Bettcher Industries Birmingham, Ohio 2 I LOOKING TO UPGRADE Walk the floor of Bettcher’s facility, and you might see Glenn McNeelege. He’s Bettcher’s director of special projects. One project he oversaw was finding a way to gain control and visibility of Bettcher’s metalworking tooling. This was no small project considering they have 44 different CNCs working. “We needed a way to bring more of the tooling under inventory control in a system that captured the knowledge of what we used,” said McNeelege. “A couple of us had experience with Fastenal at other companies. Brad Skinner, our strategic sourcing manager, did some research and found out Fastenal was the #2 tooling supplier in the U.S. And then later in the process, Fastenal introduced us to FST.” BETTCHER AT A GLANCE • Three shifts running 24/7 •19 CNC lathes, 16 CNC mills, and 9 CNC grinders - Plus additional plastic injection molding and other machines Bettcher’s Products • Quantum Flex ® Trimmers • Skinners • Gyro Knives • Breading Machines • Sharpening Equipment • Pneumatic Shears • Scanners WHERE IT’S AT To gain control and visibility of metalworking tooling, Bettcher uses Fastenal’s Product Locator. With it, anyone in the shop can walk up to a touchscreen, do a search, and know exactly where to find what they need. This makes a great dispensing solution for cutting tools and makes it interactive and user-friendly. FINDING COST SAVINGS The Bettcher/Fastenal/FST Partnership “We’ve gone from a first-shift tool crib attendant and half-time attendants on second and third shifts to just having one employee on first shift spending only 50 to 75% of his time on tooling management. We have also realized some hard cost savings based on reduced prices, reduced usage, and process improvements.” - Glenn McNeelege, Bettcher’s director of special projects
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