TS: Bob, you’ve been in the hose clamp business for many years now. But, everybody starts somewhere, right? So, how did you first get started in hose clamps?
Bob Ward (BW): I have been involved with hose clamps for about 38 years, since 1986. At that time I was just out of school and I was working in a very junior position in the Detroit sales office for a US based automotive parts manufacturer that had a factory in Canada. One day when I was visiting the Canadian factory, I saw some equipment in storage and asked what that equipment was for. They explained to me that it used to make hose clamps, they then showed me a small building where they had a few other machines operating making hose clamps. They asked me if I could sell hose clamps to the car manufacturers in Detroit.
TS: OK, so now let’s travel back through history and share with us your path to where you find yourself today.
BW: I had some good luck with my first employer and we built a significant business quickly that led to building a new factory within a few years. Soon after completion, the new factory was at capacity, it quickly became clear that while we had a small committed team, the parent company did not see the hose clamp business as a core business and was not willing to make additional investments to further grow the business. By that time, I had been bitten by the bug, I was in love with the fastener business and I was participating on an SAE sub committee that was writing hose clamp standards. I was approached by a German hose clamp manufacturer that wanted to enter the North American (NA) market and asked me to lead the effort. Eventually, I agreed to join them so long as they agreed that I could go after new opportunities and not poach customers from the company that I helped to build.
During the 17 years that I was with the German company I had the pleasure of working with customers in many different market segments all over NA. We introduced dozens of products to 100s of customers in the NA market. I was fortunate to work with a great team of people all over the world that I considered colleagues and friends. Eventually the owner of the company retired and sold the company to PE. The new PE owners asked for my commitment to stay for a year and try working with the new management/owners. Looking back, while it was a tough year I value that time because I learned a lot that helped me to start a new company. The people at the PE company were good business people but they totally changed the business strategy. While I respected the right of the new owners to make the changes, it was not pleasant being the face of the company to so many customers and delivering the message over and over that how we did business in the past was not how we were going to do business going forward. Furthermore, the new owners shifted to a market consolidation strategy and my experience was always growing business organically. After that year it became clear to me that I wanted to look for something new and I resigned in 2007 without a clear plan for my future.
Eventually I decided that I would stay in the hose clamp business because I was in my mid 40s, and hose clamps is what I knew about. I had ideas to start my own company and focus on small to medium sized customers that I knew were being underserved. IFE was a distributor and agent for my former employer that was focused on the Nordic countries. Over the years I had worked closely with IFE on some projects with Swedish customers and we had a lot of success working together. When they heard that I had resigned they reached out to me and asked if we could work together in the future. We decided to get into the hose clamp business together. Since the market had seen tremendous consolidation of hose clamp manufacturers we thought the market would be looking for a competitive challenger. We started IFE Americas in 2008 and launched a range of products under the IFE brand.
TS: You are the President of IFE Americas. Can you tell us what the IFE stands for?
BW: IFE stands for Ingoneriesfirma Fritz Egnell which is Swedish for Engineering Company Fritz Egnell. Fritz Egnell was the great grandfather of my business partner, Patrik Egnell. He started IFE 120 years ago. The first product IFE designed was a marine engine he called PENTA. IFE became an engine manufacturer and made marine engines under the brand name PENTA and soon after started producing automobile engines for VOLVO cars. During the financial uncertainty in the 1930s, VOLVO decided it was not a good idea to depend on an outside supplier for the most important component of its growing automobile company so they bought the engine production business from IFE.
TS: Tell us about your business partner and others at IFE who help you on this growth path you have found yourself in the last several years.
BW: While I had been involved with starting and building new companies all of my career, I always worked as an employee. Financing the new venture was always looked after by a large parent company. When I had the vision to start my own company, I think I was naive about the capital that would be required and the sacrifices that we would need to make. IFE was a long established company and offered to work together and support me. When we started IFE AMERICAS in 2008 within a few months we had a financial crisis. Even though it was very difficult in 2008, we all stuck with the project. Patrik Egnell the youngest in the Egnell family was my regular contact, his background was in finance and has acted as our CFO. Not only did IFE GROUP support IFE AMERICAS financially, Patrik and I work closely together and we talk many times each week. We meet together in person 3 or 4 times each year. We try to meet once in North America, once in Europe and at least one time somewhere else in the world each year. While everybody knows that it is not a good idea to go into business with friends, Patrik and I were business partners first but we have become good friends along the way. Eventually, Patrik and I bought out the other silent partners so today it is just he and I that own IFE.
CAILLAU, a French hose clamp manufacturer played an important role as they trusted IFE to set up and manage a company for them in North America for the last 10 years. Today we also cooperate with CLAMPCO and they have been an important and valued partner for IFE. We have important partners in Asia too but these companies are not known to a Western audience.
