Technology and training trim customers' costs

By Staff -- Industrial Distribution, 8/1/2000

Buckeye Industrial Supply, Inc., has only been selling tools and operating supplies to Columbia City, Ind.-based 80/20, Inc. since last year, but plant manager Shawn Mantel says Buckeye already outperforms many other distributors.

"Our views on business are the same as theirs," Mantel says. "They're a one-stop shop. They'll do research. They'll come in here with suggestions on how to improve our process."

80/20 manufactures slotted aluminum extrusions, including some fabrication jobs for unusual framework sizes. Mantel says 80/20 was impressed by Buckeye's offer during a cold call made by one of the partners of the Columbus, Ohio-based distributor of cutting tools, abrasives, coolants and punch and die components.

"We've dealt with several different vendors over the years," Mantel says. "We've phased [Buckeye Industrial] in and now 80 to 90 percent of our tooling business goes to them. It started out giving them [business] little by little as they performed to our standards."

Rick Meizlish, Buckeye's vice president of sales, says the majority of the company's sales staff is technically oriented. The right background combined with training gives Buckeye's staff the expertise to help customers choose key vendors. This strategy has been instrumental in the company's success. With just 27 employees, Buckeye achieves about $12 million in annual sales.

"Many times we have to go in early on in the process and help the customers organize their tool crib and set up their cabinets," Meizlish says. "We help them make sure what's in there is moving, non-obsolete and organized in the proper fashion."

Frank Wolffram, a buyer for Cincinnati, Ohio-based Senco Products, Inc. says Buckeye helped him pare down Senco's tool crib from 242 to nine vendors. Still, Senco needs to keep about $1 million in inventory on hand, so stocking the right mix is critical. Senco manufactures and sells pneumatic fasteners, staplers, nailers and air tools to customers around the world.

"When I first came in here the tool crib was a wreck," Wolffram says. "I raised so much Cain they put me in charge of it. I couldn't have done it without Buckeye as one of the suppliers."

Through Buckeye, Senco uses an inventory replenishment system developed by the Hettenhouse Group of Hartland, Mich. The system uses bar-coded cards and a reader that tracks usage and reorders each item electronically. System benefits include less paperwork for both the distributor and customer and lower acquisition costs. Wolffram praises Buckeye's implementation and management of the program.

"We have a Kanban system and those items are delivered the next day," Wolffram says. "That's very important to us and it reduces on-hand inventory."

Meizlish says the inventory replenishment system helps the company avoid getting involved in programs that add more costs than value.

"It's just a vehicle to lower the transaction costs," Meizlish says. "We have a reputation in the market and we earn our way to that point by our ability to present solutions on the factory floor that lower the manufacturer's costs."