Review our case studies from a few of our manufacturing clients:
Commodity Manufacturing
Situation
As an established manufacturer of large iron castings, the client wasn’t coping well with its business volatility. Foreign competition and U.S. overcapacity was causing it headaches. During years of better profit margins, the client had invested significantly in IT, including internal IT staffing. Finally forced into a cost-cutting mode, the client met the “perfect fit” guidelines we laid out and agreed to work with us as a fully trusted partner.
Outcome
After going through our diagnostic/discovery process, we recommended a fairly innovative simplification of their existing technology, coupled with dramatically reduced labor costs. The client accepted our recommendation to reduce its 175 hour/month internal IT staff labor cost, and replace it with 612 Network’s 15 hours/month outsourcing. The client’s COO ultimately summarized, “Given the bind we were in, 612 Network’s experience and credentials was what initially got our attention. And how thankful we are this happened. I don’t want to sound too much like a Pollyanna, but the history between us has been so positive that we now regard them as a partner for life.”
Custom Molded Rubber Manufacturer
Situation
The client provides custom rubber molding, silicone compression, and liquid injection molding—accompanied by in-house engineering assistance, mold designers and chemists. In the words of its president, “We were founded in the 1960s, and to survive we’ve had to constantly try to reinvent ourselves—but within tight financial constraints. Over the years we had used a variety of IT vendors, none satisfactorily, until we began working with 612 Network nearly a decade ago.”
Outcome
The president has summarized: “They came as advertised, and have learned virtually everything about how our business operates—and they are not shy about expressing opinions they believe can make our business better. At one point, they even argued that our product line had become bloated, and that their analysis showed additional margins from very low volume items were not matching the added costs. Our sales organization, which had understandably championed this strategy, ultimately won the battle. But 612 Network never gives up trying, in their view, to make us a better company. We love them for that.”