Apex Remington: Enhancing Oilfield Efficiency and Savings
For piping supply company Apex Remington Inc., customer service is a top value. “People are our bottom line,” says Jeff Conlogue, regional sales representative for the company’s Watford City, N.D., location. “We are out there to make sure the customer has what they need to complete their jobs.”
The Watford City store provides parts to oilfields in the region. This includes “anything oilfield-related,” Conlogue says. “Key offerings include products for tank battery construction and pipeline construction.”
The Watford City store opened three years ago. “We came up here to focus on what is needed,” Conlogue explains. “We tailor the store to customer needs so the focus can shift. We have the flexibility to do that.”
Full-size Warehouse
The 12,500-square-foot Watford City warehouse store recently added 5,300 additional square feet. The building features high ceilings for ample vertical warehouse storage and a 9-acre pipe yard.
Conlogue and Store Manager Harry Smith have seen the business develop from the ground up. “Before the official opening, we were slinging parts out of the back of a trailer,” Conlogue recalls. “When the warehouse was turned over to us, the only thing inside it were two forklifts.”
The team then built up the shelves from nothing. Since then, good relationships and customer service have been a key ingredient for success. Many longtime customers have changed roles and companies, “and we’ve still been here to build relationships,” Conlogue says.
Although the fast-paced business atmosphere of the Bakken Shale has many advantages, it also presents some challenges. For example, transient personnel can be a challenge for the Apex Remington Watford City location. “With everybody up here, it is always about personnel,” Conlogue says. “That is the biggest challenge. It is about getting the right people in the door. We really have a good group and we have the right people in the right positions.”
When it comes to working with customers, the Apex Remington Watford City team excels at providing good prices. “There have seen soft oil prices and that has been a challenge,” he explains. “That is why we are always working to get the best price. We think of ourselves as part of their team. As their logistics side, we make sure the customer is always getting the best customer service and the best possible price. Everybody is looking for ways to save money so we do that for them.”
Apex Remington’s approach to pricing and customer service helps make sure everybody makes it through the current period of low oil prices until prices rise higher once again in the future, he says. “Having our forward-deployed inventory is key,” Conlogue says. “We have a lot of success because supply chain here [in remote North Dakota] can be a challenge. When a customer calls, they need the part yesterday and we have that forward-deployed inventory here. We also have the flexibility to adjust inventory as needed.”
Supplier relationships are critical to the company’s success, and the Watford City site keeps most items in stock with a responsive group of vendors for resupply. Its customer service is “fantastic and attentive with good, quality people – the right people who are competent in the industry,” Conlogue says.
North American Leader
Founded in 2008 and based in Tulsa, Okla., Apex Remington is the No. 1 provider of drilling equipment, pipe, valves and fittings to the energy and industrial markets, the company says. “With our strong commitment to information technology and our focus on always keeping the customer first, Apex Remington is positioned with the experience, technology and inventory to be [their] first call for pipe, valves and fittings,” the company says. “Our employees have extensive knowledge, broad experience and a thorough understanding of our customers’ needs and how to help customers complete their material sourcing in timely and efficient ways.”
The company has a Canadian head office in Calgary and a total of 12 locations in North America. Apex Remington emphasizes logistics, procurement and product knowledge at all of its sites.
“We realize the importance of excelling in business is closely linked to an organization’s ability to define its competencies and to become exceptional in those areas,” Apex says. “Our organization has identified the core competencies of logistics, procurement and product knowledge as those that we must excel at in order to provide our customers with results that positively impact their financial performance.
“We have and will continue to develop supply agreements with manufacturers that effectively manage all elements of their total cost through an effective combination of quality, price and service.”
Apex Remington believes business should be conducted fairly and honestly, for example:
+ Apex Remington is positive and passionate about what it does.
+ Employees take their jobs seriously, but not themselves.
+ The company embraces change and innovation.
+ Apex Remington is friendly and caring towards its people and customers.
+ The company treats everyone with respect.
Apex Remington also has other beliefs. For example, it feels that the person doing the job knows best and anything can be improved. Apex Remington also states that the customers’ needs are critical so “we work safely because quality is everyone’s job.”
Full-size Warehouse
Returning to the basics of service and supply, Apex Remington was created with a focus on customer service. It is dedicated to providing clients and manufacturers a partner in their supply chains.
Apex Remington is a technically diverse and service-oriented team that has proven abilities to provide customers with superior service and technical capabilities. “People are our most valued asset and are recognized and encouraged for their innovation, contribution and accountability,” Apex Remington says.
As a piping supply company, Apex Remington focuses most of all on customer service, Conlogue relates. “People are No. 1,” he says. “That is the bottom line. We are out there to make sure the customer has what they need to complete their jobs.”
Since “anything oilfield related is something we can get. That is our sweet spot,” Conlogue works with many diverse items. Some product is typical and might be a high-volume big-seller while other items are rare and harder to come by, he explains. These fringe items are nonetheless stocked, as well, as they could be needed at a moments notice.
With the new 5,300-square-foot addition to the Watford City store, stocking these items is now all the easier. Before oil prices dropped recently, plans had been drawn up for a new store in the Bakken. Although these plans have been temporarily shelved, when prices rebound Apex Remington will have a head-start on the competition. Despite all this excitement, Conlogue never looses sight of the secret to his success. “That is good supplier relationships and attentive, fantastic customer service,” he says.