Stone Truck Parts
9 CVSN INSIDER August 2009 There were others who have played significant roles along the way. As board members, Jim Stone and Fred Stone, Jr still share their advice from several decades of industry experience. HDA Parts Network was instrumental in the formation of Stone Truck Parts. Joining HDA was one of the first decisions we made. I'm not sure we could have gotten to where we are today without them said McLemore. HDA will play a big role in the future along with CVSN. We're fortunate to have CVSN so dedicated to the aftermarket and the resources that they have available. Their ability to bring leaders in the industry together from the dis-tributor and supplier sides is tremendous. The Aftermarket Summit in September is a great example of that and Don and I are looking for-ward to being a part of that meeting. Though many factors have contributed to Stones' success, the economy over the last year has made the road to sales growth a little rougher, according to Purcell. These are difficult times and that's made the challenges even tougher for us as a distributor. The mar-ketplace isn't growing as we were accustomed to so it'll take a lot of hard work to grow our market share. That means going back to the basics and one of those is to not get to far away from the customer. We've got to make sure we It's August 2003, less than 30 days after Stone Truck Parts was formed. Partners Keith Mc-Lemore and Don Purcell stood in their newly-leased warehouse and watched the first vendor shipments slowly trickle in. I remember the first shipment, it was from Goodyear. We truly started from scratch when we began this busi-ness said McLemore. We leased a building but had no inventory, no employees and no customers. What we did have, though, was a ton of experience and a passion that Don and I could build a strong regional company and that we could do it in a short period of time . Fast forward to the summer of 2009. Stone Truck Parts now has three locations, more than 50 employees and over 1,000 customers. And as McLemore predicted, Stone Truck Parts has made a significant impact in the North Caroli-na marketplace in a very short period of time. Partner Don Purcell believes that the right peo-ple have been the key. We've been fortunate to have a mix of great people said Purcell. We've got people we've worked with in the past and some that are new to the heavy-duty industry. It's been all about finding the right personnel and letting them do their jobs . Purcell pointed out that having the right peo-ple in place allowed successful partnerships to form with both suppliers and customers. We knew we had to form relationships in each of those areas; with employees, with suppliers and most definitely with customers. We be-lieve that way of thinking has really been a big plus for us , he said. CVSN MEMbEr PrOFILE Stone Truck Parts Keith McLemore Partner Don Purcell Partner