by Dan Perkins

Whenever a major sporting event comes to a town, it creates scores of opportunity for local businesses.  This summer, the city of Milwaukee hosted Major League Baseball’s All Star Game.  The event gave the town and its entrepreneurs an opportunity to display their wares to a global audience.  One of the companies selected to supply office furnishings during the 2002 All Star Game was E.R. Abernathy Industrial, Inc. (ERAI), a women-owned, minority-owned firm specializing in safety, construction and industrial supplies.

Edna Abernathy formed the supply company that bears her name in September of 1991, however, her path to entrepreneurship was not direct. Prior to establishing ERAI, Abernathy managed a medical practice that specialized in surgeries.  Abernathy initially planned to pursue a career in law, but after a year and a half of law school, she realized she preferred management to law.  While managing the surgical practice, Abernathy discovered millions of dollars of opportunity in safety and industrial supplies.  She gave the matter thoughtful consideration and decided the supply industry would be a good place to pursue her entrepreneurial aspirations.

Abernathy commissioned a study of the supply industry and learned that larger companies routinely acquire smaller ones.  She also discovered that there were few minorities and women in the field.  The more she learned, the clearer it became that success within the supply industry was contingent upon a company’s ability to negotiate favorable contracts.

Negotiating was a strong suit for Abernathy.  She cultivated strong negotiating skills in college where she majored in political science.  She later refined those skills in law school.  When she became serious about stepping out on her own, she took an entrepreneurial course taught by a woman who worked in the construction industry.  The class gave Abernathy the skills needed to develop a business plan based on the finding of the industry study that she had commissioned.

With a loan from the State of Wisconsin and with an infusion of capital from her parents, Abernathy launched her business.  A college friend also invested in the company but after four years, left the company to Abernathy and her parents.

Confident of her ability to learn on her feet, Abernathy set out to grow her business.  Abernathy quickly discovered that the male dominated industry was unwilling to take her fledgling enterprise seriously.  Her next biggest hurdle involved building a strong team.  Abernathy admits that finding the right people for the organization remains a problem to this day. “A lot of top talent wants to go to the top corporations,” observed Abernathy.  Despite the difficulties, ERAI has gained respect from the industry, and has developed as an organization.  Today, the company employs a staff of ten.

Abernathy was smart about getting help.  She knew she needed help with marketing, and found that help through a technical assistance program offered by the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewage District.  Through the technical assistance program, a consultant named Allen Faucett worked with Abernathy.  He examined how technology would affect the industry and this help ERAI tremendously.  “He made recommendations that really helped me grow the business,” said Abernathy.

In addition to her own determination to succeed, Abernathy credits her company’s success to two things: leveraging its status as a minority and woman owned company and providing customers with personalized service.   Abernathy is unapologetic about her status.  With so many entities in both the private and public sectors seeking to procure goods and services from minorities and women, Abernathy thinks it would be foolish to ignore two of her most marketable assets.

She knows her status will only get her in the door and then it becomes a matter of price and performance, but Abernathy says she competes on both counts.  With less overhead, Abernathy finds she can offer attractive prices.  She also claims to be small enough to pay attention to the details in ways larger firms often do not.  Personal marketing efforts combined with customized service have allowed ERAI to become an industry contender.

Favorable pricing helped Abernathy win her first contract.  In 1991, Chemical Waste Management (CWM) was looking for minority participation on a contract.  Abernathy submitted a bid with numbers that were better than what CWM was used to getting.  “We continued to build upon that contract,” said Abernathy who began focusing on garbage supply contracts.  She subsequently won a $3 million, 5-year contract to supply the City of Milwaukee with refuge containers.

Multi-year contracts provided an important foundation for Abernathy’s start-up operation.  Today, the company sustains its growth through a combination of multi-year contracts and one-time buys.

Abernathy said she has received good advice from her lawyer, her board, and an individual who once owned a larger safety supply company, but she has had to learn a great deal on her own.  One of the most important lessons she learned is to keep an open mind to joint ventures. 

