Machinist’s Corner: Ya’ gotta love your vendors?

Do your vendors realize how important they are to you? Do they appreciate your business or realize a dozen others are looking to take their place?

Apparently, some don’t. They think they’re the only game in town.

The company I work for was holding a “kaizen” event. In preparation, we needed vendor-supplied workbenches, lift tables, carts and other things.

We chose an industrial-supply vendor ahead of time. We thought everything we needed would be available to ship the same day we placed the order. This particular kaizen event took place over 7 days.

At the start of the first week, we laid out the cell on a whiteboard, then on the shop floor using makeshift tables and cardboard. By late Tuesday, we placed our order with the vendor. We stressed that the items must ship that day, as guaranteed by the vendor’s catalog, because we needed them prior to our event.

By Thursday afternoon, nothing had arrived. I called our contact and got his voice mail. I called customer service and gave the representative our P.O. number. The rep told me he had no record of receiving an order from us.

Now I’m a little upset. I ask for a member of the sales staff. A salesman confirms there is no order. I reorder, this time verbally, and the salesman promises the order will ship that day. We will receive it the next day, Friday. Great. I receive confirmation.

Friday afternoon and still nothing. I contact customer service and am told the items are still in the warehouse, which is 35 minutes away from my company. The warehouse crew is loading the order on a truck and it will arrive midweek—the following week!