EMI Industries Blog

I recently participated in the Association for Retail Environment's (A.R.E.'s) 56th convention and summit.  The summit brings together approximately 150 executives from leading suppliers to the retail industry (e.g., designers, equipment, fixture companies, etc.) for two days of peer-to-peer learning and networking.  The interactive keynote sessions were led by world-class speakers who shared insights and actionable advice on relevant topics ranging from Emerging Trends in Retail Design, Going Global, and Utilizing Social Media to Grow Your Businesses.

It is fair to say that most participants are leveraging emerging technologies to help grow their businesses.  Many are using LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter to access new customers, generate awareness, and create a buzz around their products and services.  Some are using ipads and android devices to arm their sales force with critical information to improve sales effectiveness including customer buying history, product photos, design drawings, and pricing.  Several speakers shared details on recent marketing campaigns that used enabling technologies---one of the most innovative and effective was shared by Steve Waltman, VP of Sales and Marketing, Stiles Machinery.

Stiles recently concluded a contest that provided the winning company with complimentary use of a critical piece of machinery for one year (a Weeke Vantech CNC Router).  Participating companies submitted videos stating the case for why their organization needed the machine most.  The submitted videos were very creative and several might be worthy of a place on Saturday Night Live (please click on the following link for details on the contest and submitted videos http://www.stilesmachinery.com/contest ).  18 companies submitted videos...enabling Stiles to learn more about these very important target customers.  Participating companies...as well as the 5,213 of people who followed the contests and the winning company blogs about their experiences with the machine...were able to learn more about how Stiles Machinery can provide them with a competitive advantage.  Stiles certainly proved you can have fun and be highly effective at the same time.   

Myth Busters – Home cabinets are the same as those used in commercial applications.   

Esthetics and price are the primary decision considerations by homeowners in their selection of kitchen cabinets. In today’s economy, those two have often become the main criteria for commercial buyers too. Consequently, with the downturn in home building and remodeling, the multitude of small cabinet shops that prospered doing custom work in homes have been looking at commercial opportunities for survival. Cabinets for convenience and retail stores, schools and restaurants look very similar and if anything, even simpler to construct. That thought process leads us to this edition of…..

Myth Busters! Common wisdom says that a laminate cabinet is not much more than a box with an access door on one side. Therefore, it really doesn’t matter if it goes into a home or into an institution or business.

In most cases, kitchen cabinet manufactures and shops, build a standard box to which different types and colors of laminate are applied. The doors and to a lesser extent the

hardware are the areas used to differentiate their product lines and are where most of the cost is invested. The box itself is usually constructed of particle board that is cut and assembled using glue and wood staples. When lined up next to each other and with a countertop screwed down on top of them, they make what feels like a pretty solid, stable counter. Add a panel door or one with inset panes of glass and they accomplish their goal of looking nice and being reasonably priced. Most also holdup long enough in a home that the decision to replace them is driven by a desire to redecorate rather than a failure of the cabinet itself. But home owners don’t open and close the doors and drawers 50 times a day 7 days a week. They don’t clean the floor the cabinets sit on with a hose, and don’t polish it with a 200lb. radial buffer. Home owners don’t put a slushie machine, soda dispenser, roller grill or mini refrigerator on top of them. And in a home they seldom get hit by a bussing cart or a hand truck laden down with cases of soda. 

EMI makes commercial cabinets. While they look good, their real beauty is concealed beneath the laminate. For most jobs we start with Marine plywood rather than particle board. This is more expensive but where particle board will suck up the water used to wash the floors each night and in a short time expand and begin to break apart, Marine plywood resists the water and stays solid. Our cabinets are assembled using dowels in the joints. The two pieces are drilled and a dowel pin is glued into one of them. Glue is then run along the joint and into the dowel holes on the other piece. They are then pressed and clamped together until the glue sets. That alone would make for a structurally sound joint, but we then screw the joint together. This is the RIGHT WAY to build a commercial cabinet and while it is not exclusively ours, there are many commercial cabinet manufactures that do one or the other but very few who do both. Our cabinets will remain square. A couple years of getting banged on nightly by that floor buffer will show the difference.

