50th Anniversary Blog
CPS celebrates our 50th year together! Yes, time sure does fly! We’re thankful for our wonderful partnerships and amazing CPS team that make our work meaningful and fun. CPS founder, Bill Hetzler, built this business around the values of honesty, loyalty, and community—all guiding principles that run deep within the company today. We’re proud to look back on CPS’s humble beginnings, which are full of hard work and a commitment to excellence.
The company began in 1972 with 3 friends coming together and forming a parts & services company in Cincinnati, Ohio. At first there were only 3 employees: Bill Hetzler, his wife Elizabeth who kept track of the billing, and one other technician who helped fix smaller appliances and various equipment for local customers like LaRosa’s Pizza and Montgomery Inn.
Thanks to a strong network of relationships across Ohio, CPS began to expand into other markets, establishing our Dayton and Columbus locations in the mid-80s. Hetzler relied on family members to manage the new branches, take care of service calls, and support the newest side of the business—commercial parts sales. Plus, we collaborated with titans of the food industry such as Wendy’s, McDonald’s, and White Castle which skyrocketed the sales of commercial parts!
Since then, CPS has continued to invest in our most valuable resource: our people. We became a CFESA certified company in 1974, training our technicians with CFESA’s most up-to-date, reliable methods to keep up with new technological advancements. Right before the turn of the new millennium, we became the nation’s largest Hobart parts provider and landed a huge contract with Yum! Brands to be their premier parts provider, servicing restaurants like KFC, Pizza Hut, Taco Bell and more.
CPS truly is family-run, with Steve and Jeff Sliter currently representing a third generation of family leadership. Together, the Sliters maintain the beliefs of CPS’s legacy: transparency, reliability, and building a genuine rapport with clients and employees.
With the help of our devoted team and valued partners, one small entrepreneurial idea developed into 3 thriving offices, a tri-state service area, and a digital catalogue with over 5 million parts to choose from. What started with just three employees, we recognize today as 100+ deeply appreciated members of the CPS family. We are honored to be a part of this generous, supportive community as we commemorate our past and look ahead towards a successful future.
