Chip Hautala: Keeping Machines Running with MotionSource
Chip Hautala — Founder & CEO, MotionSource International
Chip Hautala is the Founder and CEO of MotionSource International, an industrial supplier that helps manufacturers keep their machines running through lubrication, hydraulics, pneumatics, automation, and fluid power solutions. His central message: a company should solve problems honestly, put relationships ahead of the sale, and give back, which is why every MotionSource order plants a tree.
According to Chip, MotionSource helps customers keep their machines running. The product range spans lubrication systems, hydraulics, pneumatics, automation, motion and fluid power. He is clear, though, that he sees the company as more than a parts distributor: it acts as a problem solver and as an extension of a customer's engineering and maintenance departments.
Public company information adds some context. MotionSource is a privately held company in the Machinery Manufacturing industry, headquartered in Solon, Ohio, and founded in 2012. It serves industries including food and beverage, paper and packaging, and steel, offering customized system design and installation services.
The approach combines predictive and preventative maintenance with direct work alongside customers' maintenance teams. Chip points out that those teams are generally overworked and that downtime is very expensive, so the goal is to reduce and eliminate it.
A large parts catalog is only part of the picture. In his view, the catalog means little without the knowledge behind it, so MotionSource invests in well-educated staff and an engineering department that can assemble complicated systems for customers.
Chip says honesty is what customers appreciate most. He notes that the industry has many young people who are just starting out, sometimes in their first or second year on the job. When they call, he says, the aim is to make them look like a rock star at their company by giving them the answers they need.
Often that does not involve selling anything at all. Chip believes that if a company is honest and works with people, they will come back. The company motto, as he puts it, is that nobody wins unless everybody wins, meaning customers, the team and suppliers. Not every call ends in a sale, but each one should help someone.
Chip's reasoning is that a business should be more than a way to make money, and that owners who are fortunate enough to run one should give back to the community and the world. With customers around the globe, he asks why the company would not do this, and he calls trees one of the most important parts of the world.
The company's partner in this effort is Evertreen. Evertreen is a digital reforestation platform that lets individuals and businesses select reforestation projects, plant trees, and monitor growth through satellite and video updates. At MotionSource, the commitment is simple: whether an order is worth $5 or $50,000, it plants a tree. Employees also receive time off to volunteer with charities, but he says involving customers is the most important part.
Chip describes the reaction as very positive and says it did not surprise him, since many customers care about the environment and reforestation. New customers get an email saying their order has just planted a tree, and existing customers are updated on how many trees they have planted so far that year.
The appeal, he explains, is that customers need not send a donation or fill out a form. They simply place a normal order, and a tree is planted on their behalf.
Chip wants MotionSource to plant more trees as it grows. He also hopes the example inspires other companies, in the United States and internationally, to ask why they cannot do the same, potentially starting a wider movement. His long-term goal is an impact that lasts longer than any single order, and longer than MotionSource itself, since the trees will outlast the company. How can you contact MotionSource International?
To learn more about MotionSource, check out their website at MotionSource1.com. Customers can email [email protected] or call 888-963-6686.
Comments
No comments yet — be the first to share your thoughts.