Call it the supply chain, call it the extended enterprise. At Geist Plastics, we refer to the role our suppliers play in assisting with the manufacturing and sale of plastic extrusion as integral to our customers’ success.

Like most companies, we purchase varying amounts of product from each vendor. Some have supplied us with product for 10+ years. Others we met in recent years and began working together after determining they were a good fit for our needs. All of our suppliers, whether they are located in the Midwest, Eastern or Western part of the country, send reps and technicians to work with us as needed. We work diligently to preserve all of these relationships. As we continue to grow, taking on more and more custom projects, we will partner with more suppliers to meet our material, equipment and tooling needs.

Right now our company is feeling especially appreciative of one vendor in particular. We recently hired a tooling company and industry consultant to determine ways we could increase our efficiencies – such as with the mixing of materials, throughput, and running of product. With their suggested modifications implemented, we conducted small scale testing on some of our existing tooling.

The results they projected were spot-on. This is turn led us to invest $60,000 in similar modifications on six of our proprietary dies/tooling. This work has already begun and will be completed within approximately 12 weeks. We project savings of $50,000-$100,000 per year as a result of the insights and assistance we gained from working with these industry partners.

We are in contact every week with our vendors. The strength of our vendor relationships ensure that if clients have urgencies, such as an unforeseen demand for product, our vendor-partners will respond quickly to urgent requests. Equally important, when we are presented with a new custom extrusion project, our vendors are extremely attentive to our questions and requests about materials, tooling and equipment needed for the new project. This enables us to quickly provide customers with accurate quotes and realistic timelines.

If an opportunity is good for us, it’s good for our suppliers. We’re in this business together.