The name has changed from GE Supply to Gexpro, but the company's electrical distribution business has not—although the potential is there for it to grow stronger.

So says Jeff Schaper, president and CEO of Gexpro in Shelton, Conn., in an interview with Purchasing. Gexpro customers, many of whom are MRO buyers, can expect to see no real change in the business or in the company's direction as it continues its transition, he says. The Paris-based Rexel Group, with $12.3 billion in sales, and one of the largest electrical distributors in the world according to Industrial Distribution magazine's top 50 list for 2007, acquired GE Supply in August 2006.

Gexpro's customer base consists mainly of large contractors and global accounts at companies with multilocations. A U.S. sister company, Rexel Inc. in Dallas, distributes electrical supplies mostly to small to mid-size contractors that service residential customers.

Schaper says that Gexpro can draw on the strength of its sister company should customers be looking for those capabilities. More important, customers can expect the Rexel Group parent company to contribute to the continued growth of Gexpro.

"Where we have a unique fit with a customer, it will be business as usual, with the addition of potential investment to make us even stronger," Schaper says. "And we will be looking at acquisitions, which we have not done in quite some time. We will be much more aggressive on acquisitions."

Schaper: “Our new name, Gexpro, builds on 100 years of excellence.”

Gexpro provides customers with more than 250,000 SKUs, representing 200 manufacturers, and operates an integrated logistics management business, a global sales center, tech center, product specialist network as well as Internet ordering and e-commerce operations. It has more than 170 locations in the U.S., Puerto Rico, Europe, the Middle East, Southeast Asia and China. In Ireland, the company will continue to do business as Kellihers Electrical.