Taking its name from Founder Mike Brennan, Brennan Industries began life as a small manufacturer in 1953. Since then, the business has been passed down through the family, each member putting their own stamp on the organisation, without losing sight of its customer focus.
Today, Brennan is led by Mike Brennan’s grandson David M. Carr, who acts as company CEO. Guided by the same four pillars that have long provided Brennan with its stability and drive – Quality, Availability, Support, and Innovation – the company is recognised as a global leader in the production of hydraulic fittings, adapters, and accessories.
Close to the Customer
Brennan has expanded significantly over the years, evolving from a single-site US business into an international organisation with 15 distribution centres and four manufacturing facilities. Serving a wide range of sectors, from agriculture to aerospace, the company offers close to 200,000 product styles and sizes.
“Over the course of more than 70 years in business, we have transformed from a small regional business into a major global company,” David summarises. “I’ve always wanted Brennan to be a global brand, and we are proud to have been one of the first US businesses to have taken up production in China back in the 1980s. Since then, we have added sites across the world, including in Canada, the UK, Mexico, Brazil and China.”
Brennan’s substantial global network provides the business with proximity to its customer base, which can be found in all parts of the world. Consequently, the company has become known for its fast delivery and superior customer experience.
“If you place an order, you’ll get it the next day, accurately,” David declares. “We have a broad offering, and our fill rates are higher than anyone else in the industry. We really pride ourselves on convenience and ease of doing business.”
In line with the company’s focus on customer convenience, Brennan is actively working to futureproof its operation and remain relevant in a changing market. For instance, the organisation is currently undergoing an upgrade to its website that will modernise client experience without sacrificing Brennan’s personal approach.
“Our website is going to change dramatically,” David affirms. “We are going to vastly improve the platform, giving the order process more of a streamlined ‘Amazon’ feel to it, but if you have technical questions, you’ll still be able to chat with an expert directly.
“It’s important to understand how consumers are changing and what they will want from a business like ours in 10 or 20 years’ time. Many customers now make purchases through smartphones, so we need to evolve to accommodate their needs.”
Enthusiasm and Energy
Embracing change has become a hallmark of Brennan in modern times. The company is highly adaptable and nimble enough to make decisions far more quickly than the majority of its competitors. In the US, for example, Brennan was unafraid to transition from a more balanced industrial manufacturer to a company whose production share skews heavily towards aerospace components for the likes of Boeing, SpaceX, Bombardier, Lockheed Martin, and Sikorsky.
Equally boldly, the forward-thinking organisation has consciously assembled one of the industry’s youngest teams – a factor that differentiates Brennan from many of its more traditional rivals.
“If you came into our headquarters, you’d think we were an IT company,” David says, commenting on Brennan’s dynamic workforce. “We have actively tried to create an environment where there’s a lot of enthusiasm and energy.
“For example,” he continues, “the team member running our US plant is just 28 years old. He came to us straight from college, passed through our management training programme, spent some time learning on the job, and now he’s leading the facility.
“Most of our management team is made up of people in their twenties and thirties. Visitors are not just surprised by how young they are, but by their enthusiasm, how well they listen, and how much they care.”
For David, the culture at Brennan has been instrumental in the company’s success. One of the greatest challenges the business now faces is ensuring that the same spirit and ethos is present at all Brennan locations across the world. As such, culture has become a key consideration during Brennan’s acquisition and expansion process.
“When we made our recent acquisition in Brazil, we did so because we knew the depth of product the company had, but more importantly, their culture was very similar to ours,” David reports. “If the culture hadn’t been right, we probably wouldn’t have gone ahead with the deal.
“Thanks to our Vice President of Human Resources, the culture across our global footprint is very consistent. Whenever we take part in charitable initiatives, we do it together, globally, but with an understanding for local causes that are important to each market.”
Collective Effort
As a company with a strong culture of service, it’s no surprise that Brennan is active in its local communities around the world. The organisation encourages volunteering of all kinds and organises charitable work for its management team to take part in together.
“Our next volunteering project will be with Hope Lodge,” David states. “Hope Lodge is connected with the American Cancer Society and the project provides people facing cancer with somewhere to stay when their treatment is far from home. Our team will go down to the lodge and make dinner for the cancer patients, as well as potentially reading stories, playing chess or backgammon, and performing various other activities.”
In-house, the togetherness of Brennan’s team has been illustrated by a simple, but powerful activity. After hearing about the idea from his son, David recently encouraged all locations to introduce a jigsaw puzzle into their break rooms with the idea being that employees can add a piece or two when they pass by, slowly working together to complete the jigsaw.
“In each break room, the puzzle we’ve chosen is representative of the city where the site is based,” David notes. “It’s a stress reliever that also builds a sense of collective effort. Seeing so many employees engage with the activity has been wonderful, and when the puzzles are complete, we will seal them up and put them on display as a reminder of our community spirit.”
Aided by its team’s togetherness, Brennan is now looking to forge new relationships, as well as improving service for its existing partners. At the heart of the company’s vision for the future is expansion – both in terms of its brand and its product offering.
“We have already had conversations with potential clients in Australia and Italy,” David reveals. “There is huge potential for us to grow the business.”
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Brennan Industries – businessfocusmagazine.com
