ACR Supply Is on a Mission

When you're on your way into work tomorrow, look at the faces of your fellow commuters on the road — many of them look like they'd rather be going in for a root canal than going to work. Troy Meachum, president of ACR Supply Co., calls this the "death march," and he has made it his mission to ensure that his employees come to work each day happy, inspired and motivated to serve.

L.C. Meachum, founder, and his son Troy Meachum, president.

"I want them to be challenged, enjoy what they do and be fulfilled," he says. For Meachum, these are more than just words. ACR Supply makes this commitment to each of its employees at its eight locations throughout North Carolina: You are part of the ACR family. ACR Supply will help its people and encourage them to grow personally and professionally. In return, ACR Supply expects each associate to contribute to the culture and growth of the company through focused and measurable goals. Can this work? Since the company began this approach in 1997, it has grown from three to eight locations, and revenues have gone from $4 million to an estimated $25 million this year.

Troy Meachum's father, L.C. Meachum, started ACR Supply in 1977. Having worked for the HVAC supplier Hasco Inc. since 1956, the elder Meachum was ready to go into business for himself and opened ACR Supply in Durham, NC, on "next to nothing," recalls Troy, who was 16 years old at the time. L.C. Meachum brought with him Lee Blakely, a co-worker who later became ACR Supply's vice president.

Lee Blakeley, vice president

Meachum and Blakely decided early in the life of the business that they would not sell HVAC equipment. Instead, they focused on five market areas: commercial refrigeration, commercial controls, commercial air filtration, residential HVAC parts and supplies, and hydronics. About 75 percent of ACR Supply's business is commercial.

Three years after L.C. Meachum opened ACR Supply, Troy joined his father in the business and opened the company's first branch in 1984. In the early 1990s, Troy came back to the Durham store and was appointed general manager by his father.

Before coming back to Durham, however, Troy Meachum's life had dramatically changed, and it would change the mission of ACR Supply. "I became a Christian in 1988, and I gave my life to the Lord," he says. "I began to really understand that my job was more than just a job. The people that were a part of the ACR family were a very big responsibility, and each of them were counting on me to do the right thing. For some reason, God has chosen to put me as a steward over this company and I can't express to you how much of a blessing it has been."