Winsupply Inc., one of the largest distributors in the nation, has purchased Industrial Equipment & Parts, a Plymouth, Minnesota-based distributor of heavy industrial pumps. Details of the asset purchase were not disclosed.

Industrial Equipment & Parts provides heavy industrial pumps and supporting value-added parts and services to its customer base of pulp, paper and ethanol industries in five surrounding states of the Upper Midwest. Scott Koontz, previously the general manager at Industrial Equipment & Parts, is staying and will make a substantial investment in the acquired company and become minority owner and president of the single-location business. Winsupply is the majority owner, reflecting its entrepreneurial, shared-ownership business model.

“Industrial Equipment & Parts has carved out a special niche as a value-added provider of industrial pumps to its customers,” said Monte Salsman, president of Winsupply Acquisitions Group. “Scott Koontz began as an applications engineer who rapidly moved up to sales, then as sales leader, and ultimately as general manager. He has a highly skilled team of industrial experts to serve their customers in Minnesota, Iowa, North and South Dakota and Wisconsin. Now Scott is making a substantial investment as minority owner of the company with Winsupply as majority owner so he can share in the company’s success.”

“This same model of shared success drives our business vision at Industrial Equipment & Parts,” said Koontz. “We align with our customers to understand their goals as a first step toward helping them realize their process system's full potential. Then we prescribe the best equipment to meet that potential. We become partners by instilling confidence, through success, to tackle their next challenges together.

“As the local company president, one of my primary responsibilities is to make the best choices I can towards protecting everyone's investments, including my own.”

Koontz will have autonomy as president and entrepreneur of Industrial Equipment & Parts, responsible for making local decisions that he believes are best for his company and his board of directors. In the Winsupply co-ownership business model, Winsupply Inc. has majority equity in each of its locations, while the local company presidents and sometimes employees own substantial equity.

The company’s legal name becomes Winsupply of Plymouth, MN Co., but will continue to do business as Industrial Equipment & Parts.