Interline Brands Inc., which distributes maintenance, repair and operations products, serves a number of prominent Jacksonville facilities, but that’s only the start.
“Our reach is greater than you realize,” Chairman and CEO Michael Grebe said Monday at a company event at EverBank Field, which happens to be one of its customers.
The Jacksonville-based company’s reach also includes the highest levels of the U.S. government.
“The Pentagon’s trash is removed in our bags, which we think is impressive,” Grebe said.
Interline distributes products all over the U.S., but it has been doing it under several different brands. So the company took steps to unify its facilities maintenance products under one name.
It invited its employees to the event at the stadium to launch a new brand called SupplyWorks the company is unveiling across the country.
SupplyWorks replaces five separate brands that Interline has been operating.
“We’re taking the best of five brands and teams and unifying it into one,” Grebe said.
Interline President and Chief Operating Officer Kenneth Sweder said SupplyWorks will offer 150,000 products that can reach 98 percent of the U.S. the next day.
The products range from plumbing and cleaning supplies to maintenance and repair products.
“Our mission is solving problems and improving the productivity of our customers,” he said. “We’ve created a brand that’s smart, easy to access and ready for significant growth.”
Interline has already been growing since it was acquired by two private equity firms for $1.1 billion in 2012. Annual revenue has grown from about $1.25 billion in 2011, its last full year as a publicly traded company, to $1.68 billion last year.
The SupplyWorks business produces about $850 million, or about half of Interline’s annual revenue.
Grebe said Interline still has two other brands: Wilmar, which provides products for multifamily housing facilities, and Barnett, which serves professional contractors.
Interline was basically created by a 2000 merger between Wilmar Industries and Barnett Inc., a Jacksonville-based company that began operating in the 1950s under the name Barnett Brass & Copper. It was not related to Barnett Bank.
Grebe said the corporate name will remain Interline.
The company employs about 4,000 people in total and 700 in Jacksonville.
“We could not be more proud that Jacksonville is our home,” Grebe said.
Grebe and Sweder said the consolidation of five brands into one is not causing any job losses, and they expect the company to continue growing.
“This is all upside as far as we’re concerned,” said Grebe.
(904) 356-2466