Company History

The History of TrulinX Software

Developed for Industrial Distributors by an Industrial Distributor

Our history starts with Mr. B. W. Rogers, Sr. who founded the company bearing his name in 1928. The Company entered business as a sales agent for various manufacturers such as Allis Chalmers and B. F. Goodrich, then became a power transmission/process equipment and belting distributor. In 1947, the B.W. Rogers Company was asked by The Parker Appliance Company to act as a distributor of its hydraulic tube fittings.

This was the company’s first significant step into the fluid handling business and into distribution as well. Through the acquisition of other fluid power product lines and the establishment of branch offices, the B. W. Rogers Company has grown into one of the largest selling organizations for this type of equipment in the state of Ohio.

During the early 1980’s, it became evident that to remain profitable and be effective in such a fierce and competitive marketplace, B. W. Rogers Company needed to streamline their operations. The management team decided to replace their “antiquated” Burroughs computer system, with a state of the art computer system. After a grueling 18-month evaluation of packages such as Prophet 21 and DISC, they decided no one understood the hose, fluid power, and rubber products distribution business like B. W. Rogers, so they designed and developed their own.

In 1983, after three years of development, their new software system was finally complete. The system solved so many Critical Business Issues that B. W. Rogers created a separate department and began selling the software nationwide. Thus, “TRIBUTE” was born.

The TRIBUTE system quickly became, and still is, the leading provider of enterprise-wide distribution management software to the hose, fluid power, fluid handling, motion control and automation marketplace. System sales developed quickly and the TRIBUTE Division became a company unto its own, and eventually became more than the rapidly growing fluid handling business could handle, so they put it up for sale.

In February of 1994, Tim Reynolds acquired Tribute Inc.

In 2004, we introduced our state of the art product called TrulinX, which uses SQL Server Database, Windows Server Operating System, and Object Oriented Programming Architecture. TrulinX was designed from the ground up, allowing us to capture our years of industrial distribution experience and taking advantage of the latest technologies along with way!

Both the Tribute and TrulinX systems offer industry specific features, along with unrivaled real-time, personable and knowledgeable support services. With an extremely dedicated and influential user base, Tribute benefits greatly from the input of its users into product development. In fact, Tribute has one of the few remaining independent user groups in the industry, which actively guides and selects future product enhancements. Not only that, but Tribute’s customers are typically high profile industry leaders in their vertical markets, so input is filtered through their success.

In January, 2020, Tribute was acquired by AssetWorks, a Volaris Company. Volaris is an operating group within the broader parent Constellation Software Inc. (CSI). CSI is a Canadian-listed company providing market-leading software and services to a variety of industries worldwide.

Uniquely in the software arena, CSI is a buy and hold investor. Unlike other investment groups, they have a proven “buy and grow” strategy and a long term outlook. This allows Tribute to maintain its brand and independence with support, coaching, and best practices from Volaris.