Radwell International, Inc.
President and CEO Brian Radwell is awarded the 2012 Ernst
& Young Entrepreneur Of The Year in Greater Philadelphia!
LUMBERTON, NJ, 6/22/12 – Radwell International, Inc. today
announced that President and CEO Brian Radwell was named the 2012 Ernst &
Young Entrepreneur Of The Year in the Greater Philadelphia region. The award
recognizes outstanding entrepreneurs who demonstrate excellence and
extraordinary success in such areas as innovation, financial performance and
personal commitment to their businesses and communities. The award was
presented at a special gala on June 21 at the Terrace Ballroom of the
Pennsylvania Convention Center, Philadelphia.
Now in its 26th year, the Entrepreneur Of The Year Program
has expanded to recognize business leaders in more than 140 cities in more than
50 countries throughout the world.
Sponsors
Founded and produced by Ernst & Young LLP, the
Entrepreneur Of The Year Awards are nationally sponsored in the United States
by SAP America and the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation.
In Greater Philadelphia, sponsors include Ballard Spahr LLP;
Merrill Corporation; Molewski Financial; Morgan Lewis; Murray, Devine &
Company, Inc.; NSM Insurance Group, ParenteBeard LLC; Pepper Hamilton LLP;
Philadelphia Business Journal; PNC Bank; Scherzer International;
SolomonEdwards; and Sovereign Bank.
Brian Radwell, President and CEO explains it like this: "Radwell
International, Inc. sells and repairs industrial electrical and electronic
control devices. We sell and repair timers, counters, photoelectric sensors,
circuit breakers, pushbuttons, PLC's, motors, speed control and any other
devices used to make machinery run." Specifically, Mr. Radwell says that
Radwell services automakers, chemical plants, food processing facilities,
municipalities, government agencies, bakeries, power plants, amusement parks,
exporters, plastic molding and extruders, steel plants and a long list of other
business sectors.
Radwell's division, PLCCenter.com is the largest provider of
new and used surplus, industrial electrical and electronic control equipment in
the world. "We buy back new and used controls from plant closings, auctions
and inventory overstock. We certify the
parts, and then we ship them in custom PLCCenter packaging and sell them for
half of their original price. We sell 30% of our products outside the US,"
said Radwell.
Radwell Roots
Brian Radwell grew up in the small town of Medford, New
Jersey. As a freshman and sophomore, Brian enjoyed playing football for his
local high school. In 1982, times got tough and money was tight. Without a sure
path to college through an athletic scholarship, Brian decided against his
coach's advice, to quit football and start working. "At 15 years old I
became the shipper at Speck Industrial Controls. We were a small industrial
control distributor employing five people in Mount Laurel, New Jersey. My
father Jerry owned a small percentage of Speck and trained me on the ways of
industrial manufacturing and the importance of electrical and electronic
controls."
Brian continued high school and opted for early-out programs
in order to hasten his opportunity to train and work in the expanding
automation industry. Speck was struggling . Brian decided to remain the shipper
and take a second job as a gas attendant in nearby Marlton. "This enabled
me to work until midnight almost every night while learning how to earn
money." Between the ages of 15 and 18, Brian maintained a full schedule of
high school while working two jobs.
Growing Up
At 18, Brian was set to graduate high school and begin an
uncertain path to the future when a great opportunity presented itself. Jim
Speck, Owner and President of Speck, decided to
close shop. Brian graduated in June of 1986 and joined his father in
taking control of Speck. Brian had begun an accelerated career in industrial
sales and repair. "I worked around the clock handling repairs at night and
new product sales during the day. As a company of four people everyone had to
endure long hours and tremendous stress." Brian's father, Jerry, did not
fare well and suffered a heart attack just a few short months after the
takeover.
Failure Not An Option
Brian now shouldered the responsibility of running the
company while his father remained incapacitated. His mother, Darlene, began a
long journey filled with many trials. Immediately, Brian recognized that it
would take everything in him to build a company that customers could trust. He
focused on developing a close relationship with his customers. The company
would have to be faster, better and less expensive than any competitor. Brian
did not know that the competition would try to stop him at any cost. First, the
largest repair competitor sued Brian for printing a repair price book and
stated it was against their exclusive copyright. Huge legal fees and the
increasing cost of Jerry's medical insurance was more than the company could
afford. "We lived on $25.00 per week pay and stayed at the office through
the nights until the battle was over," Brian recalls. "Next, the
largest US manufacturer of industrial controls attacked us claiming that we
could not say that we could repair their products," Brian further explains.
Again, an expensive legal battle ensued and money was short.
