Co-authored by Dan Brown, Jamie Diak, and James Bova
“What would it take to solve your team’s biggest supply chain challenge?”
Ask this question to ten different gas utilities, and you’ll get ten different answers.
That’s because every player in the gas market faces a unique set of hurdles, built by their capital resources, staff expertise, business structures, and state and local regulations.
These differences, coupled with the dynamic nature of the utility industry, send a clear message to supply chain partners: cookie-cutter solutions just won't work.
Customized Support: No Longer Just Nice-To-Have
To operate at their best, gas teams need support molded to their unique circumstances. Supply chain partners should lean into the utility’s strengths, ease their pain points, and, ultimately, function as an extension of their team.
That's exactly what Irby has done for nearly a century across electric utility markets, and for 20 years supporting gas utilities. We've developed a toolkit to support every type of gas customer, from local contractors managing single projects to major IOUs coordinating system-wide upgrades.
Below, we break down three real-world examples of this support. Why? To show gas utilities and contractors that there is a partner out there who will meet you where you are— who will work by your side to help you reach your goals with the means to do so effectively.
You don’t have to settle for less, and we’ll prove it.
Quick Case Studies
1. Need: Reliable Supply Through the COVID-19 Pandemic
Utility: CoServ
Areas Served: Texas, counties of Collin, Dallas, Denton, Kaufman, and Tarrant
Challenge: When CoServ selected Irby as its distribution partner in late 2019, it cited the need for a reliable and stable supply chain. They couldn’t have known how vital that stability would be in just a few months.
The COVID-19 pandemic brought material supply to all but a halt, but like every other utility, CoServ’s demand didn’t slow. Project progression, even routine maintenance, hinged on Irby’s ability to bring in material quickly.
Solution: To shield CoServ and its other partners from supply chain chaos, Irby assisted teams with demand forecasting, ensuring projects stayed on schedule.
Results: For both gas and electric inventory, CoServ didn’t feel the effects of supply chain halts nearly as drastically as other utilities, and in some cases, not at all. System maintenance and upgrades never ceased due to a lack of materials.
Outside of the pandemic, Irby treated CoServ’s problems as its own. Through mutual trust and collaboration, the teams established strategic supplier partners and inventory supply models, increasing material fill rate success and, ultimately, member satisfaction.
2. Need: First, Avoid Gas Stockouts. Then, Single Source Supply Chain.
Utility: Avangrid
Areas Served: Upstate NY and New England
Challenge: Avangrid has long been an Irby customer, with a partnership spanning over 20 years of electric material supply. But in 2012, the company sought more support, this time for its gas business. The ask was simple: help our team avoid stockouts.
Solution: Irby became Avangrid’s distributor for select gas material at risk of stock shortages. As this partnership proved successful, and as a more comprehensive solution thrived on the electric side, the partnership grew.
Additionally, much like with CoServ, Irby anticipated inventory needs to protect Avangrid from manufacturers’ extended lead times during the pandemic.
Results: With a proven, steady stream of materials in even the hardest times, Avangrid steadily expanded its partnership with Irby, which now covers all gas and electric business across Avangrid’s New England and upstate NY territories. The agreement includes 24/7 storm response, weekly deliveries to over 40 customer storerooms and job sites, custom kitting, a punchout catalog, and more.
Avangrid benefits from one accountable partner for quick issue resolution, nearby warehouse access, and full support from routine deliveries to disaster recovery.
3. Need: Gas-Only Material Storage
Challenge: A large northeastern IOU housed both electric and gas materials in its main storage rooms, the former occupying the majority of the space as it is the larger portion of the business. Without a sharp separation between electric and gas stock, inventory mix-ups happened, and gas crews found themselves lacking materials at critical times. Project timelines fell behind, and the team needed a viable solution, fast.
Solution: Leveraging Irby’s warehouse network, the teams developed a program to create strategically located, gas-specific storage for the utility. For even smoother operations, the Irby team procures and kits material for projects as needed.
The program included warehousing and outdoor yardage, and from its pilot phase to the present day, has grown 12 times its original size. Two years after implementation, the utility expanded the program to another main service area, this time with an even larger warehouse agreement.
Results: Gas teams at the utility now enjoy assured storage for gas projects, dramatically improving inventory accuracy, project timelines, and customer sentiment.
Better Gas Utility Support Starts Here
If there’s one constant among cooperatives, IOUs, and contractors in the gas space, it’s that no two businesses’ problems look exactly alike.
Irby takes these differences seriously. From handling pandemic supply chaos in the South, to creating dedicated gas storage in the East, and even to jobsite delivery for gas contractors in the West, Irby brings whatever you need to the table. It’s what makes us the preferred partner for utility everything.
About the Authors:
Dan Brown, Director of Alliance Management, has served the utility distribution industry for over 20 years. As Irby’s lead for key alliance partnerships, Dan drives customer fill rate success through strategic forecasting, standards management, and continuous improvement strategies.
Jamie Diak, District Manager, oversees a team that manages market conditions and works strategically with Alliance customer accounts. He constructs and administers facility policies and reviews market analyses to identify and respond to customer needs. By analyzing activities, costs, operations, budgets, and forecast data, Jamie gauges territory progress toward goals and objectives.
James Bova, Director of Gas Services, has led Irby’s nationwide gas division for over a decade. Responsible for the development and expansion of gas material sales, James has successfully added and expanded multi-year agreements with key utility accounts across the US.