Texas-based MIner Corp. Lands 5 Companies On Inc. 5000 ... Again!

Exciting and optimistic. That’s how Phil Miner and Jeff Schmeck viewed life at the turn of the 21st Century.

The principals in Miner Holding Company launched two new businesses in 2000 (Miner Houston, Miner North Texas), acquired another (Miner El Paso) and were off and running with a fourth startup the following year (Miner Fleet Management Group). Each company was tied into making Miner a successful single-source provider for sales, service and maintenance of retail and warehousing equipment for Fortune 1000 companies, specialty retailers, and manufacturing and distribution warehouses.

Then, the tragedy of Sept. 11, 2001 literally halted the nation and world economies.

“We had one brand new startup and three fledgling businesses,” said Phil Miner, CEO of the Miner Holding Company. “We were thinking the world was our oyster. Then, 9-11 hit and nobody had any idea what to expect.”

“I was in Phoenix (home of Miner Southwest) and had to drive back to San Antonio,” recalled President and CEO of Miner Fleet Management Group, Jeff Schmeck. “That gave me 17 hours in the car to try to figure out what to do.” 

Schmeck returned to the office to find Miner waiting and eager to talk about forging ahead. “We basically were bucking each other up, telling each other it was going to be OK,” Miner said.

Fast forward to September 2008. Miner and Schmeck have reason for continued excitement and optimism:

• Five Miner subsidiaries were just named to Inc. Magazine’s Inc. 5000 list of the nation’s fastest-growing private companies – for the second year in a row! Four of them are among the 378 Texas firms to make the list.

• Miner Fleet Management Group, which cracked the Inc. Magazine's list of Amereica's Fastest growing Private Companies for the 3rd year running, ranked ahead of more-celebrated notables such as San Antonio-based Rackspace Managed Hosting. Miner Fleet saw 319 percent revenue growth between 2004 and 2007. In it’s first year of eligibility (2006), Miner Fleet ranked no. 210 on the Inc. 500 list of America’s Fastest growing Private Companies.
  

• This month, Miner marks its 14th year in business – 14 years in which it has never recorded a losing fiscal year, or even a losing fiscal quarter. Miner posted 58 consecutive quarters of profitability through August 2008, including the quarter after Sept. 11, 2001.

• Miner employs more than 140 full-time workers at sites in Arizona, Florida and Texas, and approximately 150 contract employees who provide direct service daily to Miner customers. Another 2,000 service partner professionals are located throughout the United States, Canada, Mexico and Puerto Rico.

• Miner serves more than half of Fortune 500 companies on a regional or national level.

Who is this superstar?

Many of the companies that Miner serves are household names, including Target, Toys “R” Us and Rite Aid.  Yet Miner, Schmeck and their team have quietly built a brand of companies that topped $50 million in revenues in 2007.

Now Miner Fleet Management Group, which services all of North America, is ready to make noise. Miner is positioned to become the dominant and most diversified materials handling company in North America. Executives believe the company is on track to reach the $250 million in the next five years.

“They say the first $50 million is the hardest,” Phil Miner says jokingly. “But the truth is, we have built our success on consistently innovating, changing and refining so we provide better products and services for our customers, with the goal of reducing their costs and improving employee safety.”

“Companies throughout North America, large and small, have relied on Miner to consistently deliver professional emergency maintenance service, regular equipment analysis and proactive service plans. That leaves them more time to focus on their core business, not on the business of maintenance.”

In the world of warehouse and materials handling, Miner has emerged as a superstar. Miner offers a complete products line of dock, door, warehouse and materials handling equipment for all retail and warehouse applications.

Miner also is a solutions expert on retail and warehousing equipment maintenance, with design-build expertise tapped by architects, developers and general contractors who are planning retail and warehouse projects.

Success Based On Promise, Philosophy, People

Miner is successful, in part, because it has the only same-day response guarantee in the industry, with a promise to have customers operating by the next day or the first visit is free. Miner service professionals are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. And Miner provides a 12-month warranty for its work, including parts and labor.

For companies that lose hundreds or thousands of dollars a day when a warehouse dock door malfunctions or a pallet jack is down, this Miner Superior Service Guarantee is a real differentiator that attracts customers. Miner knows that retail and warehouse equipment breakdowns can cost time, money and marketplace positioning

Yet Phil Miner says the company’s success is also based on its investment in its people and the company’s adherence to its Core Values and Beliefs:

• Practice the Golden Rule.
• Live by the Code of Honor.
• Always do what’s in our customer’s best interest.
• Build trust through open dialog and candor.

“We focus on hiring people who live the four core values – who treat each other with common respect, live by the code of honor, who understand that we must always do what’s in the customer’s best interest because, ultimately, that’s what’s going to drive long-term customer loyalty and relationships,” says Phil Miner.

“One goal we set this year is to build heroes,” Schmeck adds. “That’s the concept that our guys want to come to work every day so they can go to the job site, get work finished and get out of there so customers are taken care of. When they do that, it makes them feel good – it makes them feel like a hero.”

One technician in San Antonio recently exemplified the Miner hero philosophy when, an hour before he was to leave for the airport for his vacation, he got a call from a customer with critical equipment that had broken down.

“Our other guys were knee-deep in jobs,” Schmeck said. “So this guy decides to miss his scheduled vacation flight so he could take care of it. He did it because he knew his co-workers were busy on an all-night job and they were going to be tired. That guy received well-deserved company recognition, the gratitude and admiration of his co-workers and his own superhero cape and Superman action figure.”

‘Doing The Right Thing Makes Sense’

As a company, Miner also took a step toward hero status when, just a few months ago, executives decided to approve two additional scheduled personal days for all of its employees. The added days come with the provision that workers should use the time to volunteer for a charitable cause of the employee’s choice in the community. The commitment is the equivalent of 2,400 hours of volunteer service this year.

“We have people who deliver meals to seniors, work at the Food Bank, volunteer at the San Antonio Sports Foundation, hospitals and senior centers,” Phil Miner said. “People feel good when they can help others. That’s why we are in the service business, so we feel that giving our employees another opportunity to give back to their community makes sense. Doing the right thing usually makes sense.”

Doing the right thing carried Miner Holding Company through 14 years of success. It makes sense that continuing to do the right thing will carry the company through years to come.