CASE STUDY

CONVEYOR MANUFACTURER GOES LENGTHS TO FIND GUIDE RAIL

Challenge

A manufacturer of food processing conveyors in South Carolina was facing a
shortage of guide rail. The primary application for their conveyors is canning. A vital and high-volume component used in the canning conveyors is natural UHMW stainless steel backed round top guide rail. The plant uses miles and miles of this rail every year in their conveyor builds.

The plant’s long-time guide rail supplier is a well-known name in the industry.
However, the supplier continually pushed out lead times from weeks to months and was poor at communicating. This was frustrating for the plant and caused them to lose trust in the supplier. After months of waiting for guide rail from the supplier, the plant ran out of stock. Their end-user was going to start back charging the manufacturer as the conveyors weren't complete without guide rail.

Solution

Slideways found out about the plant’s guide rail dilemma. Natural UHMW stainless steel backed round top guide rail is a stock standard for Slideways. The plant placed an order with Slideways and received their first release of 1500ft in less than two weeks. This prevented the end-user from back-charging and reduced downtime at the plant.

The manufacturer was pleased with the excellent service they received from Slideways. Slideways was responsive and quick to act on their request. For the balance of the order, the plant was surprised with how short the lead-time was. Slideways had the agility to get stock quickly and deliver a level of individual service that the manufacturer was not receiving from their other supplier. The manufacturer appreciated how easy Sideways was to work with and has since made Slideways their primary supplier.

Slideways is a valuable partner even for those with in-house machining capabilities. We work from your prints or reverse engineer parts from provided samples.

Efficiency - Our specialty is designing and machining complex, custom plastic parts. Our engineers and machinists are experts in the niche “machined plastics” industry enabling you to concentrate on your core competencies of design and metal fabrication. We work from your specs with a vast understanding of conveyor belts and chains, state-of-the-art technical machines, and knowledge of various plastic materials.

Cleanliness - We only machine plastic. All our CNC machinery is specifically tooled for fabricating plastic components. There is no chance of metal contamination, which is especially important in food processing and packaging applications.

Inventory - We stock raw plastic materials; no need to worry about planning, stock levels, or the physical footprint of inventory at your location.

Delivery - We acknowledge your order with a ship date that keeps your scheduling needs in mind. We pride ourselves in just-in-time delivery with a 2-3 week standard lead-time from order to shipment.

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