MT Magazine September/October 2025

SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2025

D25

27

MEET THE EXPERTS

“There’s nothing more valuable than networking with your peers,” adds Willie Eichele, president of distributor The HEH Group and a member of AMT’s board of directors. “Having a conversation over dinner, coffee, or in a breakout session is where you get sound advice, such as ways to manage an employee or navigate a builder contract. D25 creates a space where you can take yourself out of sales gear and put your mind in neutral so it can absorb new information.” In addition to cross-pollinating and sharing ideas, networking helps people recharge their mental batteries. Salespeople have a lot of tough conversations. Connecting with others who have shared experiences helps distributors remember that hearing “no” isn’t personal rejection but just part of the job. 100 Years of Distribution D25 will also recognize the extraordinary success of the distribution business model. A customer’s trust in a business grows from localized efforts, and distributors provide the crucial elements of local trust, attention, and technical expertise. “The value of distribution is that we are the feet on the street and your trusted friend,” says Brad Haas, president and engineer at KOMT (Kansas Oklahoma Machine Tool). “Our sales engineers don’t just work alongside the manufacturing engineers and facility owner. Our kids play ball with each other, we go to the same churches, and we shop at the same supermarkets. When a customer asks our sales engineers for a machine recommendation, they know we will support that recommendation throughout the machine’s life-cycle.” Distributors create something powerful by forming a seamless relationship between the local customer and the remote builder. For example, Sykes remembers a situation where a builder could not meet its promised delivery date, but

the customer had already hired an operator for the machine. Instead of that relationship going sideways, Cardinal Machinery helped negotiate factory technical training and a smaller, loaned machine to upskill the operator in the interim before delivery. “There’s no way a remote builder or somebody coming in and out of a territory every quarter can establish that type of rapport or cohesion,” comments Eichele, who is proud of how distributors add value to the manufacturing industry. “I was looking at the AMTDA code of ethics, which was introduced on Oct. 26, 1925,” Eichele continues. “Originally written 100 years ago, the first of its 15 principles states, ‘The foundation of business is confidence, which springs from integrity, fair dealing, efficient service, and mutual benefit.’ It’s incredible how pertinent and important these principles are today.” Eichele can directly trace the origins of his firm, Motch & Eichele, to AMTDA. AMTDA’s first chairman was George Merryweather of the Motch & Merryweather Machinery Co. of Cleveland, Ohio. Merryweather’s business partner was Edwin Motch II, the father of one of the founders of Motch & Eichele. “In 1985, Edwin Motch III became my father’s business partner in founding the Motch & Eichele Co., which is today one component of The HEH Group. I continue to be amazed and humbled by the history of our industry,” says Eichele, who leads both Motch & Eichele and The HEH Group. Registration is now open for the D25 Summit, which will be held Nov. 18-19 in Carmel, Indiana. Visit AMT Online to register and explore unique sponsorship opportunities to promote your brand to the most influential manufacturing technology sales network in the United States.

If you have any questions about this information, please contact Bill at bherman@AMTonline.org.