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Never Be Out!

Guided by this simple directive, ELFCO doesn't give customers reasons to look elsewhere.

Stepping up to direct the company their father started nearly 40 years ago are, from left, Mike, Tom, Terri and Dan Gleason.

Nothing goes out the door without the ELFCO logo on it � many of the basic nuts and bolts items go in a custom ELFCO box.

When ladders come in they feature the ELFCO name and logo imprinted at the factory. When they go out, they include the customer�s name stenciled in place as a finishing touch.

Custom cutting Unistrut channel and threaded rod is a significant service that ELFCO customers have come to rely upon. A section of the new warehouse has been set aside to make it easier and more efficient to accommodate the increased demand for this value-added activity.

The new warehouse with its spacious aisles and wide racks makes filling orders fast and efficiently, much easier than in the multiple building layout of just a few years ago.

The balcony area above the offices at ELFCO holds the slower moving items and those, like power tools, that require extra security.

A recent Milwaukee tool promotion turned the showroom into a "madhouse" according to the Gleasons. They sold more than 500 hammer drills in one day as buyers responded to the unadvertised special event.

With eight overhead doors in the shipping/receiving area of the new warehouse, moving inventory from the smallest fastener to a heavy load of steel has become easy and efficient.

Don Rigg helped to get the Electrical Fastener Company off the ground. The semi-retired comptroller still has his pulse on the financial side.

MOKENA, IL - Carl Sandburg called Chicago the "City of the Big Shoulders," but many of those keeping it vibrant and expanding rely on support from a company as nimble in its response to their needs as the elf in its logo.

Established nearly 40 years ago, as the Electrical Fastener Company, today's ELFCO has evolved to become a working partner with some of the largest, best known contractors in the Chicagoland area. ELFCO-branded fasteners, ladders and tools can be found wherever the Chicago Transit Authority is on the move; in some of the most prestigious commercial and condominium projects in the city, and across the expanse of O'Hare International Airport, just for starters.

"When our business started, it was strictly nuts and bolts," recalls Mike Gleason, son of the founder and one of four family members currently directing ELFCO. "As the industry changed we started to expand into things like drill bits, extension cords, ladders, hole saws, anchors and power tools. The company's limited offering expanded to a vast, fully stocked warehouse.

"Anyone can sell these things, but having them in stock and being able to deliver right away sets us apart," he adds. "When a customer doesn't have to wait, and doesn't have to come to the store and pick things up, that makes doing business easy, and builds loyalty.
"We're still old school in many ways, and that goes back to Dad's philosophy when he sold just nuts and bolts: Never be out of them, don't give customers a reason to go anywhere else!"

From doodle to icon

Building the ELFCO brand has been an evolutionary process with the company putting its name and distinctive logo on almost everything that goes out the door.

"We put our name on everything that we can," Mike Gleason explains. "It might be etched in a tool or as simple as a sticker, but nothing goes out of the warehouse that doesn't have ELFCO on it.

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