Articles
If you hear employees at IR-G, the Nashville-based hose and accessories distributor, talk about making toast, it’s not because they’re hungry. they’re refer- ring to a popular “toast Kaizen” video that explains lean manufacturing and continuous improvement concepts. Every new IR-G employee watches the video that demonstrates how to notice and eliminate waste in processes even as simple as making toast.
Fifteen years ago, some people in the Nashville business community snickered after learning that a new businessman had bought a bankrupt hose and rubber distributorship in the downtown area.
After all, they reasoned, George Fournier had no distribution experience, whatsoever. He also had no sales experience — and worse yet, no product knowledge. Some of those doomsayers predicted he’d be out of business in six months.
But those skeptics didn’t know Fournier, who today presides over Industrial Rubber & Gasket, a distributorship that has grown in sales nearly every year, has 22 people on its payroll, and has opened two branches in the past several years. No, they sure didn’t know George Fournier.
IR-G’s adaptability and its belief that trust is the most valuable thing one can earn has served the company well over the past 28 years. The company has become a well-respected distributor in the industrial hoses and gaskets industry by staying true to its word and its dedication to solving customers’ problems.
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