While ordering tooling online may seem convenient, there are many benefits of working with a tool vendor. We visited our tool vendor Iwen Tool Supply and spoke with VP Travis Thayer about how they provide expertise and service beyond what an online retailer can offer.
Video Transcript:
All right everybody, Mike Grossi from Kremin Inc. We’re going to do something a little bit different today. We’re not in the shop; we’re at IWEN Tool in Bridgeport, Michigan with Travis Theer, and they are our tooling partner. We’re going to talk about a few different topics today, but we’re going to start with what to look for in a tooling vendor.
Travis, hello, third generation IWEN Tool. That’s right. Before we get started, just tell me the history. So IWEN Tool was started by my grandfather in 1974. It started as a small agent just representing a few brands out of the back bedroom of his house, which is actually next door. I don’t think Ralph IWEN ever thought that it would grow to the level it is now. Fast forward, this is our 50th-year anniversary. We’ve got 48 employees, we cover the whole state, and we’ve got great customers that support us.
Yeah, so much. Daryl is our sales guy, right? So when I bought the business in 2010, we only had nine employees, and Daryl came to see us. We have 35 now, and Daryl comes to see us every week. He’s the owner, but he still drives every day. He does not have an office in this building. His office is his truck, and he loves servicing customers.
It’s fantastic. One of the reasons why I wanted to come here and talk to you today is back before COVID, in 2019 and 2020, we had some serious discussions internally about why we do not buy our own tooling online. Right? You see it now all the time. I get emails from H, buy tooling from H. I get emails from Titan, buy tooling from Titan. Wouldn’t it just be easier for us to buy our tooling online?
You would maybe think so, and a lot of our competitors are trying to do that now. Don’t get me wrong, we have the eCommerce site, we have the platform, but that’s more for API integrations for our larger end users. We do have customers that shop online, but 99% of our business comes from face-to-face interaction. So we’re actually providing solutions to the end user at the spindle. You can’t do that online.
No, and I think it bears out. We decided to stay with IWEN, and it is that support. I think it’s the support for us. It’s the knowledge of our process. It’s the knowledge of the tools. You know, we’ve got some new tools out there right now, and we got the e-mail from IWEN. Hey, we’ve got this. We think it’s perfect for you. They drop a tool off, let us test it. We didn’t get that online.
Absolutely, and that’s what we’re trying to provide is that personalized service. We know your process, we know what you need, and we’re here to support you.
Right, and I’ll tell you what, it’s been invaluable for us. The other thing that I think about is the stock. We can get it so fast from you guys, and I know it’s available even though I haven’t used it yet, and it expedites deliveries. Customs, everything comes out of these guys. I don’t know that you get that out of an online vendor. I could be wrong. If you’re using an online tooling vendor, leave a comment below about how they work for you. If you have a tooling partner like IWEN, do they do what IWEN does? Do they do something different? Leave a comment below. We’d like to know because we’ve been using IWEN a long time. We haven’t quoted them out, we don’t intend to, but maybe there’s something they can add that somebody else is doing, so we would really appreciate that.
And we’re constantly trying to add value as well. So we look at the competition and we say, hey, what are they doing that we’re not? And we try to make sure that, hey, if they are doing something good, great for them. How can we do it better? Ultimately, it benefits you, the customer. A lot of times you get into a quoting war with people, we don’t do that. That doesn’t benefit you, the customer, because eventually, you lose that support, and we see that all the way down.
Right, the whole supply chain needs to make money. We understand that. We’re supplying parts to somebody else. We need to make money, our vendors need to make money. But if we can do it most efficiently throughout, it’s better for everybody. For us, it’s support. It’s all about support. If you can get the support you need, ultimately you’re seeing the cost savings by productivity improvement.
Yeah, so check out those two videos below I talked about on the Matrix gate system as well as the Matrix we use for our tooling. Travis, I really appreciate your time.
Absolutely. Be sure to like and subscribe. It does a huge help for us in getting this out into the internet, pushing these videos, getting in front of more people. We get a lot of great comments. Please continue to comment. We’re going to do a few more videos here at IWEN, so please check that out as well. Thanks.