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12/01/2011

Q&A: Tiffany Armitage, President of ARMCO

In this Member Spotlight, NAHAD interviews Tiffany Armitage, president of ARMCO - Armitage Resources Management Company - a manufacturer of certified hose assemblies for conveying gas, liquids and solids. ARMCO is based in Calgary, AB, Canada.

NAHAD: How is the year going for ARMCO?

Tiffany Armitage: We're only into our first year of business. I started ARMCO on Nov. 30, 2010. Toward the end of 2010 we saw a large pickup in activity, largely in land drilling. It It's hard to gauge sometimes because it's a new company, but I've been in the business a long time so it's the market share you're grabbing. Our first year in business has been incredible.

NAHAD: Why did you start ARMCO?

Armitage: I worked for a company that was a member of NAHAD for 12 years. That's how I got into it with my father. He was an owner in Reliance Industrial Products (based in Alberta, Canada), and I worked there for him for quite a few years. Then he retired. When the opportunity came on to either stay working for somebody else or go out there and do your own thing. I thought I had enough gumption to get out there and do it on my own.

NAHAD: In which markets is ARMCO the strongest?

Armitage: We are strongest in oil and gas. We do a lot in hauling and on the industrial side as well. We're working with a lot of remediation now and working on developing some new products. We've got our bread and butter covered. The big thing we want to do is cover a niche that someone hasn't already covered and grab our own piece of the pie. There are a lot of really good hose companies around, all of which are members of NAHAD.

NAHAD: What do you think will be the company's edge against other hose manufacturing companies in the association?

Armitage: We've got a lot of knowledgeable staff. I've had people who have worked for me for 10 years who are on board here. Our edge really is on the service side. We really focus a lot on 'if you need it - we'll get it.' We don't want to be a catalog company. We want to be knowledgeable and considered experts in what we do.

NAHAD: What benefits do you think the association offers members, and how do you think membership will benefit ARMCO?

Armitage: NAHAD has been integral to our start-up. We signed on our membership with NAHAD right away. That was a big thing that I wanted to do. It's been integral to all of our product lines - everything we carry and even the relationships I've had over the years. We've solidified them and did most of our deals (with manufacturers) through the NAHAD meetings.

NAHAD: What do you hope to gain from NAHAD membership in the future?

Armitage: All of the industrial distribution courses, the safety programs, the hose assembly guidelines - those are all things that are strongly needed in this market. When NAHAD introduced general hose assembly guidelines - the only one really directly associated with covering all of our products, how to build everything - it really gave people with no knowledge in the industry an opportunity to utilize those tools to create a company.

NAHAD: What are ARMCO's future goals?

Armitage: Our goals are consistently changing. We are up 40 percent on our budget for the first year, which is phenomenal. Every month I've changed my budget. Every month I've changed my strategy. We are solid in Calgary, Canada. We've got a good base for business, and we want to obviously grow and expand on that. But we are ready to look at new locations. We want obviously to look at the northern part of province and then get on the Saskatchewan side before we get into the U.S.

We do ship a lot to Saskatchewan and to the northern parts of the province now. Of course, we want to be a big player, but you've got to be good in your own backyard before you can move into someone else's. I'm a big believer in partnerships so that's how we're going to move forward. A big focus of ours is branding the ARMCO name. We have talked a little bit about a franchising idea, but we haven't solidified anything. We're trying to find three more (employees) but it's tough to find people. Like I said, it's been a very busy year.

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