Vendor Spotlight: Crum Electric Supply
By Mark Inboden
At UCEC, we’ve enjoyed fantastic relationships with vendors and partners. Crum Electric Supply is another vendor to add to the list: since 2004, UCEC has been fortunate to work with this dedicated electrical distributor.
Crum Electric Supply was founded in Casper, Wyoming back in 1976 by David H. Crum. The organization has ten locations in the Rocky Mountain region across four states: Wyoming, Colorado, Utah and South Dakota. The company celebrates 40 years in business this year.
Some of the UCEC team with Crum's Steve Sharp (second from right) and Kevin Feldman (far right).
Dave Crum, Vice President of Sales and Marketing (and David’s son), tells me that Crum Electric has always had an industrial focus, growing up in O&G and mining markets, but individual offices concentrate on diversifying in ways that make sense for the business in their city. They always strive to be active in commercial construction, industrial end users and OEMS throughout their geography.
“We’re not interested in being a niche company,” Dave says. “We’re working in the big oil and gas markets, but we’ve diversified beyond that. We’re definitely a growing company that is building business through our existing branches. We have the tools and the online resources to compete with the national chains, but with the personalized service of a regional operation.”
Crum Electric is made up of 85 employees who Dave calls “tight knit.” The company operates with a lean management structure and without a lot of bureaucratic layers (sounds a lot like UCEC!).
Communication between Crum Electric and UCEC is constant. Steve Sharp, Outside Sales, tells us there are probably 12-24 points of communication between the two companies each work day. “Inside Sales rep Kevin Feldman and myself talk or email with UCEC staff every day,” Steve says. “We have a very good working relationship.”
“One of my favorite things about UCEC is their ‘open-door’ policy,” Steve says. “I’m able to stop in to the shop at any point, and I can bring my customer along, too.”
It’s such a pleasure to work with Crum Electric, and I wish them the very best for another 40 years.
Mark is President and CEO of UCEC.