Across The Table: Asking The Right Questions

While meeting staff at my new laboratory casework company, I met Mary Ann, who handled shortage & breakage. I asked what she asked dealers when they called. She responded by asking who is at fault, and who is paying for the new product.

I told her to never ask those questions again. Instead, she should ask what is needed and when it is needed by. Mary Ann was aghast. “But what if they are trying to take advantage of us?”  

“If you believe one of our dealers is taking advantage of us, you tell me that straight away.” Now Mary Ann was worried.“Well, I don’t want to get anyone in trouble.”

I replied, “You just said they might be taking advantage of us. If they are, I guarantee they are blaming us for the problem, no matter who is at fault. We don’t need dealers like that.”

I explained that our products go to construction sites. Sometimes items just get damaged, lost, or even stolen. No matter the cause, the priority is to get a replacement product there while the installer is still on the job site. 

When I began in the industry with Fisher Hamilton (FHI), FHI was notorious for mishandling S & B orders, which were put at the end of the production schedule, even if that was 8 weeks out or even later. It didn’t matter that our product is installed near the end of the construction schedule. The factory was full and that was when a new product could ship. 

But just as critical is the availability of installers, who have full schedules. When finished at one job site, they are off to the next. When replacement S & B products finally show up, they can’t just leave their new job site. The replacement product has to show up while the installer is still on this job site.

My new company was committed. If replacement items were needed on site next week, that is when they shipped. We kept plant capacity and materials available. We even counted S & B shipping commitments in our on-time delivery measurement. Our commitment to on-time delivery, even for S & B, won us business.

Oh, and problems with dealers or installers taking advantage of us? Mary Ann only came to me twice in eight years, and both times it was the same dealer. Their project managers were incentivized to increase project profitability and were shifting the S & B cost. Their sales manager knew the S & B problems weren’t our fault. They were a good dealer for us and we worked it out. I didn’t want to lose them as a dealer and they didn’t want to lose us as a manufacturer.

How do the manufacturers you approve for your projects handle shortage & breakage? Do they handle it so well no one knows there was a problem? Or will your customer take possession of an incomplete laboratory building and you look bad?

Dave can be reached at dwithee@alum.mit.edu or 920-737-8477.

All opinions expressed in Across The Table with Dave Withee are exclusive to the author and are not reflective of Lab Design News.