WINTER 2016

82 THE DISTRIBUTOR’S LINK
G.L. HUYETT
PO Box 232, Exit 49, G.L. Huyett Expressway, Minneapolis, KS 67467
TEL 785-392-3017 FAX 785-392-2845 EMAIL glh@huyett.com WEB www.huyett.com
G.L. HUYETT COMPLETES ACQUISITION
OF PRECISION SPECIALTIES
G.L. HUYETT CEO, TIM O’KEEFFE (LEFT) AND
PRECISION SPECIALTIES’ ROGER SZAFRANSKI (RIGHT)
On October 16, 2015, G.L. Huyett completed the
acquisition of Precision Specialties of Collierville,
Tennessee. In announcing the acquisition, Timothy
O’Keeffe, CEO of G.L. Huyett, noted, “Precision Specialties
is a good strategic fit in that they bring us a definitive
presence in prestigious branded product lines, and they
have a desirable geographic location to expand our
footprint. We have worked hard over the past five years to
establish ourselves as a platform-type company with a
robust management team supported by an established
performance management system that nurtures and
develops talent within our Culture of Excellence.”
Greg Tabor, Vice President of Marketing and
E-Commerce, was named project manager and is
implementing a comprehensive integration. “As expected, it
has been a lot of work, but we were well prepared and in
spite of product data challenges, we plan to be fully
integrated by March 1. I am excited at the prospect of
leveraging branded fastener lines such as A Raymond
Tinnerman, AVK Industrial®, and Oetiker®,along with
Precision Specialties wave washers. We have had excellent
success with our current lines such as ITW Shakeproof
and this presents even more opportunities.” Tabor notes
that e-commerce now accounts for 16% of G.L. Huyett sales
and he plans to deploy content-rich engineering data and
product design information to huyett.com in order stimulate
more efficient support to customers. On hearing the news,
Jamie Lawrence, Director of Sales and Marketing of AVK
BUSINESS FOCUS ARTICLE
Industrial, noted, “G.L. Huyett is one of those firms that
aligns itself to best practices, and we are quite pleased at
this development.”
Roger Szafranski, prior owner of Precision Specialties,
commented: “I was impressed with how G.L. Huyett
executed. They were forthcoming; they delivered on all
promises; and they were fair. We signed a confidential
disclosure on September 14 and closed on October 16.”
O’Keeffe noted, “In my former professional life as a
business broker, I learned that the seller is always your
best friend. We paid Roger a lot of blue sky but this was a
good fit for us, and I want Roger on our side moving
forward.”
Precision Specialties’ employees were elated at the
development. “I have the opportunity to get free health
insurance,” noted one employee, while other employees
were impressed with G.L. Huyett’s Performance
Management System. “They actually put job descriptions
and pay grades on the wall for all to see,” while another
said, “Management is so transparent.” Matt Wallace was
named Branch Manager of the TN location, and noted,
“G.L. Huyett brings us a lot. I am excited about the website
and am encouraged to have engineering and inventory
support.” Wallace notes that G.L. Huyett intends to ramp up
inventory in support of its value proposition of having a wide
array of difficult-to-procure parts in stock. Lindsay Hamilton,
G.L. Huyett Human Resources Manager, was deployed onsite
to facilitate a cultural transition and noted, “The people
in Tennessee are so nice, which aligns to our culture in
Kansas.”
O’Keeffe later announced that Dan Harriger was
appointed Vice President of Sales and Paul Sellers was
named Corporate Business Development Director.
O’Keeffe: “Dan was National Sales Manager of Tinnerman
for sixteen years and brings a wealth of knowledge in this
very important and strategic product line. Paul’s former
tenure as Vice President of Sales at Reliance Worldwide
USA overseeing brands such as Sharkbite® provided
extensive experience that will assist in aligning our sales
canvass to the industrial distribution channel’s unique
business practices.” Harriger adds, “It is easy to get excited
and the opportunities here are unprecedented. I look
forward to our support of the fastener industry with exciting
products and an ease of doing business.”
G.L. HUYETT