About MIT

Mission

Midwest Industrial Tools, Inc. aspires to lead the distribution industry in the application and sale of advanced product, process, and service technology.

We Will

Commit and equip ourselves to serve in a personal, ethical, and expedient manner; Consistently focus our energies and resources on our customer’s current and future needs; Creatively and reliably deliver solutions of exceptional value to our manufacturing customers; and Continuously examine and enhance our products, processes, and services.

Omaha Team	Columbus Team

Our History

In 1969 MIT was headquartered in Minneapolis/St. Paul and operated as Minnesota Industrial Tools, Inc. The ownership decided they wanted to expand their business so they sent one of their salesmen to Omaha. He worked “out of the trunk of his car” until 1970 when the company moved into a small 500 square foot facility at 89th & J Streets. The operation was then named Midwest Industrial Tools, Inc. and they continued in that location until 1972 when the company purchased a 10,000 square foot facility at 14920 Grover Street. MIT occupied 2,000 square feet and the rest of the facility was sub-leased. As the company grew they expanded into the rest of the building until finally in 1974 they occupied the entire building. The most significant growth in the company took place between 1973 & 1976 when the employment quadrupled and sales grew by 50% each year. In 1977 & 1978 sales doubled in both years. The reputation of the company continued to grow in this new market and throughout the industrial distribution industry. The parent company by this time had branches in Minneapolis/St. Paul; Omaha; Milwaukee; Cedar Rapids, Iowa; San Fransisco; Los Angeles; and Tampa, Florida. Many of the employees who joined the company in these early years are still here today- namely: Gary Davis (1973), Allan Chartier (1974), Mike Lyons (1976), and Pat Croghan (1979). Many of our other employees have considerable industry experience.

In 1980, Midwest Industrial Tools, Inc. was reorganized and Allan W. Chartier was named General Manager with responsibility for running the Omaha operation for the parent company. In 1981, the parent company decided to enter the fast emerging telecommunications industry and in order to capitalize the new business they decided to sell the branches to the General Managers of each operation. Effective January 1, 1982, the Omaha branch was sold to three (3) of the employees with Allan W. Chartier, who was the majority stockholder, being named President and CEO. The company was reincorporated in the state of Nebraska and it remains so today. Two of the purchasers have since left the company and as they did so Allan W. Chartier purchased their stock from them. He now owns 100% of the stock.

Along with a very successful tenure in the MROP business, MIT entered the machine tool business in 1975 and began representing Okuma Machinery. This was a relationship that lasted 30 years. During our involvement in the machine tool industry, MIT also began relationships with other machine tool builders and opened branches in Denver, Colorado (1984) and Salt Lake City, Utah (1988). The company management made a strategic decision in 2004 to exit the machine tool industry and the machine division of the company was sold to Hartwig, Inc. which is headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri. This transaction was completed on January 1, 2005. MIT now spends 100% of its time concentrating on the MROP business in the original territory. In September of 2007, MIT introduced its very first catalog which contains 87,000 items. Obviously, we have significantly increased our product offering to our customers. We also introduced our on-line ordering system so customers can order from us on the internet. All a customer has to do is go to our website and click on the link to our on-line ordering system. In 1994 the company had also opened a branch for MROP in Columbus, Nebraska which is about 90 miles northwest of Omaha. Today the company operates out of its two locations in Omaha and Columbus.

The company built a new 33,000 square foot facility in Omaha in 1995 and continues to operate out of that facility today. The facility has a 15,000 square foot warehouse, 12,000 square feet of office space, and a 6,000 square foot showroom.

MIT is a family owned small business. As previously stated, Allan W. Chartier is the President and CEO and most of his family works in the business with him. Lynda Chartier is Director of Administration, Jennifer (Chartier) Stolp is an administrative assistant and Evan Chartier is a Sales Representative. The Chartier family enjoys being involved on a daily basis and they consider it a privilege to be surrounded by such great employees.