Something to rely on
May 1st 2009

How does the largest distributor in Ireland get its products to market and what has made this historic brand successful? Mark Kenworthy, director at Reliance Bearing and Gear Company speaks to Tim McManan-Smith

Representing many of the world's leading industrial brands, Reliance sells products across a range of areas including: bearings & seals, transmission, linear, fluid power, geared motors & couplings, actuators, agriculture, maintenance / lubricants, safety spills, hand tools and pumps.

The fourth generation family owned business started in 1922/1923 and has been disributing power transmission products ever since.

The company has three branches in Ireland servicing indigenous and multinational businesses of all sizes.

An impressive history, but what will keep the company ahead? "The way we have changed the most over the years and how we differentiate ourselves from our competitors is through service and expansion of our product range," explains Kenworthy. Offering services such as high level technical support, product specification and energy audits all lead to the fact that the company is not just a reseller of goods.

Reliance provides technical advice for product selections which when necessary is backed up by partnerships with the relevant suppliers. Though often Reliance is able to provide all of the technical support itself: "if, for instance, we have a condition monitoring specific problem then we may need the support of Schaeffler." An example of the kind of advice given by Reliance is in a drive train for a conveyor system. "We would look at suitable solutions from the variable speed drive to the motor, gearbox, shaft coupling and V belt drive to move products from A to B.

We would advise on the power transmission products, looking at the efficiency of the drive train."

Remaining competitive in a tough economic climate To remain competitive it is a necessity to succeed as a partner to customers rather than just a seller of products.While everybody is price conscious in the current environment and margins are pressurised, our customers are also perceptive enough to recognise the added value we offer in terms of technical services, energy efficient products and audits and the benefits associated with being able to access the technical resources of leading manufacturers.

"The only thing you have to compete on if you just sell products is price, anyone can cut margin however where Reliance differentiate ourselves here is that we offer more than just a competitive price, we like to think we have a superior service that our peers cannot match and our customers gain the benefits". Inventory investment Reliance has always invested heavily in maintaining a comprehensive stocking inventory and with three outlets has dispersed this holding adjacent to its customer base. This is supplemented by a modern communications infrastructure ensuring full visibility of stock levels across all branches. Delivery is effected on a same or next day delivery throughout Ireland using national couriers.

The company continually augments its products range to realise its goal of being a one-stop shop for its customer base with products ranging from consumables right through to the most technical of requirements.

Staff Staff retention and loyalty is a decided advantage for the company. People tend to stay with us," says Kenworthy, "our stores manager in Cork and our purchasing manager are with the company for almost 40 years.We have a working director with us, our previous MD who is with the Company for over 50 Years. These are examples, but it is across the board. This experience is invaluable when offering value added services".

Current market Inevitably the international recession and credit squeeze is impacting on business in Ireland. However whilst larger project work is currently on hold, Reliance sees considerable potential in the maintenance, repair and operations market. Customers less inclined to invest in capital projects are focussing on refurbishment of existing plant thereby creating opportunities for the aftermarket supplier.

Energy efficiency Another area still on the agenda is energy efficiency and there is hope that the legislative onus along with the ability to save money in the here and now will lead to sales in efficient goods. "A motor with only a 1% energy saving over existing products will pay for itself in a short amount of time. Energy efficiency is to the forefront still and it's not going to go away." Reliance are distributors for a range of variable speed drives and motors which are approved under the Accelerated Capital Allowance scheme.

"We are also quick to promote product with technical advantages into the market, for example Optibelt offers a range of long life, high efficiency, maintenance free V Belts.

We have promoted these heavily to Industry where companies have seen a significant cost saving, in a number of cases these have been adopted as a site standard. Our Inverter supplier Invertek has just launched a new drive in an IP66 enclosure giving the customer a significant saving on installation and suitable for use in very wet and harsh environments.

It seems that although there are definitely problems within the Irish manufacturing market at the moment Reliance is well set to weather the storm and continue to provide new products, maintenance and energy efficiency for a long time to come.