A joint venture with Montgomery Kone Elevators (MKE) enabled Abernathy to establish her company in the field of elevator and escalator supply.  Prior to ERAI’s involvement, the field was void of minority or women participants in the Milwaukee area.  In fact, Abernathy said that prior to her co-venture with MKE, elevator and escalators were often exempt from minority and women participation goals.  Being a pioneering soul, the exemption was precisely what motivated Abernathy to consider the specialization and the co-venture with MKE. 

Her acumen paid off handsomely.  ERAI started working with MKE on small projects, the first being an elevator project for the University of Wisconsin.  As ERAI’s expertise developed, Abernathy began do bidding on more contracts to supply cabling, lights, railings and paneling for elevators, and glass for escalators.  Abernathy was pleased to find that manufacturers were willing to accept MKE’s recommendation to have her company supply them with components for their elevators and escalators.  

Two years after beginning the association with MKE, Abernathy bid on the construction of Miller Park, the stunning new home of the Milwaukee Brewers.

Abernathy’s company received the contract to supply the glass used for the sidewalls of the enormous escalators that whisk fans to the upper levels of the ballpark.  ERAI also received a contract to supply the paneling and the cabling for the elevators inside the ballpark.

Besides the supply contracts, ERAI was a principal member of the Mortensen team that bid to handle the general contracting for the entire Miller Park construction project.  Mortensen was one of three or four entities bidding to become general contractor.  Although the Mortensen team did not receive the contract, Abernathy is proud of her role in that effort.  She said she learned early on that “some of something is better than all of nothing.”

Miller Park continues to play an important role in ERAI’s growth in the supply field.  The company continues to supply the Milwaukee Brewers with cabinets, office furnishings and other supplies as needed.  ERAI has enjoyed the two-year relationship with the Brewers, and All Star Game this summer may open the door to more opportunities.

During the All Star Game, Abernathy’s company supplied the organizers with coat racks and more than 200 tables. 

Edna Abernathy would like to go beyond the Brewers to service other baseball organizations.  She points to multi-year contracts for which she supplied garbage can liners to the City of Milwaukee, and toilet paper and paper towels to Milwaukee County.  Abernathy hopes to have an opportunity do the same for Major League Baseball as well as other sports franchises.  She is confident that her bids will warrant serious consideration.

Over the past eleven years, Abernathy has expanded her company’s service capabilities to include national accounts.  The company received contracts to supply snap-on tools to all of Miller Brewers’ domestic plants, which span from California to Indianapolis, down to Georgia.

“You start with one plant and gain others along the way. Once you are in the system and know that corporate culture, it’s a lot easier to service another plant because you already have knowledge of the client’s needs and systems,” said Abernathy who regards Miller as a company that practices what it preaches when it comes to supplier diversity.  Abernathy said the company has consistently sought opportunities for ERAI to bid on contracts.  Those efforts have enabled ERAI to add air filters and other industrial plant supplies to the list of services that it provides to Miller’s domestic operations.  Miller has even used ERAI’s consulting firm, which specializes in information technology.

Another important client for ERAI has been Mitsubishi.  ERAI has been supplying the company with labeling products and safety supplies for the past 5 years.

Abernathy has succeeded, in part, by not becoming too heavily dependent on any one industry.  Instead, she maintains a broad mix of clients and diverse servicing capabilities.  She likes having first-tier (or prime contractor) relationships with major corporations, although those relationships require a higher level of servicing capability, technology and stability.  “It’s important to be a first-tier supplier,” said Abernathy who prefers receiving a check from a major corporation than from a prime. Nevertheless, Abernathy remains open to second-tier relationships, especially with companies that are looking for competent firms to help them fulfill their compliance requirements.

“It’s all a matter of being open to the right opportunities,” said Abernathy.  Given Abernathy’s pioneering spirit, inclusive approach, and bold vision, great business opportunities are likely to come in large supply.

THE END