Blending the human touch with advanced technology, Zatkoff Seals & Packings provides more than just products
Zatkoff Seals & Packings (Zatkoff) is the largest independent seal distributor in North America,” opens COO, Joe Zatkoff. “The company was founded in 1959 by my grandfather, Roger Zatkoff, who, as a former Detroit Lions player, learned the importance of hard work and team values. Today, as the business grows, we’re transitioning from second- to third- generation family ownership.”
With a purpose to bring a human touch and relentless problem-solving to help customers get critical components that make everyday life possible, Zatkoff distributes seals and engineered products from a range of leading brands, such as Parker Hannifin, Freudenberg Sealing Technologies, Hallite Seals, SKF®, 3M, Rogers Corporation, Dupont™ Kalrez®, Permabond®, Kelco Industries, and more.
“We have nine locations: one focused on manufacturing and the other eight on distribution,” Joe explains. “We represent the largest seal manufacturers in the world, as a full-service distributor. We offer value-added solutions like vendor managed inventory (VMI), kitting, assembling, inspection, custom shipping, and rapid traceability to our customers. With one of the largest seal inventories on the planet, we focus on servicing original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) across 20 market segments, including Fluid Power, Automotive, Aerospace, Life Sciences, Oil & Gas, and more.”
Hamilton Marques, Vice President of Sales and Marketing, adds: “We acquired Smith Seal of NC in 2021 and we’re planning to build a new site in North Carolina to expand that business and provide an even better customer experience to the OEMs in that geography. We’ve acquired the land, and we’re excited to break ground in January 2025.”
Above and beyond
As the business celebrates its 65th anniversary in 2024, both Joe and Hamilton reflect on what makes Zatkoff truly one of a kind. “We’ve built some fantastic relationships with our customers, becoming trusted advisors to help them address their challenges,” Hamilton says. “We go beyond what a typical seal distributor does, digging into the root causes of our customers’ needs and identifying the most appropriate solutions across different seal manufacturers.
“Although high quality seals are our core business, we do more by contributing with know-how and innovative ideas to support our customers with other products such as adhesives, EMI shielding, thermal interface materials, and even plastic and metal components. Additionally, leveraging internal manufacturing capabilities, we offer a wide range of solutions from die-cut, rotary-cut, knife-cut, and CNC machined parts.”
Over the past five years, Zatkoff has acquired several state-of-the-art pieces of equipment – CNC machines, knife cutters, and high precision devices for dimensional inspection and quality control. “Since investing in new machinery, we can deliver high-quality products to our customers at a much faster pace” Hamilton confirms. “On selected products, we can take an inquiry, submit a quote, process an order, produce, and ship parts on the same day if needed – increasing our customers’ speed to market.”
Beyond machinery, Zatkoff continues to invest in technology to enhance its proprietary system, ZAP>IT®. “We first created ZAP>IT®, as a barcoded vendor
managed inventory system, back in 1996,” Hamilton elaborates. “Since then, we’ve advanced ZAP>IT® to allow integration and automation between us and our customers, mitigating manual, error-prone tasks.
“When customers send us order files overnight or through portals, ZAP>IT® processes the orders, and recalibrates the dedicated inventory based on customer usage data. ZAP>IT® also predicts future demand trends by learning usage behaviors, creating a layer of predictive inventory analytics that ensures we carry the correct stock. These features establish a high level of connectivity between organizations and free up our staff to proactively collaborate with customers rather than performing non-value-added work.
“However, it’s important that we meet our customers wherever they are in their technology and digitalization journey,” he adds. “Some customers fully leverage our technological integrations, while others rely on our Technology team for additional support. We’re constantly adapting and enhancing ZAP>IT® to ensure the best possible customer experience.”
Driven by values
When it comes to company culture, Zatkoff passionately supports its employees. “My grandfather always said to take care of our employees so they can take care of our customers,” Joe shares. “We pride ourselves on our employee tenure, whether in shipping, accounting, technical sales, or customer service. At Zatkoff, our culture fosters an environment where people want to be, achieved through employee benefits and decentralized decision-making processes.”
As the conversation concludes, Joe reflects on the current ownership transition and what’s next for Zatkoff. “Our leadership team is working on our new five-year strategic plan starting in 2025. By leveraging our expertise and long-term succession plan, we’ll continue to deliver high-quality products and best-in-class services. Looking ahead, we’ll focus on digitalization, expanding into new markets, and diversifying our products and services,” Joe concludes.