President's Log
Jeff Haggard
This October marks an important milestone for H&S. Ten years ago, we acquired Imperial Fastener in Evansville, Indiana. On October 15, we will celebrate that anniversary with our customers, suppliers and employees—and officially begin the next chapter by changing the Imperial Fastener name to Haggard & Stocking.
When we acquired Imperial ten years ago, we made the decision to keep the Imperial Fastener name. There was a good reason for that. Imperial had built a strong reputation in the Evansville market, while the H&S name was relatively unknown in that area. We didn't want customers to think the company they had trusted for years had suddenly disappeared.
Over the last ten years, however, a lot has changed. Our Evansville operation has grown significantly. We have moved into a new facility, added our bandsaw blade weld center, expanded our product lines and services, and introduced more and more customers to everything H&S has to offer.
During that same time, we have gradually worked to make sure customers and suppliers understood that Imperial Fastener was part of H&S. But operating under two names has occasionally created some unnecessary confusion. Suppliers may look at Imperial as a separate company when considering pricing or discount levels, even though we are one company. It can also create confusion with some of our numbers, reporting and programs.
Most importantly, the Imperial Fastener name no longer tells the whole story of what our Evansville operation is today. They are much more than a fastener company, and we want customers and suppliers to understand that our Evansville team has the full resources, products, services and support of H&S behind them.
So, on October 15, Imperial Fastener isn't joining the H&S family. They joined our family ten years ago. We're simply putting the family name on the building.
More Than a Name Change
We are planning to make October 15 a real celebration of that next chapter—and hopefully a great opportunity to grow our business in the Evansville market. More than 20 of our vendor partners have stepped up as sponsors of the event, which I think says a lot about the relationships our team has built. Each participating vendor will have a booth where they can showcase their products and capabilities to our customers.
We are inviting customers to come tour our facility, meet our team, visit with our vendors and learn more about the products and services available to them through H&S. Of course, we'll also feed them lunch and give them a chance to win some door prizes. We want it to be an enjoyable event, but we also hope it creates conversations and opportunities that turn into new business for our Evansville team and our vendor partners.
We will also hold an official ribbon-cutting ceremony to recognize the name change and the next chapter for the location. Several H&S employees from outside Evansville will be traveling down to help with setup and participate in the event. A lot of work is going into making October 15 a success, and we're hoping for a great response from our customers and a big turnout.
In many ways, I think that day will demonstrate exactly what I mean when I talk about being one company and one family. And that word—family—means a lot to me.
I have always said that H&S is a family company. Obviously, there is a literal meaning to that because my family has been involved with this business since my dad started it more than 50 years ago. But when I talk about the H&S family, I'm talking about something much bigger than the Haggard family. I'm talking about all of us.
It doesn't matter whether you work in Indianapolis, Fort Wayne, Evansville, Waco, Texas, or Greensboro, North Carolina. It doesn't matter whether you work in sales, customer service, purchasing, accounting, the warehouse or any other area of our company. We may work in different locations, different buildings and different departments, but we are all working toward the same goal.
And just like any real family, that doesn't mean we're always going to agree. We've had a few reminders of that recently. There have been situations where different people or departments genuinely believed they were doing the right thing, but their decisions or perspectives conflicted with someone else's. That can create frustration. Sometimes people get upset with each other. Sometimes people get upset with me. And sometimes I'm the one who gets upset.
That's part of working together.
A strong family isn't one that never disagrees. A strong family is one that doesn't allow a disagreement to become a division. We talk about it. We listen to each other. We figure out where the disconnect occurred. We learn from it. We make changes when changes need to be made. And then we move forward together.
That's especially important as H&S continues to grow. The larger our company becomes, the easier it can be for us to start thinking in terms of my department, my branch, my building or my responsibility. I never want us to lose sight of the fact that ultimately there is only our company and our customer.
What happens in Evansville matters to Indianapolis. What happens in Fort Wayne matters to Greensboro. What happens in Waco matters to all of us. When one location succeeds, we all succeed. When one department needs help, we should all be willing to help.
October 15 is actually a great example of that. Our Evansville team has been working hard to prepare. Employees from other areas of H&S will travel down to help. More than 20 of our vendor partners are investing in the event. And hopefully a large group of customers will walk through our doors and see firsthand what the entire H&S organization can offer them.
That is what being one company—and one family—is supposed to mean.
So, as we celebrate October 15 in Evansville, we're certainly celebrating a name change. But I think we're celebrating something much bigger. We're celebrating ten years of growth. We're celebrating a fantastic group of employees who have helped build our Evansville operation into what it is today. We're celebrating the customers and suppliers who have supported us along the way. And we're celebrating the next chapter of H&S.
The sign on the building may be changing.
The family isn't.