Once upon a time, let's call it 1918, a small belt shop was founded by three men in Denver. A manufacturer of leather belts, the company was bought by a family called Kunse in 1926. Gates Rubber Co. was one of the small company's biggest customers.

The manufacturer eventually evolved more and more into a belt shop, doing jobs for larger companies such as sugar manufacturers, and area mills and mines. Soon thereafter, the shop made a seemingly easy transformation into a distributorship, carrying product lines such as Browning, Gates Rubber Co. and Boston Gear Co. For more than 50 years after, Western Belting Co. has grown and thrived in Denver.

In 1985, Bob Kunse, a descendent of the company's second owners, brought in his friend Greg Dormaier as a partner, buying the company from Kunse's father, Bon Kunse. Bob Kunse passed away in 1996, leaving the distributorship in the hands of Dormaier.

"I started out working for Browning Manufacturing in 1978 as a sales rep in Seattle," says Dormaier, the company's president. "I moved into Memphis, then Kentucky, eventually coming out here as a national accounts salesman. Western Belting was one of my customers.

"Bob was thinking about buying the business from his dad, but didn't want to do it by himself, and asked me if I was interested," he says. "It was a good opportunity to get into distribution."

Today, Western Belting focuses on industrial distribution, boasting a customer base of 65 percent OEMs. The company services a base of about 1,500 customers, and reported a 2004 sales number of $7.2 million.

"We have too much inventory," laughs Dormaier, "but we've seen great growth this year—up 22 percent. After Sept. 11, everyone had a bit of a slump, so we're thrilled that we're up 22 percent."

Western Belting's core business is power transmission, so it is involved with sprockets, chain, speed reducers, sheaves, electric motors and various other product lines in that group. Belting, flat belting and conveyor belting is no longer the majority of the business, even though the company still boasts belting in its name.

"We've transformed more into bearings and power transmission through the years," says Dormaier. "We have a various mix of customers."

Jim McMenamin is purchasing manager with Mark VII Equipment, a manufacturer of automatic car wash equipment located in Arvada, Colo. Mark VII has been in business with Western Belting for more than 20 years, purchasing electric motors, transmission products and like materials.

"They deliver daily and stock for us, and have always been competitive price wise," says McMenamin. "With them, in good weather or in bad, they deliver everything that day or the next. Product has been brought up in trucks or if need be, Greg or a salesman will put it in the trunk of their car and bring it to us. If we really need it, they get it to us."

Because of the relationship between the companies, Mark VII is able to take advantage of Western Belting's expertise to lower its own costs, making the company more competitive.

"They know more about us and what we need than we do sometimes," says McMenamin, "which is what a good distributor should know."

The people at Western Belting consider themselves more of a mom-and-pop operation, priding themselves on their product training in house, boasting that customers who call in don't need a catalog or product number.

"We can actually engineer for a customer," says Dormaier. "If they have an application where they want to change the speed of an electric motor and they're concerned about the amperage of the motor, we can calculate that for them."

Douglas "Buzz" Arithson came on board at Western Belting almost a year ago as sales manager. As a former regional manager with a larger distributorship, Arithson brought corporate experience and new ideas into the distributorship, a shot in the arm that Dormaier says the company needed.

"I needed a change," says Arithson. "I was frustrated because my old company wasn't looking for ideas from their employees. I've known Greg for 15 years, so I called him and told him I needed a change. Since coming here, I've shared my ideas, and he's been adamant about working on them with me."

At a small distributorship, outside salespeople are empowered to make decisions in the field, says Dormaier. Arithson was able to make choices, and instead of waiting weeks for an answer to a question, could just walk into Dormaier's office with a problem or idea.

"We feel that if we can get in front of the customer, we can get the business," says Dormaier.

Arithson works with each salesman in the field, targeting accounts and going after them.

"I worked with one the other day, and we hit accounts from OEMs to sand and gravel," says Arithson. "Every call went great. My focus has been on keeping these guys out in the field, because when they're out there, we can get the business."

Another benefit to being an independent distributor is the ability to customize the sales approach to each individual account, depending on what the customer's needs are.

One aspect to selling that Arithson has focused on with Western Belting's sales force is the requirement of a thorough needs analysis on the customer before getting into a sales presentation. Getting the customer talking, describing his worst-case scenario and working together on a solution to his problems is where Arithson believes Western Belting becomes a resource, not just a distributorship.

"If they need inventory, we'll stock for them. If they want it just-in-time and service within the day, we can take care of that," says Dormaier. "We can usually line stock, too. We can be very flexible in our approach to the customer."

Jennifer Conaway was hired a few years ago as controller, and also has become an important part of the processes at Western Belting, says Dormaier. She now has the warehouse, and operations and accounting departments reporting to her.

"Jennifer has given us more tools on the accounting side of things, which I realize now is just as important as the sales if you're going to run a company smoothly," he says. "We have a daily look at each customer, those that are past due, as well as cash flow and what is working and what's not. We do two-year projections now, and that is a huge improvement along those lines."

Dormaier admits to Western Belting having a difficult time over the last few years, but credits Conaway with positioning the company for survival.

"When business is really good, you get fat and happy," he says. "But we took a hard look at inventory and cash flow and customers. We did risk assessment, allowing us to build some business where we hadn't been before. We looked at our existing customers and pulled in some different products to sell them in conjunction with their current products. That's been really positive and helped increase sales."

Western Belting has seen double-digit growth in 2004, excepting one month, and has a backlog up $100,000 from where it was a few months ago, indicating more business on the way.

Overall, business is picking up for everyone in the Denver area, Dormaier says, citing similar opinions from his customers and competitors.

"We know that long-term manufacturing is leaving the country," says Dormaier. "We hear it every day. And we've seen them not [only] leaving the country, but our area, too. We know our future is going to be in the service industry and MRO, and we're trying to maintain our OEM base and service those accounts."

Western Belting boasts eight to 10 new accounts per month, according to Conaway.

Meg VanderLaan is director of Worldwide Strategic Planning Growth and Innovation Systems with Gates Corp., a manufacturer of industrial and automotive power transmission belts and hose and connector products, in Denver. Gates has worked with Dormaier and Western Belting since 1986, when the manufacturer looked to fill a deficit area with a strong independent distributor, and approached Dormiaer.

"Greg is established in the market, and does a lot of targeting," she says. "He works with the end user customer, and is always identifying ways to grow his business."

Dormaier was asked to participate in Gates' Distributor Advisory Council, a group of distributors that works with the manufacturer discussing the future and needs of the marketplace.

VanderLaan says, "Greg has given excellent feedback, and we look forward to our relationship continuing to progress."

As for progress, the double-digit growth that Western Belting has experienced in 2004 is likely to carry into the new year.

"We are definitely in a growth mode," says Dormaier. "We are adding new product lines, evaluating our customer base and figuring out what other products we can bring to them, so we will be speaking with more vendors in the future."

About 10 years ago, when the industry was high on acquisitions and large companies were buying out independent distributors, Dormaier was concerned about the bigger box competition.

"We found that we can compete against anybody, really," he says. "We have a niche market, and in the long term, independent distributors are going to stay. As one, we offer our customers the best they deserve—product loyalty and inventory."

And with that, the small belt shop lives happily ever after.