amarillo chamber of commerce - HPN Books

The diversity of Austin Distributing’sproduct lines enables them to supply awide range of industries throughout theregion and the strategic location of regionalwarehouses streamlines the deliveryprocess. The Amarillo warehouse provideshose kits, wholesale items to resellers, andsupplies general industrial customers. Inaddition, the Amarillo warehouse furnishesthe agricultural and oil and gas industrieswith vital parts. The Wichita, Kansas,warehouse is an original equipment manufactureror (OEM) center for agriculturerelated hydraulic parts used in the productionof tractors and other machinery. Itis also a source of wholesale hose, couplings,and fittings. The Odessa facility is ideally locatedfor supplying parts and accessories toPermian Basin oil patch producers and the oilfieldservice industry. The San Antonio warehousealso distributes hydraulic equipmentand supplies to the oilfield. Additionally, theSan Antonio location supplies agriculturalcustomers in southern regions of Texas as wellas providing the construction industry withvarious hoses and fittings.Cramer and Clounch credit their experienced,high caliber employees in all thecompany’s locations with helping AustinDistributing grow. They employ sixty-five peoplethroughout the company including corporateand warehouse staff. Some long-termemployees have been with the companybetween thirty and forty years and were instrumentalin facilitating the progression of thecompany after it was purchased in 2004. Muchof Austin Distributing’s success can be attributedto the leadership of the Chief ExecutiveOfficer Tom Scherlen, and Chief FinancialOfficer Bonnie Gwin. These two long termexecutives give credit to their staff for the prosperousbusiness that Austin Distributing hasbecome. In addition to having the right peoplein place, they say initial upgrades in rollingstock and other equipment gave the companya new look. New technology has been utilizedin the areas of inventory control and pricingby installation of a state-of-the-art computerupgrade. The upgrade, coupled with futureplans of implementing a bar-code system, hasincreased efficiency and accuracy.Ongoing reinvestment and capital improvementsare part of the long-term goal of AustinDistributing to stay local. They feel veryblessed to be headquartered in Amarillo andare committed to staying in Amarillo. AustinDistributing is a Christian based business andthey believe Amarillo is the perfect location fortheir values-driven company. Their Christianprinciples guide their policies for interactionwith staff, vendors, and customers and theyattribute their success in part to being led bythose principles. They also believe their successesto date and in the future are tied topracticing sound stewardship. They contributemonthly to a number of charities and as neededto others. Amarillo has been good to AustinDistributing and they feel a responsibility tosupport the local community.Above: Austin Distributing has acomprehensive and substantial inventorythat enables them to provide exceptionalcustomer service.Below: Austin Distributing warehouseemployees work to fill a customer’s order.BUILDING A GREATER AMARILLO287