Providing Emergency Power Generation Solutions Gives KC Electro-Mechanical Strong Growth

More and more companies are providing services 24 hours a day, seven days a week. At times, people's lives or livelihoods depend upon 24/7 service.

An essential element in providing this expected high level of service is power, the electrical power necessary to operate key functions to serve customers or clients.

One George S. May International Company client that has become a recognized leader in the Emergency Power Industry is K.C. Electro-Mechanical, Inc., based in Hamilton, N.J.

Founded in 1988, K.C. Electro-Mechanical (KCEM) is a leading power systems integration company. It provides AC and DC power systems for standby, prime and co-generation use to a variety of industries including telecommunications, data processing, health care, water treatment and utilities. These types of companies, along with a range of other more specialized businesses, use KCEM to meet their emergency power equipment needs.

The company's products and services equal a one-stop source for virtually any business that requires on-site power generation.

"I started this company 14 years ago in my garage," company owner Dan Kulik said. "Every business person has visions of what their operation could become, and I'm happy to say my dreams are coming true.

"Back then the main focus of the business was contract maintenance and emergency service and repair of diesel and turbine generator systems. Today," he explained, "I can say we do it for more industries than we could have imagined back in the late 1980s.

"In fact, we've recently completed a very successful merger with another company, NextGen Power Systems. This makes us the leading national service company providing sales, service, installation and maintenance of AC/DC power systems."

For KCEM, it wasn't luck that made the company a success. It was hard work and a customer-service orientation that created the foundation for the $100-million nation-wide power supplier.

The various moves that the company has made to progressively larger facilities, expansion into new market areas and the addition of employees points to the success of the company.

The first of the moves was from the garage in Washington Township, N.J., which gave birth to KCEM, to a building in the neighboring town of Carlstadt, N.J.

KCEM grew steadily and in 1997 the company had established a large customer base and expanded its products and services. To serve the growing number of customers brought to it by its expanding services, KCEM relocated again to Hightstown, N.J. This new location gave the company better access to the major highways and roads to serve customers and improve emergency response times.

The next step in the growth was the addition of independent sales representatives who helped grow the company by better determining what additional products and services the expanding customer base wanted. As the increased awareness grew and brought in many new customers, the company opened a new service center in Marietta, Ga.

Continuing to grow, in 1998 KCEM opened a third service center in Altamonte Springs, Fla. Demand for their services in this area of the country was so strong that the location was quickly outgrown the operation and moved into the central-Florida/Orlando area, operating out of a new facility with offices, warehouse and outdoor storage space.

At this time a partner was brought on as vice president, Brian P. McGeary, who strengthened our wireless communications relationships. "Through these years, we've always looked for new opportunities," noted the company president. "By 1999, we had built a large business in the booming wireless telecommunications industry. This is an example of the type of operation that was only starting up in the late 1980s. Today, it's an example of the type of business that people rely upon. The capabilities of emergency power generation, supplying electricity to cellular transmitting towers when utility power is out, is a reason people have come to depend upon today's cell phones."

This new wireless service business was quickly developed and integrated into the three KCEM service centers. Coupled with the generator systems sales, service and maintenance business unit, the wireless business unit helped KCEM experience phenomenal growth and the opening of yet another service center location in Raleigh, N.C., in 2000.

The company now operates out of four centrally located service centers on the East Coast providing products and services to businesses of all sizes, including numerous Fortune 500 companies.

"A key reason for our success is the people we have," explained Dan Kulik. "With more than 80 employees, the people on our sales and service staffs each have numerous technical and factory certifications. In fact, we are one of the very few companies to have in-house personnel to service both turbine and diesel generator systems as well as the DC power market."

The successful businessman explained that one of the early values he wanted to use in building and growing his company was a creative, can-do attitude.

"With this perspective we can view every task as an opportunity to help the customer by providing multiple solutions," he explained.

Even with this powerhouse of a business, Kulik understood that there were certain areas in his operation that needed improvement with the assistance of outside experts.

"With our growth and the expansions we were involved in, there were areas that I knew needed more attention than we were able to provide. That is when I called in the people from the George S. May International Company," he stated.

"Growth was making us skip over some areas that I knew needed to be attended to," Kulik explained. "Areas like effective sales reporting, accurate labor burden calculators and better cost analysis were necessary. Other issues including a weak employee handbook, incomplete job descriptions, incentive plans, and other human resources issues and procedures were eventually going to catch up with us.

"I feel the investment made with May International was well worth both my time and money."

In April of 2000, KCEM and NextGen Power Systems merged into a nationwide organization to provide sales and service to AC/DC power market and distributed power markets. The merger brings new product and service offerings to its customer base and allows KCEM to offer a nation-wide footprint to pursue national sales and service contacts.

"The marriage of the two companies," Kulik noted, "also provides tremendous opportunities for our employees to advance and develop throughout the entire national organization.

"Once again, it was the team work, talent and dedication of all our employees that allowed K.C. Electro-Mechanical to take advantage of this latest growth opportunity."

BACK TO HOME PAGE