With the sheer volume of products Motion offers – we’re talking hundreds of thousands of SKUs across a wide range of industries – it would be easy for customers to be overwhelmed by choice. Indeed, one of Motion’s strengths is the ever-growing range of alternatives available for any product, in any application.
But where do customers begin navigating this range, discern one product from another, and identify which one is best suited to their unique needs?
According to Ryan Kendrigan, Executive General Manager – Engineering & Services, Motion is perfectly positioned to help customers work through this process without the stress.
“Motion’s roots are in parts and components supply, but over time we’ve added the technical expertise to be able to help customers apply those products effectively,” Ryan states. “The next step was the evolution of our service businesses, where we went beyond just applying a product, and into designing, manufacturing, and producing comprehensive solutions.”
Stephen Forbes, Executive General Manager – Motion Fluid Power Solutions, says that it’s a matter of working closely with customers to identify their needs, and drawing on Motion’s wealth of product, application, and industry knowledge to tailor solutions to suit their business priorities.
“Different customers can have vastly different needs,” he says. “Some want their suppliers to be deeply embedded in their business, as they don’t have their own expertise in our field. Motion can fill that gap for them, working hand-in-glove to come with the right solutions to improve their operations and keep them moving.”
“Other customers place a high value on product choice and availability, as a multi-brand organisation, customers can always rely on Motion to provide options and alternative solutions”.
Asking the right questions
Ryan emphasises that the interaction between Motion’s three main business arms – Engineering and Services, Fluid Power Solutions, and Industrial Solutions – empowers all teams to draw upon expertise from across the business.
“Anything that moves, any piece of plant and equipment – we have the potential to add value, both in terms of supplying parts and solutions,” he states. “The Motion business has been specifically structured to help customers maximise the value of their equipment. So, we’ll approach our customers with open-ended questions and with a curious mindset, to identify their problems.
“And once the problems are unpacked, a tailored solution is formulated to address the root causes and prevent their recurrence.”
Nick Kerwin, Executive General Manager – Industrial Solutions, says it’s all about being curious and asking the right questions.
“One of the real strengths for Motion is the real, genuine care that’s evident throughout the whole team,” he says. “There’s a real willingness to do whatever it takes to help customers, to go the extra mile than some of our competitors are prepared to.
“If you really care enough about your customer to dig a little bit deeper, ask the right questions, and go beyond the obvious superficial issues staring you in the face, you can properly explore a customer’s pain points and how the different parts of the full Motion offering can connect to it. It becomes a powerful offering to the market.”
Nick states that while Motion has evolved into a larger corporate entity, all arms of the business are still rooted in strong family business values.
“Over the years, we’ve built a strong structure around what we call the ‘RELY’ framework: we want to be Responsive, Efficient, Local, with a ‘Yes, can do’ attitude,” he says. “And that enables us to combine the family values with all the extra resources we now have available to us.”