Finally, exposed edges are sealed with our 3mil edge banding. As I tell people who come here for a plant tour, when I first started at EMI and heard about the advantages of the 3 mil edge banding I had to prove it to myself. I took a 

piece of laminated marine plywood and tried to pry the edge banding off using an Exacto knife. It would not come off. The bond was stronger than the wood itself.

There is a substantial difference between cabinets made for home use and cabinets designed and constructed for commercial applications. Myth busted! Unfortunately, cabinets using home construction and materials will initially look similar and cost less. The differences in the EMI commercial cabinets will start to show in a year or two when the home version’s core starts to swell and the laminate begins to pull away from the particle board. Even if the initial cost differential was double (it’s not) the expense to your business in time and disruption for replacement would be much greater. Don’t be fooled. There is a difference and the real savings is realized when you purchase the right product the first time, EMI.

We are back writing blogs!!! 

We have some new and exciting news including the opening our new facility in Arlington Texas and changes to our website.  Check out our newly redesigned project portfolio page and  drill down in your industry.   

As a fixture guy and now that we are targeting and successfully penetrating the general retail industry, I pay close attention to most fixtures that I come across to. So this past weekend my wife asked me to go shopping with her and our ten month-old son. Our first stop at the mall (which by the way it's only two years old) was a large retailer  and we spent a few minutes booking our son's first Christmas photos.  I was shocked to see the poor quality (e.g  delamination, raw edges exposed) on some of their fixtures.  Had the manufacturer used the correct  edgebanding process these issues could have been avoided (pictures below 1st, 2nd and 3rd photos).

Our next stop was a kids' shoe retailer. For the most part their fixtures look pretty good with the exception of one that had been beaten up pretty bad at the entrance of the establishment (Fourth photo above). In this instance a better design, perhaps the utilization of bumper,  or t- mould would have minimized the wear and tear of the fixture.

For any given item, by definition there can only be one that is BEST. Has your company been settling for less? Has that been a cost effective answer? Do your store fixtures just hold the merchandise off the floor or do they convince the customer that the products are something special they really need? Are they ‘Fixture Perfect?’ Ours are. It is our focus...talk with us.

There seemed to me to be a lot more activity at NAFEM this year than I saw at the ’09 show. According to official sources, there was about 25% more booth space sold this year and while I haven’t yet heard the attendance figures, the show aisles seemed much more populated than they were two years ago. Of course we are lucky to have it here in Florida (and I understand it will be here for the next three shows also) as more of our dealers and their personnel can easily and cheaply attend. I was talking with Steve Rooney, GM at our Cranston location who said he had several dealers that came with a large contingent of people and a number that didn’t send anyone. I saw Strategic people in their blue button down collar shirts/uniforms everywhere. Talking with Sharon from the Tampa branch, the company had meetings and equipment demonstrations set-up with various suppliers to occupy most of the day all three days.
Sustainability/LEED still seemed to be prevalent in many of the booths but I got the feeling that it was very much like I have witnessed with many of our retail customers, they want to be seen as being leaders in the green movement but haven’t really included  the philosophy in everything they do and all of their products. On this score I can assure you, EMI truly is an industry leader. We have totally embraced the ecological impact of our facilities and the products being produced. And, it is not just talk or a few products, we have the data to show any dealer, consultant or end using account that is interested. Bring this up when you are talking EMI. Even for those people that aren’t thinking of sustainability, as a current hot topic, it is another feature a dealer or consultant can use to help make the sale to their customer. One thing I have found over the last few years that is true in all cases, any customer given the option to purchase a product that is shown to have green attributes vs. another that sells for a similar price but can make no such claims, the green product will win the sale every time. Nobody wants to pay more for it but everyone wants to feel like they are doing the right thing for plant earth.

The other major trend I witnessed at the show was, Curves.

Serving lines, sneeze guards, display cases, even cooktops were being shown in various rounded lineups. From the manufacturing side, I was interested in several fairly complex ‘S’ shaped stainless steel serving counters. Certainly every manufacture puts considerable extra effort into the pieces being displayed in their booths.  Everyone knows that is not how the product will look when they buy it, but it helps make it standout at the show. Occasionally, someone like a Hyatt or a Radisson will see these and want a similar look for a display kitchen. If a consultant or end-user asks for it, EMI is certainly capable of supplying to whatever level of footprint and/or finish that is required. We just need to know this upfront. Curves cost more than straight lines and the more polishing that needs to be done, the greater the cost.  (See above photo of a curved school counter we did last summer.)
I was reading a blog regarding the NAFEM show yesterday. In it was the following, A consultant remarked wistfully, “I know what I want when it comes to the serving equipment for a new project. I just have to find someone to build it." Maybe EMI should have had a booth. When it comes to filling a vision, know this; We Can Build It.

