ERIKS North America has long been a well-known distributor that focuses on applications using industrial and hydraulic hose, gasket and conveying system solutions. The Pittsburgh-based company was No. 4 on MDM’s 2022 Top Hose and Hose Accessories Distributors List.

But the company underwent a year of change throughout 2022, led by its divestment from former parent company, Netherlands-based ERIKS N.V. at the end of March of last year. 

Since then, the company has been busy revamping its leadership team, which included former President & CEO Jeff Crane re-joining the company this past June as its CEO. The company has since added a new CFO, COO, a new HR leader and Key Industry Director.

For Crane, it brought him full circle with ERIKS NA, which he led as its President and CEO from 2006 to 2015 when it was formerly known as Lewis-Goetz, which ERIKS NA acquired in 2011 and rebranded in 2018. In between, Crane was President and CEO at manufacturer/distributor TPC Wire and Cable, which rebranded as Trexon in 2021 — giving him considerable added perspective on the distributor-manufacturer relationship that he brought back to ERIKS.

Crane joined the MDM Podcast to discuss how he’s come full circle with ERIKS NA, the company’s new-look leadership team, a recent acquisition and how the company looking to grow now as a standalone entity.

“I think there are a number of opportunities for us to invest in commercial activities and commercial capabilities that we don’t have,” Crane said about ERIKS NV. ”I had a wonderful experience in having those capabilities in-house at TPC, like inside sales and capabilities that we built there that I think we have the opportunity to build at Ericks North America. We’re aligning the finite resources we have around those best opportunities so that we’re placing our bets as effectively as we can.”

Additionally, this past January, ERIKS North America notched its first completed acquisition since last year’s divestment from ERIKS NV in the form of DeeTag, a fluid and material conveyance distributor with two locations in Ontario and one in North Carolina.

Crane and I discussed that whirlwind of change for ERIKS North America and what the company is looking to do as a standalone entity going forward.