Happy 40th Anniversary Hisco!

Yes, it actually has been 40 years, and they did pass by quickly.

I clearly remember the beginning. It was a do-or-die job for me, my trusting, supportive wife Pat, and our seven children. One memory stands out above the rest. It was mere days before we took over Hisco, and our third daughter, Paula, 13, stated without preamble, "Dad, you can't win if you don't play."

After a few years, Hisco joined the Electrical Trade Assocation, and was the smallest company at the annual meetings. It was so small one member told me Hisco wasn't a peanut company–it was a half of a peanut company. Now, Hisco is the largest, and all the other companies that were at the first meeting Hisco attended are gone, sold, closed, or merged.

I had no idea this would happen. At the time, I wouldn't have even imagined it to be possible. We were plugging away, first to survive, and then to grow, because that's the American way. Or so we believed. Having branches with inventories allowed more suppliers to consider Hisco as their distributor, although distributors are only as good as the items they stock and distribute.

We changed over the years in our attempts to sell what customers wanted. We saw the easy transition to electronics, but electronic suppliers were blind to this, so we made the move by buying companies that were already selling electronics. This gave us credibility.

We also hired people with the skills to transform our dream into reality. We set incentive plans to excite the entire company, and all the good things happened.

In our earliest days, we sold to electric motor repair shops that demanded lightning fast responses–motors that had stopped, needed fixing now. Delays could be life-threatening. "Fast, Friendly Service" became Hisco's logo, motto, and mantra.

The motto was uppermost in our minds, inspiring us to be Fast–in everything–to be Friendly–to everybody–and to Serve–whatever the customer wanted.

We discovered that delivering fast, friendly service was a fun way to do business. It was something to be proud of, dignified and useful. The logo/motto became the culture, a Hisco way of life. For me personally I never felt TGIF–Thank God It's Friday. Instead I was a TGIM man, with the M standing for Monday. I always liked my job and my employees, who I considered to be both the other Hisco employees and our customers.

Today I am astonished at the growth and diversity at Hisco. It could serve as a business model for success in any field. It's sort of like fishing–"Go where they are, give them what they want, when they want it."

The Hisco story is 40 years of the American Dream. I'm proud to say I was there when it started and even prouder of what the present folks have done. Hisco is a good company.

Paul Merriman