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Harold Eidem opened Bearing & Transmission Supply in February 1948, using the kitchen in his Vancouver home as his head office.
After having completed a great buy on surplus inventory from the U.S. Navy, when it came time to get the stock from Seattle to Vancouver, he found himself slapped with an unexpected $1,800 Canadian customs bill. Having used up all his savings to start the company, Harold turned for help to his long-time friend, Norm Hnatuk, in Saskatoon. Norm paid the duty, got the inventory out of the bond, and found himself part of the Bearing & Transmission enterprise. It was the start of a great partnership.
Norm officially joined Harold in Vancouver in November of 1948, and together they worked out of rented premises at 62 East Second Avenue. Being a prairie boy at heart, Harold suggested that Norm check out the local economy on a trip home in the summer of 1949. Based on what Norm saw, he and Harold agreed to set up a second Bearing & Transmission location in Saskatoon to serve the agricultural market. Norm moved back to Saskatoon in the fall of 1949.
The Saskatoon office at Avenue B & 19th Street was an old building with wooden floors that sagged under the weight of the inventory. This inventory represented a big step for Bearing & Transmission: it was kept as part of a formal distributorship granted by Hoover Ball and Bearing Co. and Orange Roller Bearing Co. Inc., Bearing & Transmission's first distributorships.
On the threshold of the '50s, Harold and Norm made a critical decision. They could not afford both offices, so the Vancouver operation was sold (to Bill Hnatuk, Norm's brother). Harold and Norm invested all their energy in developing the Saskatchewan market.
The economy looked promising. The Saskatchewan Power Corporation's massive rural electrification program was producing great demand for V-belts and sheaves. Bearing & Transmission moved quickly to fill the need. In fact, Bearing & Transmission became the first B.F. Goodrich V-belt distributor in Canada. Around the same time, the company took on the Morris Chain line and became a Canadian pioneer by selling chains, belts and bearings to implement dealers as replacement parts for farm machinery.
In 1956, the company experienced exciting growth. Sales for the year reached $356,000 - doubling the 1955 sales! The company incorporated as Bearing & Transmission Ltd. and moved into its own building at 202 - 22nd Street West. This was one of the first buildings constructed in Saskatoon under the federal Winter Works Program.
Throughout the '50s, Bearing & Transmission continued to expand in new directions. It became the "first" distributor for an impressive list of suppliers including Garlock, Hoover Ball and Bearing Co., Orange Roller Bearing Co. Inc., Link Belt-Chains, Renold and Timken. In 1957, the company's first subsidiary was established: Bearing & Transmission (Regina) Ltd., with Art Gyles as partner. With the opening of a branch in the southern part of the province, Bearing & Transmission was ready to meet the coming challenges of the 1960s.
The '60s were a decade of enormous change, and Bearing & Transmission was not about to be left behind. In 1961, Red Holder joined the company to set up a materials handling division called Convey-it. In 1964, to better serve Saskatchewan's increasingly diverse markets, the company was divided into two major divisions: Saskatoon & North under Norm, and Regina & South under Harold. Three new locations were also opened: Prince Albert with Norm Bomphrey as manager in 1965, Esterhazy with Les Tenning as manager in 1966, and Yorkton with Ken Pugh as manager in 1967. The addition of new locations and new employees added to the growing sense of "family" at Bearing & Transmission.
A Decade of Change
At the onset of the '70s, Bearing & Transmission was intent on expanding its operations to meet the growing needs of the agriculture industry, coal mining industry, booming oil patch and Saskatchewan Power Commission's major coal-fired electric power generating stations. The company broadened its market reach by establishing two more locations; Estevan with Stan Giesbrecht as manager in 1970, Lloydminister with Jim Coleman as manager in 1976. The '70s, however was a decade of change in more ways than just company growth.
Harold Eidem, 1916-1976
In 1973, Bearing & Transmission celebrated 25 years in business. That same year Harold bought out Norm Hnatuk's interests in the company and established Bearing & Transmission Holdings. According to Red Holder, "The best thing Harold ever did, besides setting up Bearing & Transmission, was to establish Bearing & Transmission Holdings."
It was an innovative step. Until that point, the approach to the bearing business had been fragmentary. Now Bearing & Transmission Holdings provided the centralized direction for delivery of marketing strategies, financing and other policies. Suppliers soon realized the scope and extent of the company they were dealing with. They realized that Bearing & Transmission was much more than a single shop in one location, it was the sum of all locations. It was this vision for the future that set Bearing & Transmission on its present course of expansion. Sadly, Bearing & Transmission lost its founding father three years later when Harold Eidem passed away. The sense of "family" he had worked so hard to establish, however, endured. Long-time employees continued the Bearing & Transmission tradition of integrity in service and growth, and it was not too long before Harold's sons, Brian and Earl, were able to assume corporate responsibility for the Bearing & Transmission family.
A New Member of the Family
In 1972, Bearing & Transmission acquired two hydraulics distributorships and service businesses in Regina and Saskatoon and established a new subsidiary, B&T Fluid Power Ltd. This was the beginning of HyPOWER Systems Inc.
Growing in New Directions
The '80s saw remarkable growth for Bearing & Transmission, beginning with a Saskatoon North location and a new subsidiary in Edmonton, Alberta's capital city. Alberta's booming economy proved to be a good market for Bearing & Transmission. The company extended into Fort McMurray, with Stephen Thompson as manager, and Drayton Valley in 1986, and Peace River in 1988. With the purchase of Sproule Bearings in 1988, Bearing & Transmission acquired key locations in southern Alberta: Calgary, Lethbridge, and Medicine Hat. With this purchase, Darrel and Terry Rosaine became partners in the Sproule Group.
Bearing & Transmission Comes Full Circle
Forty-five years after Harold Eidem closed the Vancouver operation to concentrate on the Saskatchewan market, his sons Brian and Earl re-established the company in British Columbia. Bearing & Transmission came full circle in 1994 with the purchase of Adanac Equipment in Delta, from Peter Webb. The company moved into the interior in 1997, opening offices in Prince George and Kelowna. In the same year Bearing & Transmission opened the first combined branch with HyPOWER in Campbell River. The '90s also saw the addition of a new location in Grande Prairie, Alberta under manager Darren Redlick in 1995. Today Bearing & Transmission has more than 150 employees serving customer needs in 27 offices across western Canada.
On June 1, 2000, the network of Bearing & Transmission branches was purchased by our now parent company, Applied Industrial Technologies (AIT). With this merge Bearing & Transmission became part of one of the largest distributorships in North America, joining AIT’s network of more than 4600 associates at 445 facilities in 48 U.S. states, 5 Canadian provinces, Puerto Rico and Mexico.
Bearing & Transmission’s Ag division was created in Winnipeg, MB in 2001, and more expansion followed in 2002 when AIT acquired IECO. Over the course of a year IECO locations were renamed and expanded the Bearing & Transmission network into the cities of Campbell river, Castlegar, Cranbrook, Edmonton West, Kamloops, Prince George, Quesnel, and Williams Lake.
Bearing & Transmission has a long history of responding to the needs of the marketplace. It is a philosophy that set the company on its present course of expansion and continues to set the tone for growth. The latest expansion came in 2003, with the addition of a branch in Parksville, British Columbia.
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