By Sondra Sneed
Our cover story starts with $500 and the trunk of a car then winds its way round the high road to a truck stop. Aries Manufacturing has been in mobile products since 1991 when Tom Novak was selling wireless accessories door-to-door to independent retailers in Chicago. “It was good timing,” he shrugs. But Novak’s humility thinly veils the 24/7-work week that built his company all those years ago to what it is today.
“I am extremely proud, of our facility,” he admits. That facility is a “one-of-a-kind” in wireless manufacturing and distribution. With 50,000 square feet of warehoused goods, they utilize a state-of-the-art. 4,000 SKU, Pick-to-Light system, which allows for the pick and ship of 15,000 separate orders per day at an accuracy rate of 99.9%. This system will serve well as they are destined for mass merchant retail sales along side their agent/dealer channels.
“We built Aries Manufacturing through our independent cellular dealers,” he says, “and as they grew, we grew.” That growth is about to expand again after a strategic move to partner with 45-year-old Cobra Electronics, historically known for their over-the-road products found in the trucking and driving industries. Aries Manufacturing is headed for the big rigs with serendipitous timing.
“We continually look for ways to expand business,” explains Tony Mirabelli, Cobra Electronics’ SVP, sales and marketing. “We had recently embarked on Bluetooth for hands free communication with our 2-way radios and the success of that piqued our interest in Bluetooth products. Coincidentally, one of our customers introduced us to Aries who was looking to license the Cobra brand.” The coincidence led to an ultimate partnership and resulted in a suite of new products, most notably the impressive T5 headset with extraordinary noise canceling capabilities. And while the wireless accessories market might groan at yet another Bluetooth headset, the T5 over-the-head headset has been strategically placed within the trucking community and scrupulously engineered before being stamped with a Cobra logo.
According to Mirabelli, a product in the trucking industry will live or die by word of mouth communication that still buzzes
through the CB radio. “All of the advertising in the world will be squelched by this community if a product doesn’t perform well,” Mirabelli warns. “We have great respect for these over-the-road business people who work in complex, noisy environments. Cobra is very excited about the success of the T5 and we are putting a great deal of support toward our new partnership with Aries.”
Glowing praise for Aries Manufacturing is not uncommon as they have gained immense loyalty
from their retail customers over the years. “All systems and processes at Aries are organized with the express purpose of getting the product to the customer in the most efficient manner possible,” Novak says. Some of the company’s biggest hurdles are attributed to the rise and fall of the economy over the past 18 years but he says that it’s been their investment in technology that has allowed a competitive edge in service to retailers and order fulfillment.
Focusing on technology is also what keeps the company flexible along with a great sales staff with their speed to market. Aries Manufacturing lists a set of principles regarding innovation, integrity, leadership, trust and passion, placing innovation first as the key to their success in an industry driven by technology and challenging convention at every turn.
But Novak insists that their best business solution has always been customer service having treated his customers with the respect he wants to be treated with and claims that surrounding himself with good people has helped to further that cause as they’ve grown. “I am very proud of the world-class staff that makes up Aries. Not only are staff members knowledgeable about our products but they are friendly and easy to approach with questions.”
One of those approachable types heads up their operations. Mark Bowen has been with the company for 17 of its 18 years and has watched the dynamics of the dealer channel first hand, noting the ebb and flow of indirect to corporate, back to indirect dealer networks, by the carriers.
“For years now we have been watching the dealer channel being reduced by the big carriers but companies like Sprint and T-Mobile still support their dealers very well,” he says. Bowen thinks he sees a sustainable trend this time, for the corporate store model over the dealer model, “except for maybe the bigger master agents,” he adds. This trend lends itself to mass merchant operations, which benefits a company like Aries, in the end.
“Right now we generate separate packaging for as many as 250 different dealer brands and that’s labor intensive.” Anything labor intensive makes it difficult to control costs and with the constant change of OEM products, cost control is essential to maintaining margins for the retailer. The cost of obsolete products has become a real challenge for accessories manufacturers like Aries, who believe that profitability for their customers is of the utmost importance.
Despite product challenges, Novak and Bowen have been continually reassured by strategic moves like the recent Cobra deal to keep pushing Aries forward. The company is also in the process of expanding its product line into Europe, Canada, and South America and has stated that their best markets lie in retail and mass merchants. Aries future is indelibly tied to the changes in the wireless industry and it has been their impeccable timing that has taken the company this far.
Since timing is so important to them, one is compelled to ask Novak to glimpse into the future. He says, “The future of the wireless industry lies in a convergence between entertainment systems, access to information, and computing - all of which will be available through a handset. Aries will create wireless accessory products that enhance the user’s experience.”