HISTORY
company founding & family history
Ternes was founded in 1948, but the Ternes family began far before that starting with the Terenes family.
The A.P (Albert Paul) Ternes family consisted of three brothers, Arthur, Howard and Paul. A.P. and his three sons, created the family businesses. These family businesses in the late 1800’s (1896-1943) were prominent in Detroit’s history. The businesses that were created included: Ternes Coal and Feed, Ternes Coal and Lumber, Ternes & Yatzek Real-estate, Springwell State Bank, and Ternes Live Stock Farms.
the beginning of ternes
As you can see, all of the business involved either building, or moving building materials. In the beginning, the company supplied coal and lumber so that houses could be built, and the products could be shipped by rail.
The first building was on Michigan Ave in Springwells Township (Later the names of the cities were changed: Springwells became Fordson and then officially now Dearborn as part of Detroit). The company as “Howard Ternes Packaging” was located in Redford Township from 1975 – 2013. In 2013, Livonia became the location of the current headquarters.
ternes and ford motor company
As Howard Ternes Packaging, the company was primarily focused on meeting the demands of Ford Motor Company. In the early days quick reaction and flexibility were keys in meeting customer demands. The marriage of supplier to Ternes, by Ford created a new designation of a “3PL”, Third Party Logistics provider, of these packaging services.
As the auto industry grew and the demand for service and aftermarket parts management developed, so went the direction of Ternes. Shifting form production supply, to the growing need of aftermarket and service parts support Ternes took the leap forward to provide space and services to again move automotive parts to its customers.
growth over time
Ternes has grown its reputation and respect in the industry as a “get it done” company. Our slogan simple and true, “We’ll take it from here”, is evident in our performance. The industry recognizes this as we have expanded our customer base, and offerings, to meet these demands. Ternes is a parts management company, not just a packager. We provide warehousing, packaging services, design, and procurement management to name a few. There is very few “no’s” when it come to a custom request.
For a long time, Ternes solely worked with Ford, packaging service parts. Eventually, our portfolio grew to Ford and Chrysler, and, we work with nearly every car maker.
the future of ternes
In terms of location, while we are primarily a Michigan company, we are looking at future expansion into other states. Ohio, Tennessee, Kentucky, Indiana to name a few.
Our future is promising and we are truly looking forward to consistent growth. Our plans are to continue what we do best; be present where our customer takes us, and be able to continue current partnerships, as well as form new ones. There are few limitations to our future.
COMPANY GROWTH
The future growth of our company has the same ideal in mind, be financially fit enough to continue to be a family run business, be true to our core values, and offer flexible solutions to our customers: smart growth.
Our goal is to be where we are needed and to provide what is needed to our core customer base, and, offer what we do other in the in automotive industry, adjacent industries, partnerships and diversification.
