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Headquartered in Lake Forest, CA, Advanced Precision Distribution (APD) is a leading distributor of Printed Circuit Board (PCB) solder solutions, equipment, and supplies in North America, announced that it has hired Tom Seratti as President. In his role, Seratti will be responsible for providing strategic vision which working with Ken Masci, CEO, and Tony Masci, General Manager, and further expand business efforts while continuing to deliver best-in-class customer and technical support.
"We are thrilled to have Tom join the company." Masci said. "He brings a wealth of business experience, product knowledge, and technical expertise that APD needs to advance to the next level."
The leadership team are all experts with numerous years of hands-on experience. Ken Masci has been in the industry since 1985 when he founded his first manufacturers' representative company, M-Tech Sales. The business model serviced all segments of the electronic industry. After many years of successful growth, in 1999 a strategic decision was made to start a distribution division for consumable products. Tony Masci joined Ken at that time and Advanced Precision Distribution was founded, offering both capital equipment to the local Southern California market and consumables throughout the United States.
Ken has always found keeping up with technology to be both exciting and rewarding. The experience that time brings, along with his technical knowl- edge is a critical asset to customers. In today's fast-paced market and short product life, large investments in capital equipment can be the source of success or failure. Ken and his APD team understand the ROI standards that contribute to customers' success.
Tony Masci has more than 24 years of industry experience managing and operating APD with more than 25 reputable product lines. Prior to joining APD, Tony had 11 years of retail management experience with CVS Pharmacy, managing a top 10 sales volume store and one of the first 24-hour operations. He then went on to work with Brooks Pharmacy for seven years as a Regional Management Training Coordinator. Tony has been with APD since the company was started and is involved with every aspect of business, focusing primarily on daily operations, purchasing, and inside sales management. With Seratti on board, Tony now has more time to spend on various strategic initiatives the company is implementing to grow the business.
Seratti brings 40 years of industry experience to the company, including executive and sales management positions in distribution, supplier and independent representative organizations. Throughout his time in the industry, Seratti has held positions at ITC Electronics, Zack Electronics, Marshall Industries, Avnet, SPI Westek where he held the title of President/COO, and OK Industries/Metcal, where he held the title of VP Global Sales and Marketing. In 2011, Tom and his wife Carrie started a Southern California-based representative firm, Stratesys Group, which they merged with a non-competitive representative company, West-Tech Materials, in 2016. Seratti served as the Vice President of the Electronic Assembly Division.
"I am excited about my role within APD. I look forward to combining my business, industry, and product expertise with Ken's and Tony's to grow and strengthen the company while providing best-fit technology and solutions to our customers;' added Seratti. "In addition to the various production supplies and equipment we distribute, solder materials are the core of our overall offering. As a strategic partner in the distribution of AIM Soldering products within the United States, we are well-positioned to meet customers' high demands of stocking solder paste, bar, wire and flux, to eliminate potential line-down issues."
While APD's sales primarily are in North America, the company's line card and product offering represent various suppliers all over the world. Its Website, www.smtsupplies.com, has a global reach, and sales in Europe and Asia are expected to continue increasing, especially as the world recovers from the COVID pandemic.
Seratti said that like all other businesses in the supply chain, the distributor segment has not escaped the challenges of COVID. While the company experienced a minor, low single-digit decline in 2020 compared to 2019, it reacted quickly by reducing expenses without laying off or furloughing employees, and kept in contact with its customer base in new, creative ways that now position APD for sales and profitability growth. Moving forward, the company will rely on its experience gained during 2020 and will take advantage of its size and flexibility to prepare for exponential growth over the next several years.
He added that the leadership team has been through the various cycles and challenges over the past 90 collective years of experience. "If we have learned anything, it is the simple fact that during these times, if prepared and strategically aligned with what customers require, we can take full advantage of the situation to grow our business:' This is the strategy that APD uses and has experienced additional success and growth as a result.
Seratti concluded, "It goes without saying that in the niche electronics market where we participate, change is the only constant. If any company has a solid business model to leverage a team dedicated and passionate about its future, great things will happen. This is what we expect that our customers, suppliers and representative partners will see and experience while working with our organization."