EBM (Electronic
Business Machines) could stand for Expertise By
Manufacturers with the proficiency and experience this company
has in technical support for resellers of Lexmark and Okidata
printers and supplies, Nakajima Typewriters, and Panasonic,
Xerox, Adler-Royal products.
“Our main
priority has always focused on being experts on certain
products instead of trying to be all things to all people.
With EBM you get hardware, software, parts, supplies, free
technical support, board repair, warranty processing and
training with one phone call.”
Along with the know-how, EBM has an extra-motivated customer
service team. “Being an employee owned company gives
each of our employees a little incentive to go the extra step
to take care of the customer. This has been a positive
step we had been unable to match previously with incentives
such as performance bonuses, prizes and trips.”
EBM/IBM-
More in Common than you Think
IBM
C.E. Carl Jason Jr started Electronic Business Machines, Inc
in 1970 as an office machine
dealership. But, he
obviously had more in mind. By ‘82 he had added a lab
and introduced the first MTU Unit which was marketed under the
Olivetti and Adler-Royal brand names. Eventually,
expansion led to divisions in Board Repair, Parts, Tech
Support, and a machine refurbish program for IBM, Lexmark
(which spun off from IBM in ‘92), Xerox,
Panasonic, Olivetti, and Adler-Royal manufacturers.
But they weren’t
stopping there. “Being based in Lexington, KY gave us
the unique opportunity to develop a close working relationship
with IBM and now Lexmark as a repair center for their internal
use of products, as well as consulting with the R & D
department for what we saw in the industry and their
products.”
EBM’s Lexington location strategically positioned them to
concentrate primarily on Lexmark machines. They were
made a Lexmark Typewriter Distributor in 1995, appointed to
supply reseller in ‘97, and rewPLCPd with 1 of only 10 U.S.
Lexmark printer distributorships in ’99.
“What makes EBM different is we are truly a specialized
company.... We have employees who have worked for [Lexmark]
and they have engineers designing new equipment who used to
work for us. If an unusual problem occurs with a Lexmark
printer that’s not documented, we can go to lunch with the
design engineer and discuss it.”
Lexmark in their corner and the company in business 30 years,
EBM was at its height when on Oct. 31st 2001, Jason
retired. Sad to see him go, his employees bought the
company- many of whom have been there for two of the company’s
three decades.
“It
is not unusual to find people who have been here over twenty
years,” said Mike Hicks. “He trusted us to run the company and
he gave us a chance. Many people who work here have
worked with the [big corporations] and the situations that
occur in those types of companies. He sold it to them on
a non-leverage E.S.O.P.” A
management team has directed the company for the past two
years. The team consists of:
Mike
Hicks-General Manager/President
Barry
Patrick---Lab Manager/Vice President
Carol
Hicks---Controller/Secretary & Treasurer
Dannie B Sargent---Sales
Manager
Mike
Mitchell---Service Manager
Steve Leedy---IT
Director
“Our management
team has really been responsible for our great success”.
EBM-
Wholesale/ Retail
“While growing our distribution business, we have maintained a
successful retail dealership offering Lexmark printers,
Panasonic copiers, Okidata fax, and
Philips
Dictation Machines. Selling
these products as well as maintaining a 17 tech service
department allows us to provide you the reseller or the end
user insight on the competitive products you may not get from
other dealerships. We would like the opportunity to earn
your business and prove that EBM is truly unique in the
industry,” continued Mike Hicks.
The wholesale
division of EBM focuses on two markets: the mid-sized computer
reseller and BTA channel copier dealers. They sell
Lexmark and Okidata Printers and supplies as well as Nakajima
Typewriters to other resellers within the U.S. Lexmark is 75%
of this business.
Selling all those products plus Panasonic copiers and Philips
dictation machines, EBM’s retail division is very cautious of
resellers. “Our retail sales are confined to a 60-mile
radius around our store. We have loyal resellers in and
around that point that we are careful not to intrude on their
territories. We can’t be all things to all people so
personal interaction with our existing customer base has
always been our backbone,” explained Mike Hicks.
EBM’s selling strategy is more than just product based.
Technical support heavy, they have 17 techs and access to
engineers that equip them to answer almost any question about
the manufacturers they carry.
“All 17 of our techs have a minimum of 2 years electronics or
related degrees. Our retail sales staff all have
marketing degrees and our wholesale sales group has A+
technical or programming backgrounds.”
They have extensive resources to pull from for technical
support. “Our lab division makes up 1/3 of our company.
We’ve had the same manager in that area for over 20 years and
he has taken us from a manufacturer of external storage
devices to a board reaper/technical support division that does
work for manufacturers such as Lexmark, Nakajima, Xerox,
Panasonic, Okidata, Adler-Royal, and Wyse.”
EBM
standards move with industry trends and archives keep tech
support for older models one call away. For example, the
standard for printers is to categorize how many pages they can
do per minute so that customers know just how efficient the
machines will be.
“Our main focus is to be experts on the printed page, so we
specialize in solution solving with Lexmark printers at and
above 40 ppm (page per minute) and then Panasonic copiers from
35 ppm and upward. Our ability to support a product from its
inception to the end of life makes us unique in the industry,”
said Mike Hicks.
Electronics Business on the Move
Today, EBM stands for Electronics Business on the Move!
EBM is still growing, “…we were Lexmark’s 6-time national
Typewriter distributor of the year and have several customer
service commendations over the last 3 years from them as well.
Remaining one of the 6 printers distributors has been an
achievement in itself. Our future plans are like
everyone’s, continued moderate growth with our focus going
towards being the best color sales, service and support group
we can for the manufacturers we represent. This is,
after all, the future of the industry,” continued Mike Hicks.
Keeping up with business trends is also EBM’s business.
They use e-commerce,
www.ebmky.com, research and
industry business demand to make judgments about what
direction to go for future growth in retail as well as
wholesale operations.
“The manufacturers do seem to be consolidating somewhat at the
distributor level. I don’t think the larger resellers
who sell directly to the end user via the web can ever totally
replace the local reseller/dealer. I think the pitfalls
the copier industry experienced in the late 80’s and early
90’s during mergers and consolidations show the independent
dealer/ reseller with ingenuity and drive will always be the
push behind the industry and best choice for the end user. Who
would have thought Canon would go direct to keep all their
eggs from being in one basket,” said Mike Hicks.
What products does EBM perceive to be a future asset? “Color
has been a staple of ours for several years with Lexmark and
just recently Okidata. We feel Panasonic will become a
major player in that area in the near future…. The
continued growth of the monitor/terminal repair department has
been one of our best surprises.”
EBM- Helping you Today and
Tomorrow
EBM
will service your past, present, and future Lexmark, Okidata,
Nakajima, Panasonic, Xerox, Adler-Royal models. “We’ve
been a niche company for years. We find out what the
industry needs and we use our contacts and resources to do
that. We change [accordingly] about every 10 years.
We will always be loyal to our past, but as the industry
mindset changes from copiers that might print to printers that
will copy, we encourage you to give us a call. Or in the
next month checkout our new real time e-commerce site (www.ebmky.com)
to see if Lexmark or any of our other manufacturers can offer
you and your customers a more efficient and economical way to
do business…. and dealers can concentrate on customer service,
the business we all got into in the first place,” stated Mike
Hicks.
Contact EBM
Toll Free:
1-800-832-6522
T.
859-233-0421
F.
859-281-6328
www.ebmky.com
1408 Versailles Road
Lexington KY 40504
