Today we took a trip to the Sandvik factory and got to experience a very interesting tour. Sandvik is a world leading high-technology engineering group that manufactures advanced alloys and ceramic materials. Their products are used in many industries such as; industrial tools, mining tools, and construction. Sandvik prides itself on the quality of their product, they make the best products in their field at a price that reflects their quality. Sandvik is an international company with a strong presence in Europe. Today we visited the facility in Mebane where they only make rotary tools such as drills and dremels. The factory itself was surprisingly clean and there weren’t many employees. They utilized robotics and machinery to their fullest capability to save time and money. Like all other factories with moving parts they had a strong emphasis on safety and made it a point to inform us of that. The products that we got to see being manufactured varied vastly. Some of the drills were small and familiar looking however, the others they produced had very specific jobs. One of the drills they said took two days to manufacture and cost them thousands to produce. Our tour guide also gave us an analogy of their product to a razor company. The drills they make require inserts for the cutting similar to that of a razor and its blade. They make the inserts and they are only compatible with their product. Therefore if they can get a company to buy their drills then they pretty much have to keep buying their inserts.
The mission of Sandvik is to develop and manufacture highly processed products that contribute to improving the productivity and profits of their customers. They want to be the best at what they do and have a global customer base that looks to them for the next best thing. Today they mentioned numerous times that although their product was not the cheapest they were number one because of quality. They said that different geographical locations used different alloys and they were able to get their hands on some of the best.
Sandvik does not have a direct supplier to customer relationship. They make the products and then ship them to a distributor/dealer. That being said they do have customers and plenty of them. They basically make alloy and ceramic products for whoever is at their demand. Whether it is a tow hitch for a truck or a drill for mining they have a large variety of customers. They are the leading supplier in the world and their is a reason for this; quality.
The main thing that customers value as I have mentioned before is the quality of Sandvik’s products. The product that they make are of the highest quality but they do not come cheap. Our tour guide was telling us today that customers keep coming back because of how high performance their drills are. People are willing to spend a little more than their compotators for the best in the market.
Sandvik has been recognized on a global scale for their high quality products. They are the world leader in alloy production and have over forty-nine thousand employees in sixty different countries. Since 2000 they have increased over ten thousand employees and have gained over 17 thousand SEK in sales. Their was only two years out of one hundred-fifty in their history where they did not post a profit. Sandvik is an impressive company that has been around for a very long time. They are continuing to grow and post positive revenue.
Sandvik’s plan as stated today is as follows; emerging markets, increased wealth, industrial innovation, increased energy consumption, shorter product life cycles and continued profitable growth. As we can see here they have a lot planned for the future and hope to continue to expand. They look to innovate and further advance the products they are already mass producing.
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