It always feels good to get a good report from a new customer.  A couple days ago we had a new buyer tell us that he wishes he’d have heard about us 15 years ago! 

He also told us the he was extremely pleased with how quickly we got back to him with a price and how easy we’ve been to deal with. 

This customer came to us because they had an item that they were having a really hard time finding.  Not only was the item hard to find but they needed the material within the week.  We were able to locate this material quickly and get the material to our customer in time to help them out of their jam. 

We are currently working on our fifth order with this customer whom we just starting working with only a few short weeks ago.  This particular customer uses mainly round stainless steel bar stock.  We tend to deal in flat rolled steel coils but we were able to use our vast vendor base to find this product.  It appears that our ability to get those hard to find items and a short amount of time has helped build the foundation of a relationship with a new customer. 

We recently had a great opportunity to help a customer of ours.  We generally slit flat rolled steel, but in this case a customer had a need for something very rare, especially to us.  They needed .187” thick flat wire. But not only that, it had to be chrome vanadium flat wire.  To the layperson, flat wire and steel coils would seem very similar, but this isn’t really the case.

This is a situation where we don't have the capability of producing that here, but we do have Don Cawley (salesman/buyer). Don probably knows more about the flat roll industry than anybody in the state, and we’re often thankful to have him on our side, especially in cases such as this.  Don was able to find a vendor that was able to specially make this product for us.

As you can see on our website, our niche is narrow slit coil. But we love getting opportunities to help customers out, even when it’s a little bit out of our comfort zone.

In our ongoing efforts to streamline operations at Consolidated Metal, we are making an upgrade in the computer operating system that helps us run our business.  We are currently in the early stages of the transition to Enmark Systems, Inc.

This move is something we have wanted to do for some time now and we are very excited about the capabilities that Enmark provides.  We have been operating with a system for about 15 years that was adequate, but also required unnecessary operating time for it to do what we needed.  That system was good for us and it allowed us to provide great service to our customers.  What we gain with Enmark, however, is an ability to be more efficient in our day to day operations.

Some of the benefits of this change include having barcode shipping and inventory tags as opposed to hand-written ones.  The inventory screens are easier to use in terms of finding coils we have in stock and processing material.  We are able to eliminate steps in the shipping and receiving of material yet maintain the same level of accuracy in entering data.  I could continue, but I think the point is made.

Maybe the most exciting part of this switch is the operating time that is freed up.  That time that we will gain, once the system is up and running, can now be devoted to the continual improvement of steel slitting services at CMS.

We will keep all of you in the loop concerning this transition.  We can’t wait to see what is possible with our new found efficiency!