Mobile hydraulic component provider Bailey International LLC has been established in its field for nearly 50 years. The business was founded by Adrian and Mary Bailey in Owosso, Michigan in 1976 before moving to its current home of Knoxville, Tennessee in 1982. The Baileys sold the company to a private equity firm in 2012 before it was purchased by Alabama-based conglomerate EBSCO Industries in 2019.
Ken Baker, Chief Executive Officer since 2015, credits the company’s relationship with EBSCO for allowing a lot of flexibility on the path to growth. EBSCO runs like a private equity firm in that it offers capital for projects, but it also has a long-term mentality that allows Bailey to take a longer-term horizon in the decision-making process.
Baker explains that recent acquisitions by Bailey have helped to form the nucleus of the company today. These include Sure Grip Controls in 2015, Hydrolico in 2022, and IEC (Industrial Electronic Controls) in 2023, the latter as a product add-on for Sure Grip. These acquisitions helped to change the structure of the Bailey business into two distinct units: hydraulics and electronics, which Chris Rowley and Darren Lockyer have respectively been in charge of for two years now.
Throughout these recent moves, Bailey’s territory has expanded considerably to include locations in Montreal, Quebec; Grand Rapids, Michigan; and Victoria, British Columbia. The business also boasts engineering and sourcing capabilities out of Chennai, India.
Bailey offers customizable as well as standard off-the-shelf solutions and quick turnaround thanks to lower costs and the use of both domestic and overseas manufacturing. This provides customers with an array of options to meet their standards and give them technical expertise regarding supply chain and logistics. Everyone at Bailey wants to engage with clients to understand their needs and offer them a full suite of products for any project they desire.
Recent endeavors have spurred Bailey’s ongoing market growth. Getting into the single axis joystick market in 2021 allowed the team to fill a need in that market that customers were asking for, Lockyer says, leading to an additional project launch of a new ergonomic handle in 2022. This year, a new armrest product was launched in response to customer needs once again, as Bailey’s joysticks and handles mount into an armrest, which some customers found difficult to source reliably.
Rowley shares that the hydraulics side recently launched what it calls its MVP Program (motors, valves, and pumps) which has dovetailed nicely with the additional technical expertise from the acquisition of Hydrolico. Bailey’s reputation was built on cylinders for such a long time that some customers only knew the company for that singular offering, so this program will promote the individual pieces of the hydraulics division.
Baker says that a high level of customer service has always been a hallmark of Bailey International, alongside being a marketplace differentiator for nearly 50 years. From engineering and technical support to product breadth and availability, to stocking programs and customer support, “We want to make sure our customers feel cared for,” he says.
This approach is summed up in the term coined by Lockyer: “Fingertip-to-Tooltip,” which means that the business wants to ensure that it has product range and technical support capabilities at every level, from the human interface elements of a mobile machine like joysticks, handles, or pedals to the electronics, hydraulics, and actuators inside it. Rowley says that this approach resonates with customers because it relates to how they interact with the company’s equipment.
The focus is also aimed at sustainable practices. Baker says that the company has a strategic initiative on minimizing its negative environmental impact and it is a key tenet of its current 10-year strategy. The hydraulics division recently achieved ISO 14001 status, and work in that area has allowed the company to identify opportunities for reducing waste streams. For example, a baler has been brought in to much more aggressively recycle cardboard, an ever-present element in receiving and shipping.
Bailey has also partnered with a group to create high-efficiency light bulbs and ballasts to waste less electricity. Several company sites have been engaging in different practices to promote recycling and waste control, from recycling plastic masks, gloves, and packaging to using lower-energy technologies and encouraging more creative solutions by both management and employees to minimize environmental impact.
A move toward greener practices or, indeed, top-tier customer service like Bailey offers is simply impossible without a dedicated and capable workforce. The company believes in empowering customers to win by empowering its team. Over the past few years, it has concentrated on continuing to train, educate, and provide opportunities to its employees because, as Rowley says, they are the ones who make the business by engaging with customers. Recent endeavors have focused on engaging and listening to employees to ensure they have a say in the company’s direction.
From a market perspective, 2024 has not generally been a strong year thus far; however, according to Baker, the company is projecting modest growth for its fiscal year. As industries continue to rebound from COVID-19, higher interest rates and softening markets have become a new norm. Bailey’s growth will be driven by opportunity wins and an increased market share, but many industries that Bailey follows like construction, agriculture, and more are notably struggling.
From a technology point of view, electrification and the application of artificial intelligence are going to be aspects to watch, especially as control systems continue to evolve to leverage more of these burgeoning technologies.
As Bailey develops more products in-house and sources appropriate partners for its operations, it draws ever closer to becoming a true one-stop shop. Moving further toward this goal will help more firmly establish strong customer relationships, which will in turn give customers a trusted partner to turn to and minimize procurement partners they must work with on a project.
Although some of the company’s clients are experiencing tough times because of market conditions, Bailey is doing everything it can to provide support and establish relationships to be viewed as a valued partner. “We want to be the first call a customer makes for help to solve problems,” Rowley says, and the company wants to be seen as an expert not just in mobile hydraulics but in problem-solving writ large.
According to Baker, Bailey is in the closing stages of a multi-million-dollar investment in its domestic manufacturing operation in Knoxville, as well as being in the planning phase of expanding domestic manufacturing in North America—in Montreal specifically. As both a manufacturer and distributor, the company having strong manufacturing capability domestically is an important recent milestone, he says.
In Victoria, the company will be moving its electronics operations into a new headquarters around 2026. Along with the MVP program, more new product developments are soon to be released, with more strategic acquisitions coming further down the line to help bolster growth.
Bailey International has worked hard in the past two years to make sure to serve customers who need any combination of its hydraulics, electro-hydraulics, or electronics solutions. The company will continue to fulfill its fingertip-to-tooltip mission. As Baker says, “There’s still more to go but we want to ensure to keep our unified sales approach to the marketplace.”
