Ben Doster
What is Our Mission?
The mission statement of Sandvik is “Sandvik Coromant is the world’s leading supplier of tools, tooling solutions, and know-how to the metalworking industry. With extensive investments in research and development, we create unique innovations and set new productivity standards together with our customers. These include the world’s major automotive, aerospace, and energy industries”. After vising the plant today, it is evident that they take this statement seriously.
Who is our Customer?
The Customers of Sandvik in the tools or machining solutions department that we visited today are companies that need well built tools such as drill bits in order to cut and drill into tough surfaces. Sandvik also makes tools for people in the mining, construction and materials technology departments as well. Sandvik products are not sold directly to the customer but instead shipped to a distribution center where they are sold through catalogs.
What does the Customer Value?
There are companies all over the world who produce low price tools to be used in mining and construction jobs, however Sandvik is not one of those companies. They pride themselves in producing the best and most technology backed products on the market. Our tour guide explained how some producers sell cheap equipment on the job site and charge by the pound, however the customers of Sandvik value the quality of their products which must be ordered.
What are the Results?
The result of all this is a company that has a presence in over sixty counties. They have come a long way from just producing drilling products in Sweden over 150 years ago. Sandvik now distributes their products all over the world including even the most remote parts of Africa and South America where there are often large mines. This innovation has allowed Sandvik to tap into other markets as well such as construction and aerospace.
What is our Plan?
The plan for this division of Sandvik is to start producing enough parts in order to be profitable enough to fill the newest addition to their warehouse. Shortly after their plans to expand in 2006, the economy took a turn for the worst and they were forced to halt production on their facility. In order to increase the likelihood of them ever filling it in the future, they finished the shell of the building so it was then all closed off from the elements. They are currently doing great and are looking forward to earning enough revenue in the future to fill the newest edition of their warehouse and possibly expand out to new land that they recently bought next to the warehouse.
Overall I really enjoyed our visit to Sandvik today. I believe that this may be one of my favorite companies that we have visited so far due to how simple the products are that they make even though the tools to make those products are very complex. I found the robots that they used to be very interesting and would definitely consider working at a place like this in the future.
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