FEATURE
GETTING THE BALANCE RIGHT
Fully stocked – SBT in Stockton is a one-stop shop for anything you ’ d need in the engineering , industrial and safety supplies market .
Combining oldschool engineering with new-school digital is working for SBT
WORDS : DAVE ROBSON PICTURES : STUART BOULTON
Gone are the days when orders were rung in from a phone box on a street corner – but after 35 years in business , good service remains the key for SBT .
And by successfully managing a balancing act between old-school engineering and new-school digital , they ’ re more relevant than ever in today ’ s increasingly demanding business environment .
The world was a very different place when , in 1990 , Martyn Semark and Pat Hodgers set up Stockton Bearings and Transmissions .
But by adapting along the way , independently owned and managed SBT is , if anything , bigger and better than it ’ s ever been – a one-stop shop for anything you ’ d need in the engineering , industrial and safety supplies market .
As well as its thriving online service , customers can drop in at any time to its store , without appointment , to see if SBT has that vital “ part ” or item of gear – and chances are , it will have , with more than £ 1m-worth of items stocked at its base in Stockton .
As you enter the new store , to the right of the main office , there ’ s a myriad of
Quality – SBT has more than £ 1m-worth of workwear in stock , including industrial footwear .
everything from engineering parts and rock salt to PPE and big-name workwear .
But it ’ s all evolved organically and by cleverly balancing the requirements of oldschool engineers with today ’ s tech-driven digital age .
Sales manager Dan Thurlwell told Tees Business : “ It ’ s a very transient business – you ’ ve got your old school engineers , then you ’ ve got the new , very techy digital procurement teams who want the whole
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