Graybar Buys Georgia-Based Distributor Advantage Industrial Automation

Graybar Electric Co., St. Louis, moved to expand its interest in the factory automation market with an agreement to acquire Advantage Industrial Automation, an industrial automation specialty distributor with six locations throughout the Southeast, headquartered in Duluth, Ga.

Graybar has made industrial automation a growth focus at various times over the years, but Advantage is its first automation-oriented acquisition since its Graybar Canada business bought AVAD Industrial Sales in Sudbury, Ontario, in 2010. In its 2014 annual report filings with the Security & Exchange Commission (SEC), employee-owned Graybar reported that industrial and utility sales, combined, accounted for 21.7% of total sales, compared with 54.7% construction and 22.1% commercial, institutional and government.

Advantage provides control and automation solutions to industrial users, original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and system integrators with a strong emphasis on intelligent manufacturing and plant-floor data. Advantage was founded in 1989 and primarily serves the food & beverage, consumer products, water & wastewater, energy and material handling markets in Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee, according to the company’s website.

Advantage Industrial works closely with key Graybar supplier Schneider Electric as part of its Automation and Control Excellence (ACE) distributor program. Advantage was named Schneider’s ACE Distributor of the Year in 2013 in the Solutions category.

As a subsidiary of Graybar, the company will continue to operate under the Advantage Industrial Automation name with the same employees, leadership team and suppliers, Graybar said.

“We are pleased to welcome the Advantage team to Graybar,” Kathleen Mazzarella, Graybar’s chairman, president and CEO, said in a press release. “As we focus on growing our industrial business, Advantage brings valuable experience and a strong reputation as a provider of control and automation solutions.  We are excited to move forward with this acquisition and see it as an important step toward accelerating our growth and expanding our reach in the future.”

A note to customers on Advantage Industrial’s website mentions the added breadth and depth of product and service offerings the company gains as part of Graybar. “Our depth of experience in automation and control solutions, combined with Graybar’s extensive product offer, logistics infrastructure and supply chain capabilities, provides you with unmatched personal service, backed by the strength of a large, well-respected company.”