Fire & Safety Services, Ltd., of South Plainfield, NJ enters its 40th year representing the United States largest fire apparatus manufacturer, Pierce Manufacturing of Appleton Wisconsin. Fire & Safety Services, which was founded in 1964, was a Hahn dealer for a period of time before that line was represented by another entity. “In 1977, Fire & Safety Services entered into something like a 4 or 5 page agreement with Doug Ogilvie and Pierce Manufacturing agreeing to work together as long as each party felt it was mutually beneficial. Well, that contract has been replaced a few times since then,” commented David Russell, President of Fire & Safety Services.
Fire & Safety Services was originally asked to only represented the northern half of the state, but that around 1984 was asked to represent the southern portion of the state as well and has been representing all of New Jersey ever since. In all, Mr. Russell reports that Fire & Safety Services has represented Pierce Manufacturing in nearly 1500 apparatus sales over the years.
“It has been truly an amazing experience being with Pierce as it grew from a small player in the custom apparatus market to where it is today,” he continued, “and we aren’t event the longest running organization with Pierce, there are 3 or 4 others who have been working with Pierce even longer than us.” What Mr. Russell says he is most proud of is “the fact that through all the changes in the market and the shifting landscape of manufacturers and sales organizations, we have had the continuity and consistency of representing one major brand.” In fact, he believes that Fire & Safety Services’ 40 years of representing Pierce Manufacturing is currently the longest continuous manufacturer/sales organization relationship in the fire service in New Jersey.
As Mr. Russell observed, “Other than having the best staff in the industry, I think this consistency in representation is one of the major contributors to our success and growth over the years. Our customers, and even our non-customers, know who we represented yesterday, who we are representing today, and who we will be representing tomorrow and the next year as well. With all the turmoil in the industry over the last 10 years or so, that is a nice comfort for many people to have… something they can rely on in the roiling seas that has been our industry over the last decade.”
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