Eliminating the 'hassle factor'
Virtually every industrial distribution company strives to embed itself so deeply into customers’ operations that it would be difficult for competitors to take away the business. In the best distributor-customer relationships, the distributor is on a search-and-destroy mission to uncover hassle factors.
A hassle factor is anything that prevents a company from working efficiently. Hassle factors could be inefficient processes, outdated procedures, lack of tools or other obstacles that hinder growth.
White Distribution & Supply (WDS) prides itself on its ability to help customers operate more efficiently. For some customers, the Fairbury, Illinois-based company functions like a third-party logistics provider, warehousing production parts and finished goods for distribution to the customer’s dealer network. For others, WDS looks more like an assembly operation, performing the final steps needed to get a product ready for shipment. Still other customers value the expertise that WDS provides in managing material flow and customized VMI programs.
“Our fundamental stake in the ground with our customers is to help them determine how they make money and to help them get out of doing things that don’t make them money,” explains John MacQuarrie, president and CEO.
If it’s more cost-effective and efficient for WDS to hold MRO supplies, freeing up valuable production room floor at the customer’s facility, WDS will take on that project. If bottlenecks are slowing down the final streps in a production process, WDS will custom-design a kitting and packaging solution.
The goal at WDS is to create a value-added service platform to help customers refine their systems and processes and eliminate hassle factors.
You can learn more about how WDS has become a key cog in the supply chain of its customers by reading our cover story.
Rich Vurva
Editor/Publisher
Twitter: @IndSupplyMag
This article originally appeared in the Jan./Feb. 2022 issue of Industrial Supply magazine. Copyright 2022, Direct Business Media.
INDUSTRIAL SUPPLY MAGAZINE
The November/December issue of Industrial Supply magazine features an in-depth cover story about Kimball Midwest. Plus, we're featuring articles by contributing writers Dirk Beveridge, Frank Hurtte, and Mike Marks, as well as interviews with numerous product and distribution industry experts.
