Expo Rail, Mexico Key-Speaker from Handling Specialty

ExpoRail 2016 was held in Acapulco, Mexico this year. The annual tradeshow saw over 600 visitors from around the world, including major railroad and rail vehicle repair facilities in Mexico such as CEMEX, Ferromex, Tytal and Progress Rail.

Rick Breznik shared a booth with Comercial Cidamsa, the Whiting representative based in Mexico, which saw plenty of action in their corner booth over the course of the event.


Potential customers stopped to chat with Rick and his team to discuss products like our Electric jacks, Rip jacks, Paint booth lifts, Intermodal lifts and our extensive spare parts program. Several company representatives of current Whiting customers approached Rick and his team concerning replacement parts to their existing rail equipment as well.


At the booth, representatives offered information, brochures, and give-aways such as location-appropriate sunglasses; to keep the brand top of mind.


Comercial Cidamsa has been operating for over forty years and have two offices – one in Mexico City and another covering the north-eastern peninsula.


Rick also gave a 20 minute slide presentation on Handling Specialty/Whiting Rail Products as one of the show’s Key-speakers.

About the Importance of Relationships in the Materials Handling Business

For years now, we have enjoyed stating in our covering letters that “Handling Specialty doesn’t just build great equipment….we build great relationships too”.  Our team recognizes and respects the important role that the relationship plays when delivering customized and complex engineering solutions.  We learned long ago that a project’s success will be heavily weighted on the shoulders of “trust”……I mean is there anything more significant, more impactful or more rewarding than the trust employed in a relationship?

I look at the schematics of a project and see three distinct relationship platforms, all working at the same time; interaction with our customer, interaction within our HS Staff and interaction with our supply chain.  Each one of these platforms is critical to the success of a project. I want a client to know that they can trust us.  I want a client to feel like we have his best interests at heart and I want a client to think he can share anything with us without feeling like he is compromising his project.

At HS, experience has taught us to count on each other for great communication and support.  We call it “walk a mile in my shoes” which serves as our way of recognizing that anyone’s job is easy until you do that job and find that there is a lot more to it. As such, we must take care in our communications to one another.  Equally we need to count on our teammates to carry out their responsibilities and it is here where we are called upon to “trust” the other.  This trust will glue the departments together to become whole and our clients will feel and see this which in turn cements our relationship with them. 

Last, and certainly not least, are the relationships we have with our supply partners.  Notice that I did not say supply chain or suppliers….that doesn’t give enough respect to them for the role they play.  I always want a solid relationship with my suppliers so that I can call on them to support us when we have equipment challenges or warranty situations.  You will always be able to identify the depth and strength of your supply partner’s relationships when something goes wrong and it involves them.  If a supplier trusts Handling Specialty then they will be quick to respond and to assist in the care of our clients.  These are the supplier partners that we continue to use and we can pass on the power of these great relationships to our customers.  

Trust, trust, trust…..it is the foundation of good relationships and good business.  

Originally posted by Tom Beach, President of Handling Specialty and reposted here with his approval.

Considering Buying Custom Engineered Product? Here's How.

EPG is a category referred to by engineers, architects, manufacturing professionals and many more in supply chain and manufacturing circles. It’s the category that offers that ‘wow’ factor in our business. It allows for custom engineered and manufactured products to reinvent how a product is built, maintained, or how it is distributed. Or, in the case where a product is only in its infancy, EPG assists in the design-stages of the equipment which will enable a company to build it.

When considering a company for your engineered products, it’s wise to do your homework, like requesting case studies if none can be found on the company’s website. The complexity to which a company can engineer is an important factor as well, including electrical, hydraulic, mechanical and even software engineers designing the way a piece of equipment will operate.

Has the company built the products they’ve engineered? This is where trial and error takes place. This is where real world experience comes into play. Handling Specialty consolidates the engineering department into the same building as their manufacturing plant. This is where the two worlds meet - conceptual and material. This is where mistakes are put to bed. This is when a company gains experience from doing.

This is another department which exists in the same building alongside manufacturing and engineering at Handling Specialty. These three departments, plus sales, accounting, purchasing, marketing and more all exist within the same four walls at Handling Specialty’s Grimsby offices.

When a company can work together to see a project through like Handling Specialty can, it’s definitely worth your while to look them up when considering the design, build and support of a piece of equipment as important as an engineered product.


For more on this subject visit the original post at http://www.handling.com/company/blog/buying-custom-engineered-product-be-smart-about-it/

Fun Fact: Handling Specialty is in the Guinness Book of World Records!

With a challenging project come great rewards. The largest underwater stage hydraulic lift system measures a world record 3,650 square feet. Who built this behemoth you ask? Handling Specialty Manufacturing Ltd.

