n December 0f 2014, the Metalworking Solutions team dropped in on the purchasing department at Young Touchstone in Jackson, Tennessee. During their tour of the facilities, they were introduced to Brian Moroney, Vice President, Finance and Purchasing, and asked him if he would like to join the team for lunch.
“My purchasing team was doing their job, interviewing potential suppliers. We didn’t have a need for a new vendor,” said Brian. “I had no intention of giving them any business but decided I’d tag along. If nothing else, it was a free lunch. As we ate, I listened and was intrigued by the conversation. It wasn’t your typical conversation with a sales team. These were businessmen. They had a unique and compelling business model. When we got back to the office, I gave them what I expected to be a one-time order. It was a small order with little to no risk to us that I had every expectation would turn out to be fairly fruitless. Fortunately, for both of us, they proved this not to be the case. A year later I can say that Metalworking Solutions is one of our best and most trusted suppliers.”
Young Touchstone is the global leader in the design, manufacture, and marketing of heavy duty heat transfer components and systems. Headquartered in Jackson, Tennessee, the company has additional operations in Racine, Wisconsin, and Lexington, Tennessee. Their total operations comprise over 400,000 square feet of ISO9001 certified facilities.
Young Touchstone outsources approximately 30% of their parts. Like many companies, they have been dependent on sourcing these parts internationally, resulting in elongated lead times, increased inventory levels, and greater difficulty in resolving quality issues.
“When choosing a supplier, we, of course, review quality, cost, delivery, and honesty as you would suspect,” said Brian. “Another key one for us is ‘common sense,’ this is where Metalworking Solutions stands out. They have worked to put flexible agreements together that gives us the ability to better manage our inventories, improve our cash flow, and operate in a ‘just-in-time’ delivery of parts methodology. We know we can trust what they say, and their quality is impeccable.”
“Metalworking Solutions average total lead time of 2 – 3 weeks on custom parts eliminates 10 – 60 days of lead time from most of our customers’ part purchases. Couple this savings in time with the superior manufacturing quality provided by American craftsmen and the use of the latest metal fabrication technology and you have a compelling reason to do business domestically with us,” said Nick Burrows, Executive Vice President and General Manager, Metalworking Solutions. “We have built our business model on continually updating our plant with the latest technology and keeping our facilities running seven days a week, three shifts a day. We have learned it is more advantageous to keep operations running around the clock than to try and add and delete shifts based on demand. In this way, we can keep our workforce stable and absorb additional order volume in stride, all without incurring exuberant overtime charges. It’s analogous to a professional tennis player not standing still while waiting to receive serve from their opponent. By staying in motion, he or she can quickly cover more area. We believe the same is true of manufacturing.”
About Metalworking Solutions
Metalworking Solutions has created an entirely new business model for providing outsourced sheet metal components and assemblies to OEM’s operating within virtually any industry. Metalworking Solutions combines world-class technology and cutting edge, lean manufacturing processes with good, old-fashioned business principles and work ethic. While most companies buy capital equipment and run it for decades, we understand that technology continues to evolve and get better and better. Metalworking Solutions commits to having the best in class technology and equipment for manufacturing your parts.