With a desire for an expanded customer base, WEPCO began working with MFG.com as their primary lead generation tool. WEPCO soon realized that MFG.com could bring new customers, not just in New England, but across the U.S.
CNC Machining, Injection Molding and Metal Fabrication Marketplace | MFG.com
Case Studies: MFG.com Suppliers
WEPCO partnered with MFG.com to become an established prototype injection molder from coast to coast
MFG.com has been integral in supporting our growth and business development objectives. Not only have they become a valued partner, they have also become a member of our sales team. We have been very happy with their contributions and performance since becoming a member. Everything MFG.com does is aimed towards business development.
In search of an effective way to expand their customer base, American Technical Fabricators discovered that MFG.com would provide the necessary tools and platform to quickly deliver the new customers they needed. Instantly, they were able to search within the platform to find their "sweet spot" customers, which eventually delivered their top 20 clients.
Although Dionne can’t recall exactly how he found MFG.com, when he signed up, he began seeing results almost immediately. “We began quoting jobs,” he says, “and we were getting results, especially as far as interest goes — customers wanting to talk to us about prints, applications and so on. It certainly began to get us a level of exposure with companies we didn’t even know existed. A recent example is a company in upstate New York — pretty much right in our neighborhood."
A local manufacturing company based in Indianapolis, IN, has made its mark on America’s defense industrial base by being the first small business to win Department of Defense (DoD) contracts through the partnership between MFG.com and the Connecting American Manufacturing (CAM) program.
When Deb bought the Indiana-based business in 2001, “it seemed like a good idea at the time,” she says. “I was already working there and the opportunity became available.” But the company was not in great shape. Declining from its 80-employee peak to a low of 28 employees, 90% of the company’s business came from a single customer. “We had been doing business with them for so long, and were dependent on them, that we couldn’t raise our prices. And when their volume changed, we could only react to that. We were totally locked in.”
Forcon Precision Products goes above and beyond to produce quality products for their customers – in most cases sacrificing their own profit to get a better product. Forcon Precision Products is a CNC exclusive screw machine job shop, with complete secondary capabilities. This allows them to produce the highest quality screw machine components, with rapid response for customers. They have the ability to run orders both large and small, running lights out 24/7 for large orders and next day turn around for small orders and customer emergencies.
Dismayed to see so much business going overseas, Al is not one to just stand by and shake his head. “Any business needs a constant stream of leads to stay alive,” he says. But traditional sales techniques – hiring reps, paying for travel and advertising – cost a lot of money and don’t always yield results sufficient to justify the expense.
In 2004, Joe and a partner started a machine shop specializing in close-tolerance machining and quick turn-around for short and medium production runs in Indiana. Right from the start, their strategy was to use the MFG.com online marketplace as the primary source of business. “We knew we couldn’t afford a sales person,” Joe says, “cold calling is tough to do. It’s unproductive and time consuming. So we built our business plan around marketing through the Internet. We found MFG.com through a web search and it was just what we needed.”
With over 20 years of industry experience, Alan is president and owner of an Ohio Screw Machine shop. “My dad bought the business in 1969,” Alan said. “I worked with him during the summers and finally joined full-time in 1986.
According to Alan, all 30 of his B&S machines are running at full capacity. “Currently, we’re at about 60 to 70 percent capacity, but in our kind of work — small lots of small parts, mostly commercial jobs and with the majority going in to inventory for quick, on-demand delivery — it is difficult to put a firm number on capacity and utilization.”