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Strategy, Marketing, and Networking Services Help Sentinel Processing Systems Double Sales, Expand Company, and Save Costs
With the help of: Pennsylvania Manufacturing Extension Partnership
About
Sentinel Process Systems, Inc., headquartered in Hatboro, Pennsylvania, is a provider of innovative technologies and engineered solutions as a distributor and fabricator of high purity valves, process instrumentation, single use products, process hose, and fittings for the sanitary manufacturing industries – pharmaceutical, biotech, cosmetics, food, high purity chemical, and other applications. Sentinel’s facilities total over 10,000 square feet, utilized as office, warehouse, and fabrication space with an outstanding technical staff.
The original “Sentinel Glass Company” was started in 1950 as an exclusive Corning Glass Works distributor of “high purity solutions” and solving process challenges with unique products and systems. Today, Sentinel is well known for its turnkey design/build process systems, as well as for supplying process analytical tools, single use products, fabricated process hoses, and a variety of sanitary valves and fittings. Customers are primarily located in the Mid-Atlantic and New England regions.
The Challenge
Sentinel leaders engaged with DVIRC in several areas to assist and effectively guide the company, as well as to uncover potential new business opportunities. DVIRC’s business solutions adviser, marketing and sales team, and other DVIRC personnel worked collaboratively with the company to provide the following services:
DVIRC’s strategic planning program really helped me open my eyes to growing my business. I learned to take a 30,000-foot level look at strategic areas of focus. Those types of things became very apparent over the course of the program, beyond just selling our product to customers.
MEP's Role
Paul Tramo had been working for his father, the owner of the company, since 1986, and in 2011, purchased the company from him. While he had had experience managing the business, Tramo knew he needed more help to grow the business and take it to the next level by looking at it through a more strategic lens. He investigated strategic planning support, which proved to be more expensive and time consuming than he was able to handle as the new company leader. DVIRC’s strategic planning program, “Developing a Strategic Plan for Growth (DSPG),” proved to be a perfect fit for Tramo and his team. They participated in a 12-session program facilitated by DVIRC’s Business Solutions Advisor to construct a strategic action plan unique to their business. The strategic planning process paved the way for Sentinel’s future investment in improving its marketing. It also catalyzed Tramo’s investment in a management team to oversee the business, whereas beforehand, just Tramo and his brother-in-law were at the helm.