Billings,
MO-based company’s binding agreement with 3M goes back two decades
 |
| Plant
Supervisor Darren Ashley, left, and Co-Founder and Plant Manager Randy Van
Landuyt. Photo courtesy © Aaron Scott/Springfield Business Journal |
|
Reprinted with permission by
Springfield (MO) Business Journal Inc.
It wasn’t a requisite to be named Randy in the early days of
Wilcorp Industries Inc., it just so happened that way.
Randy Wilson and son-in-law Randy Van
Landuyt co-founded the business in 1986. “Our first employee was named Randy as
well,” Van Landuyt says.
Little did they know, the three guys named
Randy would kick off more than two decades of packaging adhesives and sealants
for 3M, its sole client.
Van Landuyt was working for an electrical
control systems company in Dallas when Wilson found the opportunity to help 3M
repackage materials into smaller containers. The guys bid on the job, and with
the help of 3M’s expertise, the small, family-owned business began operations
in Billings.
By 1991, Wilcorp Industries and its 31
employees had outgrown its Billings facility. The company added a Marshfield
plant and now employs 81.
“We package adhesives and sealants in a
variety of sizes from 20 cc syringes to five-gallon pails,” Van Landuyt says.
As a subcontractor, Wilcorp Industries
packages more than 500 separate catalog items for 3M. The products are then
shipped out to 3M’s customers in more convenient sizes or applicators for
consumer use or industrial repairs. The various 3M products can be used for
everything from patching concrete to spot repairs on an assembly line.
According to Jack Hayden, quality manager
at 3M Springfield, 3211 E. Chestnut Expressway, the relationship between 3M and
Wilcorp has been long and productive.
“It is somewhere close to 20 years,” Hayden
says. “They are a critical part of our production, really.”
Wilcorp Plant Supervisor Darren Ashley says
the production process is driven by demand from 3M.
“To begin, 3M provides us with a schedule
for the products that they want filled,” Ashley says. “They allocate material
for that product and the material to put the glue into, like boxes and all
that. The completed product goes back to their warehouse.”
Van Landuyt says that 3M also puts a lot of
emphasis on new product development.
 |
| Dana
Hyder of Wilcorp Industries prepares tubes of 3553 Scotch-Weld epoxy for
packaging. Hyder is one of 81 employees working to package adhesives and
sealants. Photo courtesy © Aaron Scott/Springfield Business Journal |
|
Last year, the contract between Wilcorp and
3M changed, requiring Wilcorp to come on board with 3M’s International
Standards Organization certification. The ISO 9001 certification acts as a
promise of consistency and quality to 3M’s customers, and 3M needed to be sure
it was being carried out throughout the production process.
To meet the deadline for certification,
Wilcorp officials called on the expertise of Missouri Enterprise consultants,
who provide a range of hands-on business, technical and manufacturing
optimization services.
Tom Gordon, project manager for Missouri
Enterprise, was brought in to shepherd Wilcorp through the certification
process.
Gordon has been involved with ISO standards
since 1982 and typically does three or four ISO-certification jobs a year.
Gordon says there wasn’t anything unique about Wilcorp’s situation or size, but
the response from company management was impressive.
“The hard work of people like Susan
Scarborough, who was the management representative, Randy Van Landuyt and the
staff made it happen,” Gordon notes. “I was purely a catalyst. They did all the
work. The achievement is theirs, not mine.”
Missouri Enterprise estimates that adopting
the standard saved Wilcorp $12 million in sales to 3M that otherwise would have
been lost.
“We’re very happy for Wilcorp because we
know that was a lot of work,” Hayden says.
Now both 3M and Wilcorp can be sure 3M’s
customers are getting the product they were promised.
Going forward, Van Landuyt says Wilcorp has
considered taking on new clients in addition to 3M, but says that the 3M
relationship remains their primary challenge.
The current three-year contract is up for
renewal later this year.
“Our biggest challenge is to change as our
customer changes and be in tune with their needs,” Van Landuyt says.
Copyright
2008 SBJ. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast,
rewritten or redistributed.
