Built on trust

Many companies claim trust as a pillar of their organizations, but for cooperatives, the word holds a more profound meaning. As Plumbers Co-op CEO Willi Friderich explains, trust isn’t merely a soft concept when it comes to cooperatives – it’s the fundamental operating system.

“I always say to our members: you’re not customers, you’re co-owners,” he tells The CEO Magazine.

“Every member has put an investment into this business and for a lot of them, it’s far more than that. It’s their retirement, their super, the thing they’ll one day pass on to their kids. So, this isn’t just about being liked in the trade; it’s about them having genuine confidence that the business they own is being run well and is going somewhere.”

Backed by almost seventy years of history, Plumbers Co-op’s underlying mission has remained constant – to serve its members, not to extract from them.

“From the very beginning, the spirit of this organization was simple: plumbers banding together to get a fairer deal than any of them could get alone,” Friderich says.

“That member-first ethos and the relationships our branch teams have with local plumbers built up over years, is not something you can manufacture. It’s the soul of the business, and I won’t trade it for anything.”

Rebuilding confidence

Protecting this was, therefore, a top priority for Friderich as he assumed the CEO role, initially on an interim basis in 2024 after 17 years with ALDI Stores Australia. He also saw great potential for the then slightly stale organization, which spurred him to take on the position on a permanent basis.

“What I saw was a cooperative with 70 years of history, a proud heritage, an established network and a base of members who had been part of it for generations. Yet it hadn’t evolved or modernized in many decades,” he recalls. “It was, in a sense, relying on its history rather than delivering what a modern cooperative should.”

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“Plumbers Co-op plays an important role in bringing Robusto pipe and fitting systems to the Australian plumbing industry. Their experienced team, trusted reputation and dedication to supporting trade professionals make them a highly valued partner for our business.” – Caiden Spencer, Chief Operating Officer, Forza Global

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That all-important sense of trust had eroded among its members, as had their confidence, that it could perform in the way they had hoped.

“Rebuilding that was always going to be central to the job,” Friderich acknowledges.

“Where some might see the constraints of a co-op this size, I saw latent potential: a strong foundation that just needed a clear strategy, modern infrastructure and the confidence to back itself. Once I could see that, it was very hard to walk away.”

With this in mind, Friderich embarked on a bold plan – to double the cooperative’s growth over the next three-to-four years while strengthening its partnerships with companies like plumbing systems firm Forza Global.

“The growth ambition rests on a few clear drivers,” he says. “First, getting the fundamentals right, a modern operating model, a contemporary IT and systems stack and the financial discipline to fund our own growth. Second, sharpening our member value proposition so being part of the co-op is unmistakably worth it.

“Third, extending our network and share of wallet across the eastern seaboard, and broadening what we offer beyond product alone into genuine member services.”

Strong foundations

The building blocks to underpin that expansion are already in place, according to Friderich, having been laid over the past two years.

“I’ll be candid,” he says. “The work to make the cooperative profitable again is still underway. But the next twelve months will see a monumental change in the financial strength of the Co-op.

“The structural work is done and now it starts to flow through.”

The people of Plumbers Co-op are its other great advantage as it takes on these lofty targets, with a leadership team and branch network who are all firmly committed to its fresh direction. This unified approach is the result of a strong communication strategy, designed to explain the ‘why’ while being transparent about the challenges that lie ahead.

Friderich’s own role is to set a clear direction for Plumbers Co-op, give his team the right tools to do their jobs and then trust them to get on with it. This means empowering them to make decisions as well as mistakes and ensuring they learn from their experiences.

“You can’t ask people to take ownership and then punish them the moment something goes wrong; that’s how you end up with an organization where nobody decides anything,” he stresses. “I try to be calm and resourceful when things get hard, and candid when things need to be said.”

Boots on the ground

Friderich also places great emphasis on leading by example and is commonly found out at the coalface.

“I’m out in the network constantly, in steel caps, in the ute, behind the counter,” he says.

“That’s not a gimmick. It’s to model what it takes for the less experienced in the team that want to be better. And it’s a reminder to the more experienced team members of who we serve and the kind of business we are.”

This commitment also gives Friderich a clear view of what is really happening on the ground across Plumbers Co-op. Just as importantly, conversations with members help him understand how the organization can better support their growth – insights he considers invaluable in driving the business forward.

“I’ve seen before what a business can do when everyone is aligned,” Friderich says. “Our vision says it plainly: Working as one to provide members with unmatched service, value and future wealth.”

He stressed the poignancy of the word ‘wealth’ in this context.

“We’re not thinking about next quarter; we’re thinking about what a member’s investment is worth the day they hang up their tools,” he says.

“None of us ever loses sight of what’s actually at stake here. For some of our plumbers, their investment in the Co-op is a critical part of their retirement. It’s not an abstract shareholding; it’s their future security.

“Protecting that investment and growing it is what drives the whole team, every single day.”