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09/30/2011

Niantic Seal: Training, Quality Standards a Prime Benefit of Membership

This is an interview with Jack Mercury, vice president of Industrial Sales at Northeast Rubber Products, a Division of Niantic Seal, Inc. and Peter Divoll, vice president of sales at Niantic Seal, Inc.

NAHAD: When and how were Northeast Rubber Products and Niantic Seal established? When was the merger?

Peter Divoll: Northeast Rubber Products was established in 1964 as an O-ring distributor and through the years, expanded into other product lines. Niantic Seal was established in 1964 also, as a distributor of industrial rubber products, including O-rings, rubber sheeting, and molded products. The merger of Northeast Rubber and Niantic came in 2008.

NAHAD: What did Northeast Rubber bring to Niantic Seal?

Peter Divoll: There were a lot of synergies between the two companies. We both sold similar products but to different customers. By adding Northeast Rubber to Niantic, we expanded our customer base, production capacity, and added the hose product line. Northeast Rubber became fully integrated into Niantic Seal June 1 this year.

NAHAD: What is the history of this hose line?

Jack Mercury: When Northeast Rubber started its hose fabrication, there were few competitors manufacturing stainless steel and bronze braided metal hose. As our business grew, we expanded our fabrication, welding, testing capabilities and added industrial rubber hose.

NAHAD: Who are your main suppliers?

Jack Mercury: Our key suppliers are Penflex, Gates Corporation, Dixon and Parker Hannifin Corporation. We've been with Penflex, Gates and Dixon for over 10 years. As Parker began to acquire companies such as Titan Industries and Dayco Products, we also became their distributors. Niantic Seal is a large distributor of other Parker products.

NAHAD: Can you share with us a little of your history - how you got into this industry and how you got to where you are now?

Peter Divoll: Jack started the hose product line for Northeast and nurtured it to become a significant piece of their annual revenue. We look forward to taking hose products to the next level.

Jack Mercury:  In 1976, Northeast was starting to expand their metal hose business and I was hired as an industrial salesperson to sell hose. The prime supplier was Senior Flexonics and I was sent to their training facility in Illinois to study pipe motion, expansion joints and metal hose. Northeast hose business continued to grow; we increased our sales department and I became sales manager. We acquired several hose fabricators in Connecticut and our customer base expanded well beyond New England. Northeast focused their metal hose products in the power industry and our efforts paid off with increased sales volume. The Waltham factory reached its capacity in 1986 and we relocated to a new, 35,000 square foot facility in Framingham, Mass.

I became vice president of sales in 1987. Northeast Rubber enjoyed tremendous growth.  It was a great market and all our salespeople were making money. It was a great time to be out on the road selling.

NAHAD: Have you found the standards that NAHAD has adopted helpful for your company?

Jack Mercury: Northeast Rubber has been a member of NAHAD since the 1980s but never really embraced its programs. Niantic Seal understands the importance in aligning our hose fabrication with NAHAD training and quality standards. We will use NAHAD to increase our quality programs, fabrication processes, and expand qualified material suppliers.

NAHAD: What benefits do you hope to gain from membership?

Jack Mercury: I attended my first NAHAD convention in April 2011 and was impressed with the organization, its people and general enthusiasm for the industry. When Niantic purchased Northeast, we moved the hose production facility to a more modern facility at Niantic's headquarters. As we expand this very important department, we will be hiring new production and quality people. We will rely on NAHAD's experience and programs to provide a solid foundation for a safe working environment and to educate our employees about the hose industry.

Peter Divoll: Yes; we will use it as a baseline as we grow our hose business, we will rely on NAHAD for industry standards. As a company, we look forward to becoming more involved in the NAHAD organization.

 

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