Small Business Solutions - Mark Anderson

Alex Fees: I am Alex fees from on sbtv.com. We are coming to you from SEMA 2008 at Specialty Equipment Market Association. And joining me here now is Mark Anderson. Mark is the owner of Team Torque and Biz Mark North Dakota. Mark, appreciate you being here. Mark Anderson: Nice to meet you Alex. Alex Fees: What is Team Torque. Mark Anderson: Team Torque is an independent calibration and repair lab that calibrates, repairs torque tools that are industry specific for companies that deal with tyres, putting on tyres. We deal with companies from Bobcats to Articad, Polaris, also Nasta sends in their tools to us for calibration and repair. Alex Fees: Really. Mark Anderson: Yes. Alex Fees: Well, it's probably then -- here entire hall at SEMA 2008 it sounds like. Ok so you guys deals in what, in specialty equipment then as far as improving the performance of vehicles or what? Mark Anderson: We are the actual lab that people would send their tools in to make sure that they are 100% calibrated and accurate, so that when they put a tyre on, they use that torque wrench, they click those lug nuts 100% accuracy is what they want when they put those in. Alex Fees: So they don't send you tyres, they send you the tools that they used to work on it. Mark Anderson: Correct, correct. Alex Fees: This sounds like some pretty fine science. Mark Anderson: It is, it's something I have been doing for 16 plus years and it's definitely we have an actual calibration lab, some of it's actually with white gloves and everything certified to a national standard back to Washington D.C. Alex Fees: And l am guessing your clients are not -- you are corner garage and things like that. Mark Anderson: We deal with companies, small little Mom and Pop shops, all the way up to Cosco is one of our customers. Alex Fees: Cosco. Mark Anderson: Cosco. Alex Fees: Really. Mark Anderson: All the Coscos in North America feel that it's so important to have those tools calibrated, they send them in on a regular basis to make sure that they are accurate and they are working 100%. Alex Fees: So Mark what happens here, what goes here if somebody does not have these tools calibrated correctly? Is this the fact balance, mileage. Mark Anderson: Usually the worst thing that could happen is a tyre off. So if some one's on the inter-state and that tyre pops off, you don't want to be doing 75-80 miles/ hr and a tyre to fall off. And definitely keeping that tyre on is very important. Alex Fees: And obviously as far as just performance and gas mileage as well --short of the tyre popping off the car. Mark Anderson: And lot of the wheel people out there will understand, if you take a regular wrench and just torque it down as hard as you can, you are going to find that you warp those roaders and now with all the new aluminum rims out there and all those alloys, you have to make sure that that's torqued on, or you can crack it, or you can actually ruin the rim and we know that those are kind of expensive these days. Alex Fee: What about your involvement with SEMA. SEMA 2008, is this your first time here by chance? Mark Anderson: No, I have been here for quite of few years. We are TIA Members, Team Torque is, and we are proud to back up a lot of the different companies we come to see here, and shake hands, and say hi!. Alex Fees: What about that, what you do when you come to a conference like this? Is it just a meet and greet basically or make sure you associate a name with your customers. Mark Anderson: Definitely going back and shaking some hands. Networking is very important to us. We are servicing calibration. We don't sell the tools, we are out there handling and helping and providing that service. So definitely rubbing some elbows and saying hi, may a little golf in between is something that we like to do. Alex Fees: But it's almost too chilly for golf these days. Mark Anderson: It's never too chilly. Alex Fees: No. Mark Anderson: For Biz Mark, North Dakota. Alec Fees: That's true, that's probably balmy weather for you. Mark Anderson: It's beautiful out here. Alex Fees: What's your background and how did you get into this industry? Mark Anderson: My background is in engineering and electronics. My father actually had started the company many, many years ago. He was in PMEL which is the air force equivalent to calibration, so that definitely brought us into the realm of what we are doing now. Alex Fees: Ok, good deal Mark Anderson. Mark thanks for being here. Mark Anderson: Nice to meet you. Alex Fees: Mark is a President of Team Torque and Biz Mark, North Dakota. I am Alex Fees on Small Business Television. Again we are coming to you from SEMA all the way to Las Vegas at SEMA 2008. You are logged on to sbtv.com.