January 2019
Dear valued customers,
We have some exciting news to share with you! We are pleased to announce that, after careful deliberation and planning, we have decided to merge the Standard & Stanpro businesses together.
Strategically, this merger will allow the two companies to utilize each other’s strengths and synergies. This will allow the combined entity to increase its value proposition and to invest and grow at an accelerated pace.
Merger benefits and features
This said, some of the key benefits and features of this combined business are as follows. It will:
- Be one of the largest lighting companies in Canada, employing close to 400 people
- Be 100% Canadian owned and managed
- Have Design, Engineering & Manufacturing capabilities in Canada
- Possess core strengths in Construction Projects, Retrofit, & National Accounts
- Enjoy extensive business development capabilities at Specification, Contractor, and End-User levels to create demand for its products and to support its distributor network
- Include the following major categories:
- Industrial Lighting
- Commercial Lighting
- Architectural Lighting
- Decorative Lighting for Commercial & Residential Applications
- Emergency Lighting
- Explosion Proof and Harsh Location Lighting
- Accent Lighting (Tapes, Strings, Pucks, Undercabinet, etc.)
- Temporary Lighting
- Lamps
- Ballasts
- Drivers
In the meantime
Combining the two businesses will be a major effort, of course. We plan to “go live” as a combined business in the fourth quarter of this year once we migrate to a uniform platform on SAP. Between now and then, we will combine parts of the businesses that make sense and leave other parts as is. For example, you will continue to call the same inside sales people, place purchase orders, and receive orders for Stanpro separately from Standard. From an outside sales perspective, each company’s reps will be able to offer both Standard and Stanpro products for stock as well as for project and retrofit opportunities.
In the next week, we will be busy communicating and rolling out the plan to our employees and will be providing a further update on February 7th. It will outline detailed changes that we will be implementing. We feel confident that our updated structure will allow us to serve and support you in an even more significant way moving forward.
The future
In the fourth quarter, once we “go live”, the combined company name will change to Standard-Stanpro Inc. All services and support, namely, will be integrated. Currently, distribution centers and sales offices are located in multiple buildings in BC, Ontario, Quebec, & Nova Scotia. While we plan to keep the same footprint, we will eventually be consolidating into one facility in each area where we have more than one property.
In terms of Management, Standard’s David Nathaniel will be the CEO of the combined business. On the other hand, Stanpro’s Sam Rimoin will be President, and Stanpro’s Rob Nadler will be Executive Vice-President. Sam and Rob have done a fantastic job building Stanpro over the past 18 years. They have the experience and capabilities to take our new business successfully into the future.
We are proud of the teams at both Standard and Stanpro and thank them for putting us in a position that allows us to join our forces. We will move forward stronger and more capable than ever to bring value to you, our employees, and the marketplace.