Rep Spotlight – Tight-knit Community

WESLEY WANIYA AND THE TEAM AT HAWAII MEGA-COR HAVE BUILT LONG-STANDING, MULTI-GENERATIONAL RELATIONSHIPS WITH VETERINARY PRACTICES

For Wesley H. Waniya and the distribution team at Hawaii Mega-Cor., Inc., servicing veterinary practice customers is a little different than what it would be for reps in the lower 48 states. “With regards to delivering to our customers, we’re fortunate in that the island that we sit on, Oahu, the main island, probably has about 75 percent of the state’s clinics,” says Waniya. “We do service the other three major islands. For the most part, we will UPS products over to them, but we have vans that deliver here on Oahu as well. In the worst-case scenario, we’re able to get same-day.”

Oahu is the third largest of the Hawaii islands, but has two-thirds of the state’s population. Oahu is 44 miles long and 30 miles across, so the farthest clinics are maybe a couple hour’s drive, says Waniya. “We find ourselves putting things in our cars and driving over in case there is an immediate need. There are three of us in the field.”

A lasting legacy
Hawaii Mega-Cor has been a mainstay for veterinary practices in Hawaii since it was founded in 1977 by Charles Nakamura, Eric Johnson and Carl Izumi. It is a customer-focused company leading the distribution of veterinary healthcare products in the Islands. Although the founders have all since retired, Waniya says the current staff takes maintaining their original vision for Hawaii Meg-Cor very seriously. “We are care takers of their vision.”

Because Hawaii Mega-Cor has been around since 1977, a lot of the veterinary practice relationships are very deep, says Waniya. “At this point we are even selling to sons and daughters of original customers of Mega-Cor. The relationships are long-standing. We see them quite often.”

Hawaii Mega-Cor services the industry in other ways besides just sales. For instance, there is a separate division within Hawaii Mega-Cor called Pacific Learning Institute. “We probably provide 75-80 percent of the CE in Hawaii, and the rest of the CE would probably be covered by the Hawaii Veterinarian Association,” says Waniya. “Just last night we had a seminar with 75 people. We’ll see our customers at CE events or at their clinics. And of course, we live here, so we’ll run into them at the mall, or at the gas station. It’s a pretty tight-knit community here.”

Island logistics
There are more than 2,400 miles to cover between Hawaii and California, so shipping and receiving product is also a bit different. Hawaii Mega-Cor receives 90 percent of their inventory by boat, except for acute items that need to be air freighted, like vaccines. Otherwise, they have a container load that comes in about once a week from the West Coast. “A lot of our manufacturers will ship pallets or less than a pallet to our freight port on the West Coast, and then we have that container shipped to Hawaii. We try to inventory as much as we can locally.”

There are handful of manufacturer reps that live in state now, and Hawaii Meg-Cor works with regularly, says Waniya. “Otherwise they fly in from the mainland.”

In October 2006, Hawaii Mega-Cor joined Animal Health International, Inc., which was acquired by Patterson Companies in 2015. Patterson has been helpful because they are such a large organization with tremendous resources, says Waniya. “The portfolio of their product lines and relationships that they have with some of the larger vendors is very beneficial for us. Economy of scale helps to that. Our market is small here in Hawaii, so we’re not going to be able to buy in bulk like a container load of cotton balls, but Patterson could probably do something like that and of course we benefit by getting the better pricing, more consistent inventory, and more readily available inventory.”
Tight-knit team
“We’re fortunate in that we all work in one building,” says Waniya. “We have our field sales team, and our inside sales team. We have our pricing people, and warehouse drivers. We pretty much see everybody every day, which is nice.”

Waniya says he has seen on the mainland where some of the bigger distribution centers are so large, salespeople may never go into that location or get the chance to talk with team members from different departments.

“Here it is very different,” he says. “For many of us that work at Hawaii Mega-Cor, it is about colleagues and customers. Our vendors are constantly in our office and we work with them daily, weekly.”

Hawaii Mega-Cor

Mission Statement
Our Mission is to improve the quality and delivery of animal health care by providing our clients with innovative, ethical products and services that are consistently superior. Recognizing our clients as our greatest asset and our own people as our greatest resource, we seek long-term, mutually beneficial, and profitable relationships with our clients and colleagues.

Tenets

Through our services, we can help improve the quality and delivery of animal health care.
We can help our clients become more profitable by helping them market their products and services effectively.
Our work should always evoke enthusiasm and a positive reaction.
Our work should always be honest and whenever possible, innovative.
We should be sensitive to the personal and professional needs of our clients.
We should be easy to work with.
Profitability is a reasonable, honest objective.
We should use high quality, responsive suppliers and expect of them what we expect of ourselves.
The Company will always be a place where all of us can grow personally and professionally, enjoying each other and our work.
Quality and productivity come from flexibility, cooperation, and an attitude of service toward each other as well as to our clients.
WHAT WE LOOK FOR IN HMC EMPLOYEES…
Intelligence
Energy
Good Judgment
Good Sense of Humor
And above all…a Balance Between Job/Career & Family