History

The United Assemblers

We (and that includes you) have been around for quite a long time. We are the professionals whose time has come to get noticed.

There are electricians, plumbers, mechanics, carpenters and many other “SKILLED” trades; but when you talk about being a professional assembler… most people will scratch their heads asking… “What the heck is an assembler”?

The United Assemblers (UAN) started out as Assemble4You in 2002. Mike Mehrle owned a small (very small) sign shop. Mike had worked for a number of large sign companies and made quite a few friends in that industry… one of them being Chris Manack.

Chris and Mike worked at a sign shop together, but when they both went on to other occupations, their communication stopped.

Years later as Mike was doing business in his small sign shop; Chris called and asked how things were going. Mike said, “not so good”… Chris replied, “good”! Perplexed by Chris’s response Mike asks… “what does that mean”? Chris said he had some assembly work that he needed a helper with. So the next day, Mike shut the shop down and went with Chris.

After the day of assembling furniture was done, Mike asked Chris if he was hiring. Chris replied no, but the company I contract with is. It took less than a week and Mike was on board with the National Assembly Company (NAC) and cranking out the assemblies.

The NAC they contracted with was not doing well with the management of the field teams, and could care less about the veteran technicians (and that still hasn’t changed). So Mike and Chris ended up going in different directions… again.  

Mike saw the potential in the assembly industry and started his own small assembly service in Central Ohio. After picking up a local ready-to-assemble super store, Mike set-up a website before most people even knew what a website was, to help enhance his printed advertising.

With a well Search Engine Optimized (SEO) website, Mike started getting calls from all over the country asking him to assemble products in all corners of the country.

For a while, Mike gracefully turned down these requests from potential customers from New York to California and From Minnesota to Florida. For whatever reason (call it fate), Mike started taking customers’ name and phone numbers, telling them he would try to find someone for them.

After a couple months doing this, Mike Finally called a tech advertising through Craig’s List. Gill Thomas of CA&I Assembly was advertising in Atlanta, GA. When Mike called him to let him know about a job… Gill got very excited.

Now before Gill… Mike was only passing the names on to the techs; who by the way were very apprehensive because someone from Ohio (Mike) was calling these techs to “give” jobs to them… terms where they made 100 percent of whatever they charged and Mike was looking for nothing in return.

The problem with that was, Mike was starting to get overwhelmed. He hadn’t thought about creating a directory until Gill. So, when Mike told Gill about the job that came through the Assemble4You website… Gill explodes in excitement saying something about a listing on Mike’s webpage.

Well the thought of not having to take names and numbers was quite a relief. Mike said he would set up a page, to allow Gill to advertise his services in Atlanta, through the Assemble4You website.

Gill said he wanted Mike’s mailing address because there should be a fee for him to list his services. Reluctantly (for whatever reason) Mike gave Gill his home address; two or three days later there was a check from Gill for the listing. That is when the proverbial light bulb went off.

It only took a few months to get membership up to a few dozen techs listed on the Assemble4You website.

The network’s growth caught the attention of many media sources through a press release sent out by the Assemble4You network. But it also caught the eye of an NAC.

Diamond Retail Services (DRS) was looking for a tech in the central Ohio area when they also found Mike’s website. Gracefully turning them down as a tech; Diamond came back with another offer of buying the website and making Mike a regional manager. So the transaction was made and the new chapter with Mike’s walk in the assembly industry was about to unfold.

The only difference being… Mike was a furniture assembler and DRS was almost all about fitness equipment assembly and installation.

Now, some people thought this was a mistake and a betrayal to the independent technician. But, nothing could be further from the truth. What this opportunity presented, was a look into the corporate side of the industry. Mike was pretty high up on the corporate chain; but his allegiance was still with the independent technicians.

Having the regional managers position, Mike was able to get many of his comrades who were part of the Assemble4You network more pay. So, essentially it was a win-win for everyone who understood what Mike was trying to do and succeeding at it.

As it happens all the time… DRS lost an account to a large national retailer; which set off a chain reaction with other retailers. There was not and for the most part… still not any loyalty from the retailers with or to any NAC.

Let there be a few store managers upset with an NAC and enough complaints from customers… and the national retailer jumps ship to another NAC. The funny thing about this “new” NAC for the stores… the EXACT SAME TECH walks through the door of the retail store and the store manager is again not happy. Oh the dilemma!!!  

So… DRS sells out to another NAC wannabe and Mike again goes his separate way.

Having no job, but now having an even greater amount of knowledge about the industry, Mike sets out to start a new assembly business again under the name “The Savvy Tech” (kind of fitting).

Mike knew how websites played a major role in the promoting of any business, especially today, so The Savvy Tech didn’t take long to get noticed; and once again the great positioning through website optimization had people finding him all over the country.

Mike also landed an account with the Kroger Market Place stores in central Ohio and had to hire a few technicians to help with the work load the Kroger stores were passing out.

It also didn’t take long for other techs across the country to see what was going on with The Savvy Tech, and called Mike, asking when he was going to start the network back up.

After some thought, Mike came up with the United Assemblers Network, which was very fitting in what we were all trying to do… Unite The Industry.

The new model was an easy fit with what we were all about, and again the network started taking off.  

Yet another NAC found Mike, and asked him to help with recruiting. Urban Express is that NAC, and found that the UAN was all about helping independent technicians obtain the knowledge needed to guide people into becoming professional technicians.

Now having an assembly business, starting a new network and recruiting for another NAC, Mike needed to let go of something to allow him to focus on what was most important, and that was building the network. So Mike sold off his Kroger account to one of his Top Techs, Cleary Gunderson.

Here is the rest of the story… Somehow, things always come full circle, and as you read earlier, Chris Manack and Mike went their separate ways.

One day in early 2011, Chris Manack again called on Mike knowing he was into heavy networking in central Ohio.

Mike and Chris met for lunch and Chris found out the level Mike had taken the assembly business and was very interested in getting back in the business.

Another long story shortened here… Chris started “Precision Assembly and Repair Technologies” and took over what was the rest of Mike’s assembly and repair business.

Today, Chris is President of the UAN and is doing quite well with his business. His perseverance, loyalty and knowledge of mechanical practices, has made him a valued member of the UAN and is now mentoring any tech that wants to learn how to grow a profitable business.

If you have read the history of how the United Assemblers network got started… and have an interest in what this network does and can do for you… Join today and take this ride with them.