Expansion & Innovation

Branches were opened all across the country. And along with the new branches, Hanson also introduced the policies that would become the foundation of L&H's success.

First, he implemented a quality control program. Realising the consumers won't come back unless the quality of the products was consistently high, Hanson travelled overseas to personally find the latest and best electrical products, making sure they were fully tested before they went into any of his outlets. L&H also encouraged the local production of electrical products and played a major role in supporting the local industry.

Second, Hanson realised that having the best products wasn't enough. With new competitors entering the market, he also needed the best people. Hanson not only introduced extensive staff training, he also offered shares to senior staff. These measures ensured that the company had strong, stable management as well as staff capable of building long-term relationships with customers.

Innovations like these were well ahead of their time and soon helped make L&H Australia a leading supplier of electrical products.

Time Clock: A device used to keep track of the time an employee arrives at and leaves work. Circa: 1898 - Displayed at the Old Ararat Goal, J-Ward

A bright future

Today, with 160 branches around Australia, L&H is still committed to the ideals of Alfred Lawrence and Jerry Hanson.

The company's heritage of customer-focussed innovation can be seen in everything it does. Staff training is still the forefront of company priorities. In fact, so many people have learned their foundation skills at L&H that the company is regarded by many as being the industry's university.

L&H has also been at the forefront of customer-friendly branch design. Extending the product range to include Industrial and Safety products means that customers enjoy the convenience of accessing both Tools and the Safety equipment under one roof.

Today Lawrence & Hanson is at the forefront of initiating smarter business practices, such as building Integrated Supply Relationships, to help drive greater overall efficiencies.

It's that kind of forward thinking that keeps L&H ahead of the competition today.

L&H continues to build on its commitment to be the leading value added B2B distributor of Electrical, Safety and Industrial Engineering products and services to the Construction, Industrial and OEM markets in Asia Pacific.