If Eric Clyve could dispel any faulty image of N.H. Bragg & Sons, it would be the concept that “all we do is automotive parts. We are involved in every aspect of the state’s economy.”

Clyve should know. He has been the sales manager at N.H. Bragg & Sons for 11 years, and he has spent his career in equipment sales and related fields. He oversees sales efforts in Maine and New Hampshire.

According to Clyve, N.H Bragg & Sons has four major markets: manufacturing, construction, heavy duty trucking, and automotive parts. Each encompasses some portion of Maine’s economy, and products occasionally overlap between markets.

Manufacturing

“When Maine residents think about manufacturing, they often visualize the paper mills and pulp mills,” Clyve said. “There’s a whole lot more to it than just that one segment, though.”

As defined by N.H. Bragg & Sons, the manufacturing market includes:

The quintessential pulp or paper mill, a designation also encompassing paperboard manufacturers and companies that process recycled paper;

Other forestry-related manufacturers, such as sawmills, millwork shops, wood-chip manufacturers, and furnituremakers;

Companies that produce prefabricated houses and mobile homes;

Textile companies;

Machinery manufacturers;

Companies that produce such diversified products as cement blocks, shoes, leather goods (i.e., jackets, steering-wheel covers), and chemicals;

Metal fabricators, such as machine shops, companies that make machinery and equipment, and businesses that deal with various metals in construction;

Electronics manufacturers. This category incorporates appliances; phones, radios, and other communications equipment; and lighting.

Maine has a diversified manufacturing sector, Clyve stated. Forest products dominate manufacturing activity in northern and eastern Maine, and until 1993, N.H. Bragg & Sons concentrated its sales efforts north and east of a line drawn from Rockland to Augusta and up to Skowhegan.

The company opened a 20,000-square-foot warehouse in Portland three years ago so “we could expand into the southern Maine market, which spills into New Hampshire,” Clyve said. “This offered us the opportunity to diversify our manufacturing-customer mix to metal fabrication, electronics, machine building, and a variety of new types of industries.”

“We have found it’s a more diverse market in southern Maine, one not so dependent on forest products,” he said. “Dealing in such a diverse market has strengthened us overall, particularly by introducing N.H. Bragg & Sons to so many new customers.”

Construction

When Clyve discussed the construction market, he referred not only to large construction projects, but to smaller ones, too. A major expansion at a paper mill or a machinery manufacturer helps, Clyve acknowledged, since “it’s major enough that we feel the effects of plant expansion in the state. When they’re busy (with such projects), we do a landslide business.”

Yet N.H. Bragg & Sons could not thrive if it depended solely on largescale construction projects, which vary in number and size annually. Steadier, year-in and year-out construction like bridge and road repairs can be counted on as municipalities and the state work to improve the transportation infrastructure.

According to Clyve, “residential construction is really not a major factor in our business. However, small contractors, even builders who work alone, buy power and hand tools, other equipment, and safety supplies at N.H. Bragg & Sons.”

Heavy duty trucking

This market “does not mean we repair big trucks,” Clyve said, smiling at the thought.

He explained that heavy duty trucking involves almost any wheeled object used to move something, whether groceries headed for the supermarket or loaded pallets moved inside a warehouse. Through an affiliation with Big A, a national auto parts distributor, N.H. Bragg & Sons supplies customers with truck parts from stores in Bangor, Caribou, Winslow, Unity, South Paris, East Corinth, and Millinocket.

But there are other parts sold under the category of heavy duty trucking. Clyve described this particular market as “that phase of the business unique to distributors like us. We serve the market with a total mix of products: air compressors, abrasives, fasteners, power tools, whatever equipment that our customers need to keep operating.”