“Mexico is one of the two most important markets for WAI, that’s why we are investing, to provide better service to customers”: Ryan Moul BY ROGER ROY State of Mexico.– During the visit to Mexico of Ryan Moul, CEO of WAI Global, we had the opportunity to interview him and tell us more about WAI, a leading company in the U.S. market, manufacturer of high quality electrical and electronic parts, with a presence in 114 countries, as well as expansion and growth plans in Mexico. through the WAI Transpo Mexico team led by Isabel Díaz Salas, general director
RYAN, WELCOME TO MEXICO, HOW ARE YOU? –Hi Roy. A pleasure. It’s great to be here. Thank you. RYAN, FIRST OF ALL, THANK YOU FOR THIS SPACE YOU GIVE US. PLEASE, AS A FIRST TOPIC, TELL US ABOUT YOURSELF, WHO IS RYAN MOUL? –Sure. I was born and raised in Maryland, United States. I’m 40 years old. I now live in Miami Beach, Florida. I’ve been at WAI for 20 years. I have a law degree and as a lawyer I worked in the United States for a couple of years, but my whole life has been spent in the family business, between alternators and gears at WAI. AS TOPIC 2, RYAN, WHAT DOES WAI MEAN? – WAI actually stands for: Weatherill Associates Incorporated. Weatherill was the name of the company’s founder, Richard Weatherill, who founded it in 1978 as a telemarketing company, selling only bearings and different electrical products. He passed away shortly afterwards but he was the founder of WAI.
WHAT PRODUCTS DID THE COMPANY START WITH, AND FOR WHAT TYPE OF BRANDS? –The main line of WAI products are gears, alternators, voltage regulators, windshield wiper motors and all their components. We also manufacture bearings, brushes and complete parts. That’s WAI’s main focus, and that’s where we have most of our investment and effort, but we’ve also expanded into other electronic product lines, leveraging our experience as a manufacturer of electrical parts, and this has given us good results and success in recent years.
HOW IS WAI, CORPORATE OFFICE, BRANCHES, DISTRIBUTION CENTERS, AND IN WHICH COUNTRIES DO YOU HAVE A PRESENCE? – WAI is a global company. Our headquarters are in Miami, Florida. We currently operate in more than 114 countries, and although our main markets are North America and Europe, we have production plants in China and Asia. As a manufacturer, we focus on gear and alternator components, as well as electronic components for light vehicles and heavy equipment. From China and Asia we export our products to our department stores here in Mexico, in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and Poland.
WHAT ARE SOME OF YOUR MAIN ACHIEVEMENTS IN THE COMPANY? AND TELL US ABOUT THE QUALITY AND TECHNOLOGY IN WAI PRODUCTS. – Yes, I think a lot of WAI’s success and how we’ve grown over the years is because we focus on quality, and that process starts with the components that we manufacture and use, and being very clear about who we’re manufacturing for. So whether it’s the bearings or the electrical parts or the electronics of all our parts, we use premium components, which are designed by American engineers with more than 20 years of experience. All of the above allows us to launch products under our brand, high quality products, which have allowed us to gain a position as a brand of Premium quality, Original Equipment (OE) quality. So we offer superior quality products because that’s what our consumers and customers are looking for.
One thing that I’m very proud of, as far as the evolution of our products goes, is that gears, alternators, and other components, have become more complex and technologically more advanced over the years, and that’s what WAI is really strong at, understanding the electrical communication protocol between the different parts of a vehicle, and in manufacturing products that cover and improve that communication; That’s really one of our strengths as a company. As the car becomes more complex, that plays into our strengths of being able to manufacture high-quality electrical and electronic components, but at affordable costs for the consumer of all our parts, in the Aftermarket business.
HOW IS WAI POSITIONED AS A BRAND RIGHT NOW, AND HOW ARE WAI PRODUCTS DISTRIBUTED IN THE UNITED STATES? In the United States, we serve a wide variety of customers. From retailers that specialize in gears and alternators and service a local market, to some of the wholesale distributors with the largest warehouses in the country. We offer products for light vehicle fleet, heavy equipment, commercial trucks, agricultural, motor sports and marine trucks. We also have a portion of our business that services the original equipment and distribution channels, but we’re really focusing on aftermarket parts distributors.
