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Purdue MEP Helps Vestil Manufacturing Increase New Customer Recruitment by 5%

About

Vestil Manufacturing is an industry leader in the manufacturing and distributing of industrial material handling equipment. Vestil Manufacturing is a fourth-generation family-owned and operated manufacturer of industrial material handling equipment. A team of 10 employees are dedicated solely to providing the highest quality content in the industry. This includes a state-of-the-art photo/video studio, product specification validation, digital imaging, portal management, and photo/video management. Vestil offers the most diverse product line in the industry through continual product line improvement and new product development.

The Challenge

In response to customer demands for faster service, Vestil recently expanded to include a new (fifth) facility to act as the company’s fulfillment center. The concept of a central distribution location is foreign to Vestil, as is the intricate warehouse management software that will be utilized to manage and ship inventory. In addition to these challenges, management needed to decide the best way to reorganize current departments throughout the other facilities to maximize efficiency while making room for the additional powder coat line, laser, and additional machinery that were purchased as part of the overall expansion. The company turned to Purdue MEP, part of the MEP National Network™, to help manage this expansion and provide valuable training to all departments.

We have seen an increase in process efficiencies and a large improvement in closing the loop on engineering based projects.  We have taken several concepts from the Project Management class and implemented them into our daily processes. I would highly recommend the Purdue MEP program to anyone looking to advance their team.            

— Penny Daler, Managing Director of Engineering

MEP's Role

Purdue MEP provided several in-house training sessions on topics such as Project Management, Writing Effective E-mails, Contract Negotiations, Customer Service, and Supply Chain Cost of Ownership. This training was attended by employees from numerous departments including Sales, Customer Service, Engineering, Management, and Production.

Vestil’s engineering department is utilizing the Project Management skills obtained in the MEP classes to improve process efficiencies. The Customer Service and E-mail writing skills learned by the Sales and Customer Service staff have helped Vestil improve internal and external communication and enhance current customer relationships. This has led to a five percent increase in new customer recruitment.

The Contract Negotiation and Supply Chain Cost of Ownership classes have resulted in more favorable purchasing contracts—ranging from three to five percent savings--as staff has utilized the skills learned in the training. Not only were these classes helpful to the company’s commodities purchasers, but also to the managers negotiating contracts for new equipment related to the expansion.

Created June 2, 2020, Updated July 12, 2021