Big Company Convenience, Small Business Touch: RE Replacement Parts

Note:  This blog post is the first in an ongoing series that will highlight UVA’s small, women, and minority-owned local businesses.  Have a suggestion for a business we could feature?  Let us know! 

 

Raymond Everett of RE Replacement Parts

RE Replacement Parts, Inc. is a supplier of industrial equipment based in Petersburg, Virginia. Since 2006, the company has been a familiar name at UVA, distributing tools from Grainger, one of the leading providers of maintenance, repair, and operating products. The relationship between Grainger and RE Replacement Parts is part of Grainger’s Diversity Alliance program. Through this program, Grainger contracts with small and diverse businesses to sell directly on the Grainger contract to the end customer.

The result of this partnership is that customers like UVA’s Facilities Management Department get the personalized touch of a small business, while also being able to tap into the robust framework of a corporate entity.

According to Grainger program manager Kelly Minervini, the Diversity Alliance program’s partnership with local businesses facilitates a unique blend of efficiency and adaptability that allows for tailored solutions at competitive prices. “It’s about empowering small businesses to give back to their communities,” she says.

It’s an effort that has not been lost on customers at UVA.

Everett with Facilities Management customers

“I really appreciate Grainger’s efforts to leverage their size and contracts to grow local businesses,” says Roland Zumbrunn, director of operations in Facilities. “Raymond from RE Replacement Parts has been a great partner and has provided strong customer service. These partnerships help provide the best of both worlds in terms of procurement.”

As Zumbrunn notes, a hallmark of RE Replacement Parts’ approach is close collaboration with their customers. For Raymond Everett of RE Replacement Parts, the relationship with Grainger allows him to focus on the uniquely personalized customer service he’s able to provide.

“We take our customer’s problems and make them our problems,” he says, adding “and that enables us to find solutions.”

Through his relationship with Grainger, Everett can offer the stock and convenience of a big company and access to equipment manufacturers. As a part of his high-touch business relationship with Facilities Management, Everett will often work with teams to understand their needs, and then he matches those needs with products that fit the budget. He’s found solutions for snow removal tools that alleviate injuries, longer hoses for vacuums, and has even brought in manufacturing companies for training, tool safety checks, ladder safety courses, and “show and tell” sessions on new and useful equipment.

Everett’s customers on Grounds have enjoyed both his meticulous attention and the fact that they know they’re supporting a local business. Not only does RE Replacement Parts employ local talent, but they also contribute to the socioeconomic fabric, fostering a sense of belonging and pride as they give back to the community through food banks, neighborhood basketball tournaments, camp sponsorship, and other local involvement. In other words, doing business with RE Replacement Parts means that UVA’s purchasing dollars go into the local community.

“Working with Raymond is great,” sums up Ken Bower, zone manager in Facilities Management. “He always does what he says he’s going to do, and RE Replacement Parts is a family business,” he notes.

RE Replacement Parts, working with Grainger, represents the perfect fusion of small business agility with corporate resources, creating value for both UVA as a customer and nurturing growth beyond business boundaries.

 

Find the RE Replacement Parts punchout catalog in the UVA Marketplace.