McNeilus, Metalcraft team up to provide supply chain and IUID tags for customer

Background

Listening to a customer’s needs and developing a mutually beneficial compromise is key to many successful partnerships. Both can be said for Metalcraft’s long-standing partnership with McNeilus Steel. Family owned for over 72 years, McNeilus Steel is a full-line steel distributor and processor dedicated to providing customers with best in material quality, responsive customer service and on-time delivery.

Opportunity

Approximately eight years ago one of McNeilus Steel’s defense customers came to them with a job requiring complete traceability and visibility throughout the customer’s supply chain and one that would also give the customer a quick reference for vendor-supplied equipment. That is when they reached out to Metalcraft, a manufacturer of customized identification products, who began producing a color-specific high-volume label job with a custom adhesive.

Challenge

After successfully fulfilling the labeling needs for the above application, that same customer also needed IUID labels to comply with the IUID mandate for defense contractors. Metalcraft has been providing IUID labels and nameplates to defense contractors and government entities since the policy was implemented back in 2004. The only issue was the lead time for these oversized plates did not meet the customer’s expectations.

Solution

This did not deter the McNeilus/Metalcraft team. According to David Graham, General Manager at McNeilus Steel, both parties put their heads together to find a solution for the customer. The compromise reached involved splitting the investment on special tooling for the customer which allowed them to meet the required shorter lead times and improve efficiency – much to the customer’s delight. “It was a great collaboration to help the customer,” said Graham.

Result

Graham reports McNeilus is satisfied with the products and service Metalcraft currently provides. He appreciates their willingness to listen and help when any challenges arise. “Metalcraft is willing to work to come up with solutions for challenges,” he said. “There is give and take on both ends to find solutions that work both for parties.”

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