Built for the Bellagio Casino, Resort and Theatre in Las Vegas, Nevada, the stage houses a show for Cirque du Soleil’s “O”.  The show takes place in a pool containing 1.5 million gallons of water. Four hydraulic lifts raise and lower the four-piece stage.

The success with this project marked the beginning of the company’s recognition as one of the very few companies in the world capable of implementing a turn-key project of this size and complexity winning them work with cruise lines and

other underwater stage firsts around the world, like The House of Dancing Waters in Macau.

For more on Handling Specialty's custom engineered equipment capabilities please visit the website.

 

Team Work is Important in Realizing Success in the Supply Chain

In recognition of MHI's I work in the supply chain hashtag, Mike Roper has contributed a blog and video about his time in this dynamic industry.

Hi, I’m Mike Roper, Sales Manager at Handling Specialty, and I work in the supply chain. I started my career at Handling Specialty as the technical sales representative 13 years ago and became the company’s sales manager one year ago.

Working in the Manufacturing and Supply Chain industry has allowed me to meet fascinating people working with some of the biggest companies in the world, all over the globe.

Through these connections, and with the help of our engineers, manufacturing and services group, we’ve successfully delivered custom engineered material handling systems to a diverse range of industries.

Something I’ve learned through my experiences with the supply chain is that team work is integral in designing, building, specifying, and selling the right equipment for the appropriate application. It’s a fantastic feeling; watching a company grow with the solution or solutions you’ve provided.

Working in the manufacturing and supply chain industry has taught me that this is a diverse industry with many contributors, and I’m proud to be one of them.

Mike Roper

Handling Specialty Manufacturing Ltd.

800-559-8366

The Validation for Diversification in Material Handling

With a combined history of literally hundred’s of years of design experience in engineering, manufacturing and selling into multiple industries, Handling Specialty has become the premiere source of custom material handling solutions. But it wasn’t always this way.

 

The company, established in 1963 and working primarily within the automotive industry, grew considerably through the 90’s when they went from commodity to specialty manufacturing. Educated by the auto industry, Handling Specialty created a dynamic Parts and Services department featuring 24 hour service, a project management group, and dedicated quality assurance staff to support their existing client base and expanding markets.

In 2002, Handling Specialty decided that diversification would better serve the company moving forward, and re-imagined a business plan that was 90% automotive to just 20% over the next decade. By 2013, the year Handling Specialty turned 50, they would look back on their choice to diversify fondly.

 

“A company doesn’t make it fifty years without reinventing itself from time to time, and being flexible to the needs of the customer, realizing a more diverse set of goals.”  Explains Tom Beach, President of Handling Specialty.

 

With two dynamic manufacturing facilities, one with a seventy foot high bay for vertical builds, Handling Specialty’s capabilities to design and build for virtually any industry is only limited by their client’s imaginations. The engineering department designs each product with safety, efficiency, and ergonomics in mind to ensure satisfaction and return business.

 

Today, Handling Specialty works in the Rail, Transportation, Energy, Entertainment, Aerospace, Defense, Advanced Manufacturing and Automotive industries. The majority of the work coming out of their manufacturing plants is custom engineered for specific applications. Quality, stability, personality and a small business attitude, is still how Handling Specialty governs their operations; allowing for that personal touch, which remains a favourite quality among the world’s largest business leaders.

 

Handling Specialty offers conceptual engineering, consultation, design, manufacturing, testing, installation, commissioning, and training as well as on-going planned maintenance services for multiple industries all over the globe. Word of mouth, repeat business, marketing and sales efforts all contribute to the company’s bottom line, and a bright future.

10,560 Transport Trailers in 30 Seconds

The marketing department at Handling Specialty carried out a quick data gathering exercise recently.



We placed our video camera at the windows facing the high way to capture the transport trailers that rumble by day after day. We counted 11 transport trailers within the span of 30 seconds pass by the windows of Handling Specialty at 2:30pm EST along a stretch of the Queen Elizabeth Way (QEW) which runs parallel along the south end of lake Ontario from Hamilton to Niagara Falls.

Now that’s just thirty seconds during a time of day which isn’t particularly busy. Now, imagine those 30 seconds times 2; to make up a minute. That’s 22 transport trailers. Now times that by 60 to make up an hour. That’s 1,320 trucks every hour on average. Now multiply that number by 8; to make up an average work day. That’s 10,560 trucks on the road moving product on a Wednesday.

That’s just trucks carrying product on one particular stretch of highway in southern Ontario, Canada. Imagine the planes and ships and trains doing the same and all of the trucks all over North America and the rest of the world! It's kind of mind-blowing; the amount of people employed to move product from point A to point B.

That’s the industry we're in. #iWorkInTheSupplyChain