Paint it!
Auburn Gear faced a tough situation. Many of their customers, while pleased with Auburn Gear products, preferred to receive them in a ready-to-install, painted condition within existing lead times.
What was the challenge?
To satisfy the expectations of this group of customers, Auburn Gear was required to meet OEM wet coat paint performance standards and color matching. Complicating the task is precision masking of surfaces and threaded fastening components; temperature restrictions on curing; a high variety of products at mid to low volume by part number; rapid turnaround (reduced lead time) requirements and assembly weight (some in excess of 550 pounds.) Relying on local wet coat paint suppliers for this service was not working in terms of quality or lead times.
Prince Manufacturing in Garrett Indiana stepped up to the challenge and is now the wet coat painter of choice, approved by Auburn Gear.
Prince has met the stringent quality performance and appearance requirements and has enabled Auburn Gear to commit to their customers, a wet coat painted product with no added lead-time. “The tight lead times are a challenge,” said Jackie Butler, Site Operations Leader at the Prince Garrett Facility. “Communication with the Auburn Gear staff and commitment to serving the customer are the keys.” Prince Manufacturing is also handling the trucking to and from Auburn Gear with its fleet of trucks. “We know what is coming, before it gets here,” added Jon Weiss, Materials Manager at Prince.
From Auburn Gear’s perspective, the benefits of painting with Prince extend beyond the quality of the delivered product. “I no longer worry about paint and can focus on customer needs,” said Greg Henderson, Director of Marketing/Sales at Auburn Gear.
“The time spent managing paint suppliers, was reduced significantly by Prince’s performance” said Allison Stairhime, Director of Purchasing.
“We have a great relationship” added Tonya Loughborough, Buyer Planner, Auburn Gear
About Auburn Gear
Auburn Gear (Auburn, Indiana) is a leading manufacturer of traction enhancing differentials and planetary drives. Their customer base spans O.E.M and aftermarket customers, in a variety of industries. Customers include manufacturers of specialty vehicles, heavy trucks, construction, agriculture, material handling, military and specialty equipment.