Component distributor looks to stay a step ahead
Brothers Robert “Bob” and Leland “Lee” Ackerley co-founded their electronic-component distribution firm Smith & Associates 35 years ago by jumping what at the time was one of the more lucrative waves of the U.S. economy, so it stands to reason that the company continues to grow by adapting quickly to shifting consumer habits.
“When we started, probably 300 companies in America made personal computers,” said Bob Ackerley, who quit his job as a pipeline engineer during the 1984 oil industry downturn
to start Smith with his brother. “We thought, ‘We don’t have to be geniuses. We just have to be a part of it.’”
The brothers first invoiced parts in 1984 under the name N.F. Smith & Associates, the realty company where Bob’s wife Nora was employed, and the name stuck. Fastforward to 2018, and Smith generated $1.66 billion in revenue, making it Houston’s eighth-largest private company. More notably, the company saw its annual revenue approximately double during the previous three years on a combination of smartphone sales and, more recently, cloud-computing growth and the resulting demand for more servers.
That’s not to say there haven’t been challenges along the way. Every boom driven by the popularity of such items as laptops and internet computing has been offset by factors such as the internet implosion and the recession of the last decade.
Ackerley says the company, which has about 220 employees in the Houston area, now faces the challenge of finding people experienced with either sales, programming or data sciences, especially during periods of low unemployment. Additionally, Smith isn’t immune to geopolitical issues, and is dealing with the fallout from the 25 percent tariff that the U.S. government imposed on Chinese imports last year.
Still, Ackerley is looking forward to the next technological boom and the potential impact on component-distribution. He says the two areas he’s most optimistic about are automated home assistant systems and increasing sophistication of driverassist, navigation and entertainment systems in automobiles.
“After 35 years in business, you still have to hustle for talent and for customers. That’s the culture we have at Smith,” said Ackerley. “We’ve been through it all — booms, busts, recessions. Somehow, we survive.”
“After 35 years in business, you still have to hustle for talent and for customers. That’s the culture we have at Smith.” Bob Ackerley