Inside the company we are fortunate to have some core long term employees in Bob Morgan, Karen Uhley and Hristijan Georgievski. Each of these people have made important contributions to IFE AMERICAS. Recently we have added new team members to support our growing business and I am hopeful that we can say the same for each of the new team members in the future.
TS: I do not normally jump into technical information during my interviews but I think I would like to go in that direction with you. You are your happiest when you are doing an engineering sales call and when you are problem solving. What are the biggest issues you see in the hose clamp industry and how people use them?
BW: My previous employer sent me to many customers to solve technical problems on many occasions. Over the years I have seen many joint failures and it is not just one or two issues. One of IFEs benefits is that we have a very large range of products along with the know-how and experience to utilize these products to solve technical issues in our customers applications. More than that we understand that for a joint to work correctly all of the mating components need to work together. I would like to say we have magic clamps that can solve every issue but sometimes we find an issue with a hose or spigot that makes up a joint with our clamp. Another issue we often see is incorrect installation processes, most companies pay attention to torque but since hose clamps go on soft joints, assembly speed plays a critical role to get a leak free joint. I find it rewarding when I can draw on my experience and help our customers solve technical issues.
TS: You carry American style clamps, German style, Swedish style clamps. Why are there so many different styles and what should a customer consider when either specifying or buying a specific hose clamp? Are certain styles used predominantly in certain industries?
BW: IFE did not develop these worm drive hose clamp designs. The American style hose clamp is the slotted band clamp that has been around for 100 years. The Europeans developed refined hose clamp design by making a non-slotted band design and rolling the edges of the hose clamps so they do not damage the hose. The Germans developed a design that functions very well and is economical to produce in large quantities, we consider the German clamp the best value design. The Swedish also went with a non slotted design with rolled edges however they tend to use thicker band material and the threads are rolled on the exterior of the band so the inside diameter is smooth. The Swedish also went with a more expensive stronger housing design. The housing is formed from a tube and it is very strong. We only sell the Swedish style clamps in all 316 stainless steel and we mostly sell these clamps into the marine industry. The Germans, British and Swedish all wrote national standards around domestically made clamp designs. It should be noted that each clamp design has strengths and weaknesses. We are happy to work with our customers to suggest the right clamp for the application considering price targets and performance requirements.
TS: I almost hesitate to say this but, from speaking to you, I almost get the impression that Covid and the Supply Chain issues at that time was a positive thing for IFE. Some folks found you as they tried to fulfill their need for hose clamps. True?
BW: While the pandemic was difficult for many people including my wife and I, it is true that the global supply chain crisis that followed certainly created opportunities for IFE. I will always remember a conversation I had with my business partner, Patrik Egnell, during the chaos in the beginning of the pandemic. I recall it was during the time when everything was shutting down and we were wondering what would happen next. He commented we will have opportunities as a result of this, and I responded, “opportunities? I just hope our business survives”. He was more right than me! I think we were able to support many companies with the inventory we had, more importantly we were able to demonstrate our commitment to our core value of always doing the right thing to support our current customers by expediting and flying parts to keep customers supplied with parts. As a result of our actions we strengthened relationships with existing customers and forged relationships with new customers.
TS: Looking into your crystal ball, what do you see going on at IFE?
BW: At the moment we are working on a project to build a new factory in Thailand that will give us additional capacity and decrease our operational risks. We are focused on continuing to grow our business in North America and growing our footprint where we can do business with customers in Western Style economies. Finally, it is important that we continue to build our team as some of our more senior team members approach retirement age.
TS: When you’re not living and breathing hose clamps, what does Bob Ward like to do in his free time?
BW: My adult children live in Tennessee, Illinois and my youngest is in University close to home in Michigan but hopes to move to Northern California to work in the tech industry when he completes his studies. My wife is originally from Mexico and she has a very large family back in Mexico. I travel a lot for business so in the summers we like to stay close to home in Michigan as much as possible and enjoy our beautiful Midwestern summers while hosting visits from family and friends (we were happy to have guests in our home from April through September this year). This past winter my wife and I lived for 3 months in Mexico so she could be closer and spend more time with family and friends. One of my long-time friends lives in Nebraska with his family and as I mentioned, I consider many of the people I have worked with around the world over the years as good friends. When I am not working and traveling for work, I like to spend my time hosting visits or traveling to see friends and family.
Bob Ward
Hristijan Georgievski
Patrik Engell
Karen Uhley
I have a regular column in Fastener Technology International (FTI) magazine, called 10 Minutes with the Traveling Salesman, which can be read online at www.fastenertech.com. Subscriptions to FTI, print and digital editions, are free-of-charge for fastener manufacturers, distributors and users as well as suppliers to the industry.”