Ray Torres, president and CEO of Checkers Industrial Safety Products, oversees the company’s acquisitions by day and serves as an amateur bowler by night. He officially joined Checkers as president and CEO in June 2012, where he stepped down from chairman of the board to take an executive role with the company. BIC Magazine recently visited with Torres to learn more about Checkers’ acquisition strategy, its growth initiatives and the importance of being transparent with all of his employees.
Q: What is the biggest news at Checkers right now?
A: Our acquisition strategy. We look at acquisitions from two perspectives: those that are defensive and those that are offensive. The defensive acquisitions are the ones where we’re acquiring competitors, making the market less fragmented. The offensive acquisitions are the ones where we go into new markets and territories that have new products. Some of our acquisitions straddle both the offensive and defensive lines, but this strategy has been very beneficial for Checkers. Recent additions to the Checkers family include AlturnaMATS, Terraplas, Zigma Ground Solutions, Superior Manufacturing Group Inc., SVE Portable Roadway Systems, GNR Technologies and Firefly Cable Protectors.
Q: Are you looking to grow in new markets or expand in current ones?
A: Both. The markets Checkers is typically known for are legacy markets such as mining, entertainment, and oil and gas. Checkers has made a conscious effort to expand past those legacy markets. We’ve expanded our national accounts presence and our online presence, and we’ve expanded to other energy markets (both temporary and permanent power, as well as alternative energy). We’ve also expanded into the government and military sectors. Checkers is diversifying throughout multiple end markets and industrial sectors.
In addition, Checkers is diversifying geographically. We export to over 70 countries, and 35 percent of our sales are international. One focus for Checkers is to increase its business in the Southern Hemisphere. This would remove some of the seasonality in our business if we had stronger sales growth in the Southern Hemisphere to offset the offseason sales in the Northern Hemisphere.
Q: What is your best management tactic?
A: I was very fortunate early on in my career to have two or three mentors who took an interest in me. Because of that, I have a strong disposition to help, develop and promote people. A major management tactic of mine is to let employees know I’m transparent, and I’m upfront with them. Also, when I’m working on an acquisition for Checkers, I go in with a proposal that’s reasonable and has a fair value. People like this, and it’s one of the reasons we’ve had so much success with acquisitions. People have been comfortable selling Checkers their family businesses because they know we’re going to be fair to the legacies of their products. When making acquisitions, Checkers protects the brands and the legacies.
Q: Do you have a favorite quote?
A: “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.” — Aristotle. This is my favorite quote, and you’ll find it in my email signature.
Q: What is a “fun fact” about you most people might not know?
A: I love competitive bowling. When I get a chance, I bowl at least two times a week and enter amateur tournaments held throughout the U.S.
For more information, visit www.checkersindustrial.com or call (877) 384-6103.