What is quality? And once defined, how important is it to you and your business? On one side there is the quality of the products you purchase and resell. And there is the quality in service you receive from the suppliers of those products. On the other side there is the quality of your name and how customers perceive your company. If every other purchasing decision factor were equal, we would all choose the highest quality available. But that is never the case. Higher quality means higher price and consequently our buying decisions are made on perceived value. How good is good enough?

Product and Service Quality

For automobiles there is the annual JD Power report and rankings. For 2010, the bottom ranking for cars sold in the US was Land Rover with a score of 145 (or 1.45 initial defects per vehicle). The average was about 110. What is interesting in this is that ten years ago, a score of 180 would have gotten the car an award. The market has forced all manufactures to vastly improve their products. While JD Power does not do a similar report for our industry, the same buyer driven requirement has impacted just about all industries including food service equipment. Whether it is an oven, an exhaust hood, or the custom stainless fabrication in an institutional kitchen; in today’s market we expect it to work and pass the health department inspection.

So buy the cheapest, right? Right! Why wouldn’t you? The tough part here is that the dollars on a quote really aren’t the definitive price for the item. Take the custom stainless steel fabrication on an institutional job. While there are basic equipment and labor skill requirements to produce the products, we are not building Cray computers. Most of the companies that compete for this business and have made it through the recent economic downturn have the necessary machinery and people in place. Some savings can be realized through engineering expertise, labor and material saving software and, for larger companies, volume material purchasing advantages. But once the job gets out to the floor production costs become similar. Why then might you see as much as a 20% or even 30% difference in the quoted price on a job?

First, compare the quotes. Is everything included? Are there exceptions noted? I can’t tell you how many times I have seen one (or more!) complete items omitted from a competitor’s quote. When all that is compared is the bottom line total dollar number, this can make a big difference and it is a cost you will need to make up to finish the job. The other more common area for reducing a company’s quoted price is in the intangibles. Functions you may feel are a given; site measurements, entrance clearances (to get the products into the kitchen), solid surface installation and finishing, internal product wiring and/or plumbing, NSF compliance and stickers, material tracking and paperwork for LEED certification needs, supplier contacts that have or can get information your project manager needs as the job progresses, on time delivery, and many more that will come up on any given job. All of these have a cost to the supplier and if the low bidder’s response to each inquiry is, ‘That wasn’t called out in our quote and isn’t included’ then the cost becomes yours. The best answer is to know who you are dealing with and what you can expect from them. Low quote price does not directly correlate to lowest cost.

Your Customer’s Perception

Just as your buying decisions are made on perceived value, so to are your customer’s purchasing decisions. Much of your reputation is based on the performance of the products and policies of the companies from which you buy. Are you in business to make on-going quick one time sales based solely on low price? Or is your business strategy to form lasting relationships and to grow with your customer’s success? Do you believe the studies that show it is far more costly to find a new customer than it is to retain a current account? EMI adheres to the latter two. We choose to be a responsible business partner that is interested in doing what is required to grow our customer’s business. We see the best route to that goal as being 1) through engineering and procurement expertise, be the low cost producer, and 2) as standard business practice, provide the support needed for your customers to grow and prosper through their dealings with you.

How good is good enough? Why chance it. Your lowest cost on custom fabrication comes from a company that knows and quotes what it takes to satisfactorily complete the job to your customer’s satisfaction. EMI

