Making Five Become One

The First Quarter 2011 issue of The MHEDA Journal (http://www.TheMhedaJournal.org), the leading online magazine for the forklift, conveyor, storage & handling, and general material handling equipment industries, was mailed to subscribers on January 31. This issue features an article from Bob Schermer, chief operating officer of Equipment Depot, a division of Pon Material Handling, headquartered in Houston, Texas. Schermer outlines the history of the merger among five independent material handling equipment distributorships under one corporate umbrella.

The five companies were known in their respective markets as Forklifts Inc. in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania; Portman Equipment Company in Cincinnati, Ohio; Material Handling Services in Chicago, Illinois; Equipment Depot in Houston, Texas; and Levee Lift in Evansville, Indiana. In 2008, after each was acquired by Pon Material Handling, a strategic decision was made to merge the companies under one brand, Equipment Depot.

As a key member of the team executing this merger, Schermer provides interesting insight into the process. In July 2010, a new organizational chart with key leaders was unveiled, and by November 2010, talent at all five companies had been evaluated and placed into new roles throughout the operating companies. "Once the leadership was in place, we worked as a team to identify and recruit employees from all five companies to serve in a variety of organizational and structural roles," Schermer writes.

The next step was to solidify internal processes, which included developing a unified process for getting an order through the quotation, preparation, order and delivery phases. "One thing we had to consider was what kind of culture we wanted to implement. Were we going to empower people all the way down to the bottom? Or will all decisions be made at headquarters?" Schermer adds. "Those kinds of decisions are things that people don't often think about, but we spent a good deal of time making those choices."

Read the full article, titled "Making Five Become One," in the First Quarter 2011 issue of The MHEDA Journal Online at http://www.themhedajournal.org/index.php/2011/01/making-five-become-one/. The MHEDA Journal is published quarterly, in January, April, July and October. For more information, contact Chris Powers, editor of The MHEDA Journal, (315) 445-2347, e-mail: chris@datakey.org.