What kind of batteries do you sell?
Michael Moeller, president: “We sell and distribute everything from alkaline batteries all the way up to large industrial batteries and everything in between; all sorts of various chemistries. The chemistry that is our real bread and butter that we focus on is the lead acid.”
Who are your main customers?
“The federal government is a key customer of ours, both on the Defense Logistics Agency side … and then the Government Services Agency or GSA. … We also serve as a supplier to a lot of small and mid-sized manufacturers in the region. … On top of that, we have a whole wide range of wholesale customers … all the way down to retail.”
How do you differentiate?
“We’re third-generation going on a fourth-generation family-owned business and so we have a lot of experience that way. … We still hold a lot of that knowledge on what makes a battery good … so when we review our suppliers and go tour their facilities we’re studying some of that, so it’s not necessarily finding a supplier that just wants to distribute in the area.”
What are the challenges for the company?
“With this (recently awarded $43 million federal) contract and some of the other opportunities that we’ve been working, one of the largest challenges right now is being able to manage some of our growth. This one contract … it has the opportunity to more than double our business, so try and manage 100% growth.”
Anything else?
“We’ve been on this corner of 43rd and Lincoln since 1947 … we’ve seen it go from farm fields to heavy industrial to brownfields to now retail.”
Remy Battery Co. Inc.
4301 W. Lincoln Ave., Milwaukee
Neighborhood: Layton Park
Founded: 1931
Owners: Michael and Matthew Moeller
Employees: 30
Service/Product: Batteries