Ferguson Enterprises

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Ferguson Enterprises, Inc.

Type	Corporation
Founded	1953 (Birmingham, Alabama)
Headquarters	Newport News, Virginia
Key people	John Stegeman, President & CEO
Products	HVAC equipment, plumbing accessories, tools, safety equipment
Revenue	$548.9 million USD (2005)
Employees	18,100
Slogan	Where the Pros Get It.
Website	www.ferguson.com

Ferguson Enterprises Inc., headquartered in Newport News, Virginia is a supplier of plumbing supplies, pipes, valves, fittings and heating and cooling (HVAC) equipment. According to Ferguson's website, they are ranked by trade publications as the largest distributor of plumbing supplies and the third largest distributor of HVAC equipment in the United States.^[1]^[2] Ferguson enterprises has 4 major groups which are the residential group, commercial industrial business group, HVAC and waterworks^[3].

1 History
2 Ferguson Today
3 Reference
4 External links

[edit] History

Ferguson was founded in 1953 by Charlie Ferguson, Ralph Lenz and Johnny Smithers. Charlie Ferguson had previously served as president of Noland Co. The other two founders left their positions at Noland Co (Lenz was the treasurer and Smithers was a branch manager) to start the new company with Charlie Ferguson. The company started as 2 separate supply houses in Washington D.C. and Birmingham Alabama. These warehouses were named Lenz Supply (Washington) and Smithers Supply (Alabama) after the founder/managers Raplh Lenz and Johhny Smithers respectively. David Peebles, a former president and chairman of Ferguson, explained that Charlie Ferguson used his well-known name in the industry to take the role of an investor and senior partner while not actively participating in the day-to-day operations. The company took its next leap forward by opening Crossroads supply in Alexandria Virginia with Ralph Lenz as president. Crossroads Supply took the role of the operating company for the other warehouse locations. In 1959, David Peebles opened Peebles Supply in Newport News, Virginia. In 1969 he became the second president of the managing compnay and changed the company's name to Ferguson Enterprises after Charlie Ferguson, who died in 1955. Peebles also made several other organizational changes including changing warehouse naming conventions, in which warehouses were named after there owner/manager. He also started the management training program to attract new and better associates to the company. In the early 1980's Ferguson entered the era of technology and automation with the introduction of the first computers. Even though Peebles was skeptical to embrace the new technology he eventually stated that, "automation has been very critical to the ultimate success of Ferguson." In 1982 Ferguson Enterprises Inc. was acquired by the English company Wolseley plc but retained its name of Ferguson Enterprises. At the time, Ferguson was worth $142 million and had 76 locations in 11 states.

[edit] Ferguson Today

Ferguson Enterprises Organizational Chart

Today, Ferguson employees upwards of 18,000 associates and has upwards of 1000 locations in the 50 states as well as the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and Mexico. Their headquarters in Newport News, Virginia now consists of 2 headquarters buildings, a tech center and a shared accounting center.

[edit] Corporate Governance

Their Chief Executive Officer is John A. Stegeman. Brad Miller is the Chief Financial Officer and John Wilcox is the Chief Operating Officer^[4]. Ferguson along with its 2 sister companies Stock Building Supply and Wolseley Canada report to the Wolseley North America division of Wolseley plc.

[edit] Branch Structures

Branches across the country are associated with a warehouse. Most warehouses have a traditional counter. These locations have no self service capabilitiy and are primarily used by contractors. Branches with Xpress Counters have a small self service area in which the customer can shop for commonly used items while less popular items are stored in the warehouse and must be picked by an associate. Xpress Nets are small cookie cutter stores usually located in a city or in an area with rapdily expanding growth. These Xpress Nets are purley self service and are not directly connected to a warehouse but get their goods from the associated branches warehouse.