Industry Focus

Blue Book for Success

• By Ralph C. Jensen
• Sep 01, 2017

Anixter has a Blue Book that serves as a corporate bible; Pat Comunale, president of Anixter’s global security solutions, believes in the book from the first page on, and it would seem the Blue Book is, as he notes, second to none.

Comunale has been in the security industry for a long time, most recently as the president of Tri-Ed Distribution. The two companies joined forces in (Sept. 14) 2014, making it the largest global supplier of security products. In fact, Comunale said Anixter is the only distributor of this kind of operation, and a distribution company that has a working laboratory.

“What we have seen over the years is a company that has expertise in door locks to a high-end integrator,” Comunale said. “Now, three years later, our focus is on security and a multibillion dollar business.”

Why Anixter? Well, corporate officials invited several members of the trade media to their Chicago offices to learn more about the company and the laboratory. Their message is that Anixter has now become one of the most strategic partnerships for the integration community.

Case in point might be one of their “poster children” in Brent Edmunds, who is president and co-founder of Stone Security in Salt Lake City. Edmunds is a regional integrator, but his story is of global proportions.

“As an integrator, I am able to bring or have an end user tour the Anixter Infrastructure Solutions Lab and get a better view of the technology and how it will work for them,” Edmunds said. “There was a point in time in our business when we had to reconsider our own supply chain. Anixter was there for us; they made integration roll-outs successful, and they made us look good.”

Although Stone Security has a successful business, Anixter was able to help expand their business. The benefit for Stone is the strengths of Anixter, and likewise, Anixter grows because Stone Security is committed to its growth and offering its security integrators and their customers the best products possible. Edmunds said Stone Security has experienced 40 percent growth rate year over year for the past five years.

Wow! That is impressive, but it also means a regional integrator can count on technological, standards and equipment support whether in Salt Lake City or, let’s say, Paris, France; Provo, Utah to Auckland, New Zealand.

Anixter, combined to include the former Tri-Ed Distribution and CLARK Security, will be going in one direction and serving its global supply chain as Anixter. The company will become known more as a valueadd supplier than just a “pick, pack and ship,” company. Over time, all former Tri-Ed distribution centers will be rebranded and marketed as Anixter, whether it is in Dallas or Mexico City. The company verticals will remain the same: residential security, commercial, industrial, government, education and utilities. Anixter will also remain active on numerous standards committees and will continue to address future trends and interoperability issues occurring in the security industry at large.

For all the chatting in the board room, the real gem is the tech center, or the Infrastructure Solutions Lab. There are six satellite Solutions Briefing Centers located worldwide, combined with 65 former Tri-Ed distribution centers that will allow staff to demonstrate products and solutions when asked. The Demonstration Center of The Lab allows staff to present solutions for video surveillance, biometrics, servers and key-lock systems.

This article originally appeared in the September 2017 issue of Security Today.