This week’s M&A roundup features a pair of dealers, Kelley Connect and Applied Imaging, that decided to double their pleasure by obtaining two dealerships to close out 2021.
Continuing its expansion in the Pacific Northwest, Kelley Connect has acquired two new companies, increasing its footprint in the technology space. Advanced Document Systems (Kent, Washington), and Superior Office System (Medford, Oregon), are now in the fold. All employees will be retained in the merger.
“As we continue to execute our strategic growth plan, both Superior and Advanced were a natural fit,” said Aric Manion, CEO of Kelley Connect. “They take great pride in the best local service and support, and already offer the highest quality products. They’ve done so for years. Now, that thriving business community is offered the additional resources that Kelley Connect can continue to provide.”
Kelley Connect continues to bring strategic technology solutions to businesses large and small. The ongoing effort to help businesses reach their goals with an entire suite of products and services is what’s driving the expansion.
“We are aggressively growing through acquisition to meet the needs of our partners across the Pacific Northwest and Alaska,” said Manion. “As we continue to grow, our goal is to deliver solutions from within our Kelley Connect network of thinkers and solution makers. Every year we are able to offer more and more.”
Kelley Connect has doubled its size in just the past three years and now staffs almost 300 employees across the region.
Applied Imaging Adds Two in Northern Indiana
Applied Imaging, one of the largest and most successful providers of office technology products and services, has expanded into Indiana with the acquisitions of Advanced Imaging Solutions of South Bend and Sands Office Equipment Service of Warsaw, effective Dec. 31, 2021. The deals netted the Grand Rapids, Michigan-based firm four offices in all.
Advanced Imaging Solutions’ South Bend headquarters and their Ft. Wayne and Merrillville branches will begin immediately operating under the Applied Imaging brand but with the same personnel familiar to their customers.
After purchasing A.B. Dick of South Bend in 1995, previous owner Steve Klatt changed the name to Advanced Imaging Solutions and established the two branch locations. Like Applied Imaging, the company has been an authorized dealer for Ricoh, Canon, and HP, three of the most trusted names in the office technology industry. However, Advanced Imaging Solutions’ customers will now have access to Applied Imaging’s expanded product and services offerings such as secure document shredding, telephony and carrier services, facilities management, custom information technology services, and much more.
“We’re really excited about the opportunity to work with Indiana businesspeople and to help them navigate the future with our innovative technology solutions,” remarked John Lowery, Applied Imaging’s President/CEO. “They’ll discover the best of both worlds with Applied Imaging, a company that maintains a family atmosphere yet is large enough to handle all their office technology needs.”
After starting Sands Office Equipment in their home in 1992, Joe and Myra Sands eventually moved into a Winona, Indiana, office in 1996. After becoming a Canon authorized dealer in 1997, the couple purchased a permanent facility in Warsaw and grew the business based on their customer-first philosophy.
Sands’ employees will remain under the Applied Imaging brand, so their customers will continue to see the same faces. However, the customers will now have access to more world-class manufacturers and far more products and services provided by Applied Imaging.
“This now gives us a strong presence in Northern Indiana as we continue our geographic expansion,” Lowery said. “We welcome Sands’ customers and since both companies are authorized service providers for Canon, the transition will be seamless from a product and services standpoint.”
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About Kelley Connect
Now with locations across Washington, Oregon, Montana, Idaho, and Alaska, Kelley Connect is among the largest privately-owned and growing office technology companies in the Western United States. The broad regional footprint enables Kelley Connect to maintain a strong presence while still being right down the street with the same energy and service from the days when we were founded in 1974. We’re just on a bunch more streets.
About Applied Imaging
John Lowery founded Applied Imaging in 1987. From its roots in Grand Rapids, the company has grown to over 450 employees with offices in Grand Rapids, Kalamazoo, Muskegon, Lansing, Traverse City, Flint, Petoskey, Alpena, Southfield, Ann Arbor, Michigan; Toledo, Ohio; Tampa, Florida; and now South Bend, Merrillville and Ft. Wayne, Indiana. Applied Imaging’s business includes the sales and service of multifunction printers, copiers, printers, wide format products, document storage and retrieval products, shredding/document destruction, facilities management, IT and managed network services, software solutions and telephony and carrier services that help customers be more productive and efficient when it comes to document workflow. Manufacturers represented by Applied Imaging now include Ricoh, Canon, Kyocera, Riso, HP, OnBase, Microsoft, Duplo and many more.