Whatever It Takes
All of these problems were too much for Jerry to bear. He
suffered a heart attack that required emergency bypass surgery. This further
complicated Jerry's presence in supporting Brian for an extended amount of
time. At 22 years old, Brian was prepared to compete with the established
larger companies. The lawsuits and attempts to derail Radwell subsided for a
while. Brian had earned the reputation of a young determined President not
afraid to go toe-to-toe with the bigger "industry giants," and Brian
was willing to do whatever it would take to win. "This made competitor's
think twice about bringing false law suits in an attempt to drive us out of
business," Radwell adds.
A Company Paralyzed
Brian married his high school sweetheart at 23 and began
preparing for the future. Unfortunately, the world had other plans. Again
plagued with illness, Jerry fell... and fell hard. This time a brain stem
stroke paralyzed him 100 percent and put him in a state known as "locked
in." He could only raise his eyes -- up for "yes" -- down for
"no."
Brian was extremely close to Jerry and endured tremendous
sadness and depression in seeing his father suffer. Brian was determined to
give Jerry the best support he could and the highest quality of life possible.
Fortunately, the company had insurance that would allow Jerry 24-hour home
nursing care. Without it, Jerry would have had to be placed in a nursing home.
The company pulled together as a team and did not miss a beat.
Jerry was in his very early fifties when Brian would not
allow him to be placed in a nursing home. "This is when the largest battle
began," Radwell exclaims. "We were employing 15 people, and the
insurance carrier raised our rates from $2,000 per year for an average employee
to $60,000 per employee per year!" This was on top of the fact that his
father, Jerry still needed the insurance. It was costing Speck nearly $1
million per year. The insurance that was available to replace the current policy
did not offer home nursing care.
End Of An Era
Next, the insurance company sent a letter stating that the
policy Jerry had was to be cancelled, and he had to switch to the new one or
find another company. This left no option other than to take action against one
of the largest insurance companies in the world, beginning the longest battle
in Brian's career. "The whole company was working as a team to help to
fight this battle. Years later we won against the insurance company, and my
father never spent one day in a nursing home," Radwell states beaming with
extreme pride.
Jerry Radwell died in 2002 on New Year's Eve at home in
Medford, New Jersey.
Radwell International, Inc. Today
In 2005, Speck Industrial Controls became Radwell
International, Inc. and moved into a new 70,000 square foot facility with a
15,000 square foot state-of-the-art repair center in Lumberton, New
Jersey. Radwell's new facility also
contains 35,000 square feet of inventory space including the massive two-story
"Area 51" stock system. In
2008, Radwell's net sales reached $37 million. In May of 2009, Radwell added
more warehouse space making the Lumberton headquarters 110,000 square
feet.
In 2011, Radwell International reached a major milestone.
The company has expanded into the European markets by establishing a repair and
distribution center in the United Kingdom. The intent was to bring the
Radwell-PLCCenter.com brand to the overseas marketplace.
Radwell also continues to add sales and service personnel in
the US. This growth expands Radwell’s national and global presence as one of
the largest industrial repair and distribution facilities in the world.
In 2012, Radwell International achieved yet another major
milestone. The company expanded into the Canadian market by acquiring
Enterprise Automation, a Canadian repair operation, in July 2012. Enterprise
was transformed into Radwell International Canada and has been servicing the
Canadian market ever since. As of January 1 2013, Radwell International Canada
is operating out of a brand new repair and distribution facility located in the
Greater Toronto Area. This facility was designed with customer service in mind.
Radwell International Canada will perform repairs in house and provide our
customers with access to the vast inventory network our US and UK customers
enjoy. Radwell International is expanding at an incredible rate and our
Canadian facility and team is just the latest step in the long and prosperous
journey ahead.
In addition to its commitment to continue to grow its
business here and abroad, Radwell sees itself as an important part of the local
and global community through its ongoing efforts to "give back." As Brian Radwell explains, "I feel it is
the responsibility of every successful business to support the community and to
help others." Radwell upholds that
responsibility every single day. In the
past few years alone Radwell has donated over $250,000 to numerous local and
national causes and community efforts.
If Radwell can help in any way, it usually does -- from requests to
support employee-initiated efforts such as various charitable bike-a-thons,
walk-a-thons, and sports team sponsorships, to the many research and
educational foundations, to providing financial assistance to the various
disaster relief efforts. Recently the
company matched employee initiated donations for Haitian disaster relief more
than five-fold which resulted in a total company donation of $50,000 to the
American
Red Cross.
Radwell maintains an intense commitment to its people as well
and understands the role that the collective efforts and talents that its staff
plays in its success. In the recent
economic downturn that has plagued the world, Radwell is proud of the fact that
not only did it not lay any staff members off due to the slowdown, but it
continued to hire
and expand.
Today, Radwell employs over 500 people and has customers all
over the world. Radwell's customer base continues to expand. Radwell is
determined to create the best industrial repair, distribution and surplus
automation company in the world.
Thank you for stopping by and reading this page. May God continue to provide security, safety, smoothness and blessings .. aamiin.
Source : radwellinternational.com
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