Grinding Journal - Summer 2007 - (Page 4)

exactly by Rodger Pinney President and CEO, United Grinding My thoughts THE greatest team in grinding O ne of the most enjoyable aspects of my job is traveling around North America and meeting with you, our customers. This gets me out of the proverbial corner office and into regular contact with the real world of manufacturing. I’ve used this interactive approach since joining United Grinding almost ten years ago and have always found your feedback tremendously beneficial from several business perspectives. During these visits, I like to ask: “Of your current machine tool suppliers, which do you consider the role model all other suppliers should emulate with respect to exactly meeting your needs and expectations?” I get blank stares, puzzled expressions, deep thoughts without a definitive answer, and ultimately statements indicating that no one vendor comes immediately to mind. Unfortunately, the underlying message here is that the machine tool industry in general is not meeting your needs. This should be unacceptable for any supplier. It IS absolutely unacceptable to us at United Grinding. On the other hand, you are quick to say you’ve received exceptional support in high pressure circumstances from one of United Grinding’s service engineers or our in-house Helpline staff. You’ve often told me our Project Managers have come through for you with exactly the right information in an expeditious manner. You also appreciate getting fast answers to your manufacturing questions by talking directly with one of our US based Applications Engineers. And finally, I have received countless positive remarks about how direct calls to our Parts Team helped you identify a needed part, which we then shipped to you from our local inventory on the same day. Undoubtedly manufacturing will always be a person-to-person partnership between United Grinding and you – a relationship reliant on teamwork, speed of response, efficiency, and solid communications. Looking to the future, these discussions have calibrated my understanding of your need for more United Grinding assistance in turnkey project management, preventive maintenance, manufacturing processes optimization, parts inventory planning, and prototype development. The driving force behind these needs encompass your implementation of lean manufacturing concepts, the scarcity of qualified manufacturing personnel, demands from your customers, and your goal to achieve the highest possible uptimes for your grinding machines. Meeting your future needs will be a challenge for us, but it’s one we certainly welcome and fully embrace. My ultimate goal? That in a future visit, when I ask “Which grinding solutions supplier is the role model all other suppliers should emulate?” your immediate answer will be “United Grinding.” Grinding Journal

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Grinding Journal - Summer 2007

Contents My Thoughts Exactly When Lives Are at Stake Walter Consolidating Production The Art of Grinding: Knowing the Source of Grinding Errors and How to Fix Them The How and Why of Conventional Vitrified Grinding Wheel Selection Grinding Glass Flat Problem Solver

Grinding Journal - Summer 2007

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