“We don’t just sell lubricants, we sell solutions,” said DeWitt, Klüber Lubrication’s Business Development Specialist in the wood, paper, and plastic film industries. “When one of our solutions is potentially going to be unavailable, it’s more than just a ‘supply chain issue,’ it’s a threat to our customers’ success.”
The impending product shortage was first identified in a meeting between Klüber Lubrication’s forecasting and production teams. These types of meetings are built into Klüber Lubrication’s processes to identify potential issues as soon as possible. In this case, it would be two months before Klüberlub BE 71-501 would be out of stock.
DeWitt proactively went to work. He contacted one of his customers – a wood pellet mill that uses 6,000 kilograms of Klüberlub BE 71-501 a month – to let them know of the pending shortage and that he was working on a solution. After doing some research, DeWitt’s next call was to the Engineering and Technical Services department with the application parameters and a possible solution.
They verified that Stabutherm GH 461 was a good fit for the job. DeWitt then reached out to Klüber Lubrication’s production facility in Querétaro, Mexico to confirm they could add the necessary volume of product to their production schedule. With a full solution in place, DeWitt reached back out to the customer and the product switch was made with no gap in production.
“When customers use our products, they are trusting us with their operations,” DeWitt said. “We take that trust seriously and measure our own success on the effectiveness of our products in their equipment.
“It’s the difference between being a supplier and a partner.”
Contact us today to see how you can best partner with Klüber Lubrication and experience our customer-centric approach to the lubrication business.