Press

Phillips Reorganizes to Expand Strategic Businesses, Promotes Two Presidents

Santa Fe Springs, CA (October 16, 2019) Effective October 1, Phillips Industries has restructured their business.

Five distinct strategic business units (SBUs) have been created to focus resources on specific markets in order to be even more responsive to customer needs and innovative in product development. New SBUs organized under the Phillips corporate umbrella are Phillips Aftermarket, Phillips OEM, Phillips Connect Technologies, Phillips Asia-Pacific, and Phillips Europe. Each SBU will have a separate board of advisors to assist in business and performance planning to promote successful strategies within their distinct markets.

Propelled by a philosophy to provide customers with innovative, solution-driven products, the evolution of Phillips began over nine decades ago with the design and patent of a reflective turning “signal arm” to make signaling safer for trucks. Since then, the company has continually progressed from a regional truck parts distributor to an innovator and manufacturer of advanced air and electrical components for the heavy-duty trucking industry. Within the last two decades, Phillips has exploded in growth from a few hundred employees and three locations in North America to over 1,500 employees and eight locations worldwide.

“We are at a place with our business today where doing things the same way will simply not allow us to grow at the pace which we have in the past. We’ve over-stretched our existing organizational structure and are showing signs of becoming ‘too corporate.’ In our business, big doesn’t beat small. It’s the fast that beats the slow, and we are reorganizing in a way that places customer responsiveness and the ability to be flexible as our highest objective. We were raised on ease, flexibility, and a TNT (today, not tomorrow) attitude. By breaking into smaller, more focused businesses, we will continue our tradition of being incredibly easy to do business with,” commented Rob Phillips, president and COO of Phillips Industries.

Along with the restructuring announcement come two senior leadership promotions:

Rob Myers has been named as president of the newly established Phillips Aftermarket business unit. With a team-oriented and relationship-driven attitude, Myers is an energetic and unique individual with outstanding communication skills and a strong background leading successful teams and building lasting connections. As a board member of the Heavy-Duty Marketing and Sales Forum (HDMSF, part of HDMA), he is also recognized as a knowledgeable individual within the industry, staying abreast of industry successes and challenges. He was promoted from director of sales to vice president of sales in 2017. Under his direction, the sales growth at Phillips has grown exponentially since 2016, with the percentage of growth in the double digits. As president of the Phillips Aftermarket SBU, he will play an important role in furthering their efforts and growth in that segment of their business.

“We’ve grown significantly during this most-recent business cycle and recognize that we’re better for our customers when we’re smaller, scrappier, and completely focused on helping them grow their businesses. Whether it’s with the way we innovate new products or we handle rush orders, we are narrowing our focus on just the Aftermarket, or just the OEM business in order to continually be easier and more reliable than ever to do business with,” said Rob Myers, president of Phillips Aftermarket.

Filiberto Coello will take the helm as president of the Phillips OEM Business Unit. Coello joined Phillips in 2008 as general manager of Phillips’ Electrical Harness Division in Arteaga, Mexico. He came to Phillips with a strong background in Lean manufacturing. Trained in Japan in the Toyota Production System, and a strong believer in the Lean culture, he possessed the knowledge to create and set in motion the proficiencies necessary to deliver solid results at their manufacturing facility. Over the course of his career, Filiberto has been instrumental in the development and expansion of Phillips EHD, which has experienced 600 percent growth since 2008. EHD has received numerous ‘Masters of Quality’ Awards from Daimler and has the lowest standard lead time in the industry, delivering custom harnesses in just two to three weeks. Coello was promoted to the position of general director in 2011 and has maintained director-level positions throughout his career at Phillips.

“We have established a great team that is capable of supporting this new business structure, and we are ready for this strategic transformation. We’re confident this new structure will help us to continue growing the OEM sector, and we believe it will increase our focus on customers’ needs,” said Filiberto Coello, president of Phillips OEM.

About Phillips Industries

Since 1928, Phillips Industries has been recognized as a leading innovator and manufacturer of advanced electrical and air brake system components, as well as electronic solutions for communicating vehicle data to fleets and their drivers for the commercial truck and trailer industry. Phillips’ products are standard on nearly 100% of Class 8 trucks, more than 50% of all trailers manufactured in North America, and can be purchased at virtually all premium distributors. Phillips has manufacturing and distribution facilities throughout the US and Canada, as well as Mexico, China, and Europe. Phillips maintains active membership in key industry associations including American Trucking Association, SAE, Truck Trailer Manufacturers Association, Heavy Duty Manufacturing Association and various state trucking associations. Their manufacturing facilities have earned the top-quality accreditations including ISO/IATF 16949 and ISAO 14001 as well as multiple prestigious customer awards from Daimler, NAPA, and many others. Visit www.phillipsind.com for more information.

To access images of Mr. Myers and Mr. Coello to accompany this press release, please go to:

Rob Myers

Filiberto Coello