56 business elite canada
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JAN/FEB 2015
“Each plant in Sarnia would have a standing ac-
count and guys would line up at the counter,”
Richard said. “They would come in … buy stock,
buy product — that’s how they serviced their
plant.” By the time Richard purchased the com-
pany from his father in 2000, the world had be-
come substantially smaller and online ordering
had changed the distribution business with its
next-day deliveries, competitive pricing, and
increased selection and availability.
“When I bought the company, we changed as
well,” he said. “Local refineries and chemical
companies were laying off and were outsourc-
ing. We went into system integration … rather
than selling individual components we began
supplying complete systems.”
When customers around the world
look at us and they look at our city
and look at our experience, I think
we win jobs because of that.
Richard Felton,
President
