark."

As for the future of its independence, Dodge-Newark has mapped out ideas for its next five to 10 years. Chief among them is to put aside some of the older philosophies the company has clung to, and adopt ways that are better for the business.

"For years, we kept employees that were beyond the mandatory retirement age only because they wanted to continue working," says McCloskey. "As a business decision, that held little value in the long run. Now, while looking out for the welfare of our employees, we have to first be sure that they bring value to the business."

Another move in the works is consolidating of the company's two locations into one. Their second location in Edison, N.J., and its 40-mile separation, has less to do with smart business decisions than years previous, and the company has paid the price for it, says McCloskey. Geography has less to do with the industry now, and their goal is to combine the synergy of the two locations.

"We are not a company dominated by one person," says Seggel. "This is a good group of people who have stuck together through a tough battle, and shown loyalty, and I'm thankful for them. I don't know really what the future holds except that we'll continue to do the right thing for the customer, our suppliers and each other."