Company Changes in Mexico Result in Consolidated Suppliers Throughout North America
In today’s ever-challenging economy, mergers, divestures, acquisitions and the like are becoming more and more commonplace. Yet, despite hearing about them regularly in the financial news, the true impact of these types of corporate transformations oftentimes occurs once the newly independent company hits the street and establishes a plan to attack their market. One plan of attack that is regularly followed is expansion.
An excellent example of this can be found with a major worldwide manufacturer and provider of medical technologies and related services for the healthcare industry. As a large corporate entity with several unrelated divisions, the primary business provides healthcare goods and services which include patient support systems, safe mobility and handling solutions, non-invasive therapeutic products for a variety of acute and chronic medical conditions, medical equipment rentals and information technology solutions.
Following the divesture of its unrelated businesses a year ago, the company’s next step was expansion. This move brought increased focus on its current manufacturing operations in Monterrey, Mexico.
One of the primary directives of the company’s Mexico operations was to get away from buying its printed production parts in the U.S. and Europe and localize its supply base. In particular, the company was looking for a local partner that could facilitate the production, storage and distribution of its functional and decorative labels and technical literature while ensuring UL and CSA compliance. With the Industramark™ business unit of Standard Register de Mexico in its new facility’s back yard, the company looked to us about the same time we approached them.
The Industramark team immediately invited the company’s commodity manager to our facility for a comprehensive tour and a presentation on our Manufacturing Parts Solutions (MPS) suite of products and services. Company representatives were pleasantly surprised at our ability to meet UL requirements and proceeded to test our ability to meet strict company quality guidelines.
Working closely with the company’s engineering team, Industramark and its technical staff was able to meet all of the company’s label construction requirements. As a result, Industramark now provides this company’s Mexico operations with a complete MPS program, including:
- An extensive collection of printed production parts
- UL, CSA and ANSI compliance support
- Electronic parts catalogs
- Local customer service
During this process, the company’s commodity manager realized Industramark’s industry-leading expertise with printed production parts and invited us to the company’s U.S. headquarters to make a presentation to their stateside counterparts. That commodity manager, who has since transferred to the company’s U.S. headquarters, is working closely with Industramark to expand our printed production parts business to all of its U.S. manufacturing facilities, thereby further consolidating its supply chain for printed production parts.
Three key factors played a role in the company’s decision to partner with Industramark and our Mexico operations:
- The strategic location of Industramark in Mexico and our ability to fulfill its needs for a localized supplier
- Industramark’s technical team and our working knowledge of UL, CSA and ANSI compliance regulations
- A reduction in the number of suppliers to the company and our overall ability to streamline its printed production parts supply chain
If you’d like more information on how your company can consolidate and streamline its printed production parts supply chain in both the United States and Mexico, contact Standard Register today.