Comunale discusses Tri-Ed post-acquisition

Tri-Ed will continue to be the brand name for the security division of Anixter following the recently completed acquisition of Tri-Ed by Anixter.

That seems like a smart move, and also probably not a huge surprise to those who have followed this deal.

The company also announced that Pat Comunale will serve as president of global security solutions for Tri-Ed. James Rothstein will serve as SVP of global marketing and Dirk Foreman, who headed up sales to high-end integrators for Anixter previously, will continue in basically the same role for Tri-Ed. His new title is Global/National Integrator Sales. Rothstein and Foreman will report to Comunale.

I caught up with Pat Comunale yesterday, who said he's more invigorated today about the possibilities for Tri-Ed than he was 10 years ago when the distribution company was launched.

“The opportunity is much larger than building a brick-and-mortar business,” he said. The new Tri-Ed is a “real value-added distribution platform. The services we can provide using the Anixter lab, the capabilities, infrastructure and support we can offer for large customers inside and outside of security … it's a very powerful solution.”

Anixter now has more products to offer its customers and Tri-Ed can now get into the higher-end IP-products [and projects]. “We're approximately a $2 billion security business globally, which is unparalleled in our industry,” Comunale said.

Tri-Ed has 65 locations and it is opening up four offices within the month in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.; Baltimore; St. Louis and in northern New Jersey, Comunale said.

Previously, Anixter only had physical sales offices for its security operation. It did not have not have branch distribution offices. “Now their customers can come to any Tri-Ed office for pick up,” Comunale said.

The security division headquarters, previously located in Glenview, Illl., will be based here.  Comunale said all of the back office functions of Tri-Ed and Anixter have been integrated. The last piece is getting both sales teams on one platform, Comunale said, which he expects will be accomplished in 9 months.

Comunale said his largest challenge is communication “keeping everyone informed of what's happening. “We have a standard biweekly phone call [which everyone is invited to join] where we give a status update within the business.” In the future, Comunale plans to include some vendors and customers in those calls.