HOW MANY DISTRIBUTORS ARE IN THE UNITED STATES? –I would say that worldwide we have more than 1,000 customers, but in the United States we select our distributors cautiously, so I would say that in the USA alone there are more than 20 main customers, but there is a waiting list. NOW WE ARE GOING TO FOCUS MORE ON MEXICO, RYAN, WE KNOW THAT WAI HAS BEEN HERE IN OUR COUNTRY FOR TEN YEARS; TELL US, HOW DID THE IDEA OF COMING TO MEXICO COME ABOUT?
–Mexico has always been an important market for WAI. It started by selling electronics because alternator repair was a big part of our growth in the country and we were one of the leading manufacturers of regulators and rectifiers. That’s why it’s always been important. But I would say that in the last two years my brother Seth Moul and I, who are the owners of the company, really wanted to invest and grow our international presence. And when we look around the world, where we see the opportunity, where we have good channel partners, where our product line and expertise really fit in; we thought: “Mexico”, that’s where a great opportunity really stands out.
Currently in Mexico we already have clients with whom we work very well. But if we can invest in providing them with more support, more inventory, with our high-quality products, we will have significant growth opportunities for us and for them as partners. So in these last two years we have doubled our bet on a good base in Mexico, a good excellent and professional team led by Isabel Díaz has been structured, because the opportunity in Mexico is significant.
I CAN’T HELP BUT ASK YOU, RYAN, ON YOUR VISIT TO MEXICO, WHAT ARE YOUR PLANS IN THE SHORT AND MEDIUM TERM? That’s a great question. Priority one is to build the WAI brand through really solid distributors, bet on inventories and strengthen the team that serves our customers, from technical support, category management and understanding how our product is positioned against the competition. A significant investment, and an example of this growth, is this new warehouse in which you are sitting, our first CeDis in Mexico. That’s phase one. The second phase is that as the business grows, we also see the potential to expand our manufacturing footprint in Mexico. WAI used to manufacture its products in the United States, but, twenty years ago we moved manufacturing to Taiwan and Korea, then China, and since then we have been largely manufacturing most of our products in China. But there are many things happening in the world, Mexico and the United States are growing, that is why we see that this is an excellent opportunity to invest in Mexico, and we thought of a plant to manufacture the products that would give us many advantages for the future. We envisioned this being our phase two.
SO THERE IS CONFIDENCE IN MEXICO AND TO CONTINUE INVESTING IN OUR COUNTRY? –Yes. Mexico is a priority for WAI, a country where we see enormous opportunities for growth. It is a great country and we have a very strong and professional work team. Our product line is a perfect fit for what customers need, so I am very confident that the investment here will be a good return for the company, for our people and for customers. So my visit to Mexico was short this time, but tomorrow I will leave much more confident, knowing that what we are doing is on the right track and in the right strategic direction.
TO CLOSE THIS INTERVIEW, RYAN, YOU HAD A CONTACT WITH SOME OF THE DISTRIBUTORS HERE IN MEXICO, WHAT DID THEY TELL YOU, WHAT FEEDBACK WAS THERE BETWEEN YOU, ARE YOU HAPPY? You know, this has been a great journey and that’s a great question. I would say that, probably the most exciting thing about my visit, was seeing the strength of our distributors and that their businesses are really solid and impressive, well managed, with excellent teams; to see that they are strong in the Mexican market and that they are happy to work with WAI. So I am very excited to see that we have great opportunities to continue doing business, and that if we continue like this, they and we are going to grow.
FINALLY, A MESSAGE FOR THE WAI TRANSPO MEXICO TEAM. Well, I want to reiterate that I am very proud of this team and what they are doing. They represent WAI very well and have my full support. We are on the right path for WAI to be the number one brand in Mexico. I came here with an open mind to see the opportunities that WAI has, and I leave very excited about what the future holds for us and for all the work and commitment of the WAI Transpo Mexico team. I appreciate everyone’s attention and we will see each other again very soon. Thanks to the entire WAI Transpo Mexico team and its general director, Isabel Díaz Salas, for making this interview possible. This interview was conducted on Wednesday, May 8, 2024 at the facilities of WAI Transpo Mexico, located in the TlanePark IV Industrial Park in Tlalnepantla, State of Mexico.
