The British are coming to Sapulpa

Well, not the British themselves, but a Sapulpa warehousing business called Spec-Tech, just got a big contract for the British Navy. <br/><br/>News on 6 business reporter Steve Berg explains how such

Friday, May 27th 2005, 10:51 am

By: News On 6

Well, not the British themselves, but a Sapulpa warehousing business called Spec-Tech, just got a big contract for the British Navy.

News on 6 business reporter Steve Berg explains how such an unlikely scenario could take place and how Spec-Tech does business all over the world. Stored in colorful bins at Spec-Tech are products for a colorful array of clients.

"We stock products that are shipped all over the United States and the world. Our customers are in Japan, France, Israel, England.â€ Spec Tech founder Steve Farmer spent 25 years working for other companies, mastering the art of inventory and warehousing. You probably don't think of it this way, but there's a lot of business to be had in stuff sitting around doing nothing. "The niche market that I'm in, that's what I do for a living, we buy products in gross amounts and then sell bits and pieces."

You see, manufacturers don't want lots of parts sitting idle on "their" shelves, that ties up their money. Also part-makers usually only sell in bulk, when the manufacturer really only needs a half-dozen. So that's where warehousers like Farmer come in. "And you'll notice these are scheduled, we take the all the way out to the year 2007."

Manufacturers can order only what they need, without having to worry about where it came from or how to store it. "So, we have the ability to give somebody that luxury and that's what really attracts them to us."

He got Rolls-Royce's attention when they were building engines for the British Navy. "A lot of these products they buy for these engines are American-made. They have no presence in America, they have no warehousing capability and so we're bringing to the table, the possibility of giving them storage at a competitive rate."

The Brits were a little worried about those Oklahoma tornadoes they've been hearing so much about, so Farmer is going to build a 5,000 square foot warehouse underground.

The parts might just sit around but Farmer and his crew don't. "We've gone from 3 people in 6 months to 11. We have expansion plans to go from 11 to 20 by the end of the year."

Farmer says Oklahoma is great for the warehouse business with its central location and its low overhead costs. In fact when he started Spec-Tech back in 2003, he chose to come back to his hometown of Sapulpa from Texas.