Big data will help this company sell more gloves, goggles and hard hats

Bridget Milot believes that big data and a bigger information technology department will position Protective Industrial Products to gain a larger share of the market for safety goggles, hard hats and gloves. 

The vice president of administration and corporate counsel for the Latham, New York safety equipment supply company hired 15 employees over the past week and recruited Richard Hellar, the former head of information technology at Proximo Spirits, a subsidiary of tequila maker Jose Cuervo International. 

"If we want to continue to grow and be a leader, we have to be nimble, we have to continue to make acquisitions and we have to be at the forefront of change," Milot said. 

Protective Industrial Products doubled its revenue over the past five years to $250 million by making and supplying safety equipment to 2,500 distributors around the world.

The company, which was founded in 1984 by Bridget Milot's father Joe Milot, acquired Safety Works in Wexford, Pennsylvania in February. The deal, which adds $30 million in annual revenue, gave Protective Industrial Products a roster of customers who supply safety equipment to large retailers including Cintas, Amazon and Staples. Access to retailers gave Bridget Milot insight into how data and an expanded information technology department could make it faster and easier for customers to manage inventory, monitor invoices and track shipments.

"Retailers are pushing for that," Milot said.

That is why she spent months searching for talent to help expand her information technology department.

"We had strong people in their areas of expertise, but we needed to find someone to quarterback this whole thing," Milot said. "It was time to bring in people who had outside perspective. People who had been where we need to go."

Hellar, who had been working at Proximo Spirits headquarters in New Jersey, is the new chief information officer at Protective Industrial Products. Milot also hired four other employees with experience in cybersecurity, as well as managing software and operating databases for the distribution and retail industries.

Protective Industrial Products has U.S. offices in Minnesota, Indiana, Tennessee and California as well as its headquarters in Latham and a manufacturing and distribution center in Guilderland.

The payroll has grown to 300, including 20 new positions that have been added this year at the Guilderland Center distribution and screen printing site. Those jobs were added to handle production that the company picked up through the acquisition of Safety Works, which previously had purchased safety equipment from Protective lndustrial's competitors.

About half of the company's workforce is based in the Albany region, including 90 people at the corporate headquarters in Latham and 60 people in Guilderland.

Milot said Protective Industrial is positioned to continue seeing double-digit revenue growth each year.

Investments in technology are part of the formula that will make that happen. The other factor will be the ongoing search for safety equipment companies that Protective Industrial can acquire.

"We are on a strong acquisition hunt," Milot said.

: http://www.bizjournals.com/albany/news/2016/08/22/big-data-will-help-this-company-sell-more-gloves.html