President's SUITE Update - 2021 3rd Quarter Recap

President’s SUITE Update

2021 3rd Quarter Recap

Ken Manninen, President

Over the past three quarters, we have seen rising cost in wages, material prices, and freight. The three most prominent things on my mind and other small business owners are rising costs, supply chain issues, and employee retention.

As a small employer, we work hard every day to balance resources to achieve customer and employee satisfaction. In this economy, finding new customers has not been challenging, but finding new employees has. I recently read, that the United States is in the process of undergoing a transformation in our work force. Many individuals are moving away from the conventional 9-5 roles and looking for more freedom to work independently and remotely. Like many businesses we are trying keep pace with this evolution.

We are happy to see the quoting activity continue at brisk pace, which means there is definitely a great deal of demand for manufacturing. Hopefully, the supply chain will slowly work itself out and we can turn back the dial on volatility in the markets.

Products

If I used the word “cleaning” in a general sense, this could mean a lot of different things to different people. In our daily lives someone might envision putting clothes in a washer, scrubbing dishes at a sink, or running your car through the car wash. In our world “cleaning” refers to manufactured parts that are cleaned one or multiple times, and are assembled to a product before delivery to the end consumer. Alliance has built machines for cleaning hundreds of parts that we use daily in our lives such as car parts, tools, small engines, heating and air conditioning, and bakeware, to name a few.

Someone asked me the other day to tell them something about Alliance that they might not know. I thought for a second and immediately my mind went to Indexing parts washing systems. This type of machine uses precise positioning for loading, washing, drying, and unloading of a very specific part type on a fixture on a moving conveyor. These machines can be either manually loaded or fully automated for interface with robots. The more I thought about this, Alliance is probably in the top five companies in the world that build these types of systems – pretty cool! Read more about conveyorized indexing systems HERE.

Below are a few examples of applications for conveyorized indexing parts washers:

(1) Cleaning system for left and right sub-frame aluminum castings (Machine #964)

(2) Cleaning cast iron brake calipers on specific part fixtures (Machine #1014)

(3) Fixture holding plastic packaging rails (Machine #948)

(4) Cleaning system for lower engine blocks (Machine #1022)

Processes

Aftermarket support of our machines has been very high on our priority list for the past year. We have been working to find ways to improve our customer’s experience on procuring service parts and replacement items. With interruptions in the supply chain, we have been expanding our supply base and gearing up to help customers in need. We are trying to find ways to better educate our customers on items that they will likely need to keep on the shelf to minimize or prevent downtime. If things do not loosen up in the supply chain, we will be ready to help source alternatives or work arounds to keep our customers machines in operation.

People

I want to send a special welcome to the most recent additions to the Alliance team; Mistie, Alan, Jesus, and Drew:

Mistie Smith, Receptionist/Accounting Assistant

Mistie relocated to Wisconsin approximately 4 years ago from Akron, OH. She enjoys spending time with family, reading, and projects that allow her to organize and get creative.

Alan Tenhaken, Mechanical Engineer

Alan earned a BS in Mechanical Engineering from UW-Milwaukee. While not at work, Alan enjoys riding his motorcycle, getting techy with a little gaming time, or playing live sports (off screen).

Jesus Roque, Field Service Technician

Jesus has a broad knowledge in field service and machine repair. He has traveled extensively throughout his career. He enjoys spending time with family, fishing, and camping. One of his favorite activities is cooking authentic Puerto Rican cuisine.

Drew Lasher, Mechanical Assembler

Drew comes to us from a major corrugated box manufacturer where he maintained and repaired very large machines. He was formerly trained as an auto mechanic and is very hands-on and loves building things. Drew enjoys time with his family, hunting, fishing, and training his dog.

SUITE Employee Award – The SUITE award is an open vote process by our peers, to quarterly recognize an individual within the company that has gone above and beyond for their co-workers. This quarter’s SUITE award goes to…

Dale Popp, Mechanical Assembler

Dale’s co-workers commented:

Dale has a can-do attitude and is a hard worker every day.
He is a dedicated company person and talks very highly about the company.
Dale is very knowledgeable on machine builds and is a great problem solver.
Even though mistakes are made by others, he jumps in to fix it without a complaint.

Thanks Dale! Keep up the good work!

We are here to serve YOUR parts cleaning needs!

Respectfully,

Alliance Manufacturing, Inc.

Ken Manninen

President

President’s SUITE Update – 2021 3rd Quarter Recap