100 Business View - May 2015
MANUFACTURING
will ship from our inventory.”
Ninety percent of Clark’s business is done with its top-
five customers, four of which are in energy-related sec-
tors that include natural gas compression and hydrau-
lic systems on drill rigs, while another supplies medical
clamping instruments for surgical applications.
“We made the strategic decision that our business
growth is coming mainly with those top-tier custom-
ers,” he said. “As they grow and they ask us, ‘We’ve
got these other parts that we’d like to have you do’
or ‘We’ve got more of these parts,’ then we’ll expand,
get another machine tool and hire people accordingly
to be able to grow with those customers. We’re not
actively seeking new business right now. Business
comes to us by growth in those particular customers
or by word of mouth.”
Fuller said quality, competitive price and delivery are
characteristics most sought by that customer base,
and providing them consistently has enabled Clark to
develop a strong flow of repeat business.
“That’s the nature of the business,” he said.
“We don’t have high-production automotive volume-
type jobs. Our jobs range between four pieces and
20 pieces, but we may be doing that particular part
for that customer four, five or six times over the year.
We also have inventory stocking programs set up with
those particular customers, where they give us an an-
nual forecast of how many parts that they’re going to
use for the year.
“They’ll give us a blanket order and we’ll go ahead and
schedule that job into our system, so, when they need
more parts, we’ll have the parts already finished on
the shelf that meet their requirements, and that kicks
out another job order in our shop.”
Providing great service to customers requires atten-
tion to serving employees, too.
Fuller said customer satisfaction is impacted and de-
termined by the degree of employee satisfaction with-
in an operation, which has created a mandate at Clark