In this economy there are fewer institutional jobs; to make up for this, food service equipment dealers are stretching their territories, quoting jobs further away; consequently, there is greater competition for the available work; dealers think that to win the business they have to submit the lowest price; to do that, they have to insert the lowest priced quote for the custom fab (and everything else); they also have had to cut their margins. I have heard of one dealer that bids jobs UNDER his cost. As you can imagine, he wins a lot of the jobs. He then goes back to the suppliers and beats them up for a better price and while the job is going in he makes money from his customer on change orders. Similarly, some of our competition bids jobs with product figured to the absolute minimum (or below) spec they can get away with. When they are awarded the job, the dealer’s project manager learns that site visits are extra. Here is the autopsied of one job recently lost to a lower bidder: The serving line that was quoted as being 156” in length had to be 157” to fill the space. The supplier responded, “No problem, but it will add $1,200 to the price.” The products arrived two days late and then there was still a three bowl sink missing. Calls to the supplier resulted in “We shipped it, look around, it’s there”. The plumber had to make another trip to the site when it actually did arrive a week later; cost - an extra $1,000. Once the sink was plumbed, the plumber filled the bowls with water to make sure everything worked, the weight of the full bowls cracked one of the tiles in the floor because the sink was supplied with a bullet foot rather than a more costly but needed, flanged foot that will disperse the weight over a greater expanse. Cost to bring the flooring guy back and replace the tile - $600. The chef’s counter didn’t fit through any door and had to be cut in half by the installer, then seam welded and polished. He also had to cut down a sink drainboard because the contractor built the wall an inch closer than drawn; cost - $3,800. The custom fab supplier’s response, “We built what was ordered”. Further, the chef’s counter and the serving line arrived with wires dangling. An electrician took an extra two days on the job to wire everything up; cost - $2,000.

So run the numbers: The dealer’s project manager was on the job for an extra 4 days (and is frustrated having to deal with all of the problems) at a cost of $2,000; installer, $3,800; change order, $1,200; plumber, $1,000; tile in floor replacement - $600; electrician, $2,000; Total $10,600. Difference between this supplier’s quote and the EMI quote - $6,000. Net loss - $4,600.

There IS a difference. It is a difference that has benefits to all parties. On- time deliveries matter. EMI tracks this statistic and for 2010 shipments to all customers were over 97% on time. Shipping products that can get through the doors and that fit when they are installed is extremely important to getting the job installed and finished on time. EMI engineers go to the job site and design the products to meet these criteria. EMI products meet and exceed the consultant’s specifications. We ship on time. If/when problems come up, our first concern is getting them handled. We don’t loose days arguing about who is responsible. Quality is more than a product attribute. Quality in all phases of a job does save cost. EMI continues to prove that on every job we do.

Were you there?  At the Top Source 2010 Summit in Las Vegas?  If not, you missed EMI's over-loaded and over-the-top booth!  We wanted to not only show you what we can supply by displaying several of our best sellers, including a checkstand, stainless steel double bowl sink, Sterling Stainless table, wood and metal bakery racks, mobile hand sink, meat rack, boat rack and more.  But we also wanted to show everyone the design advantages and quality we offer - something that is sometimes hard to articulate by phone and especially hard in a bid. 

Stay tuned for some photos!

On Monday morning, EMI's VP of Sales and Marketing Eric Johnson writes and emails a weekly "news" article to our Sales force.  Sometimes it's filled with insiprational and motivating thoughts to energize our Account Managers for the upcoming week.  Most often, he imparts some of his vast product knowledge on the group and focuses on a few key products or key features of EMI.  

Eric also watches the TV show "Myth Busters" and he just can't help that it sometimes seeps into his work.  Well, he must have bought the season 5 DVD last weekend because this week he debunks some of the more common myths about Stainless steel in the industy. 

"I'm a fan of ‘Myth Busters'. If you are unfamiliar with it, each week they scientifically investigate the reality or accuracy of some commonly held beliefs. For example, one the other night tested shooting a gun straight up into the air to see where the bullet would come down and if it could kill someone. (The answer was that if it truly is shot straight up the bullet comes down sideways and while it certainly would not feel good to be hit by it, it would not be traveling fast enough to kill you.) It occurred to me we have a lot of myths in our industry also so I thought I'd try busting a few today.

1. An all welded, set-up table should cost more than one that ships knocked down (KD).  This likely comes from large table manufacturers who import from China and have an up-charge for doing this. The logic is that there is additional labor to assemble and weld a set-up table.

Manufacturers that import tables must get them KD for freight cost reasons. It certainly is less expensive for them to just reship the KD table as they received it than to pull it from the box, assemble it and weld it together. However, for tables manufactured in the US, that does not hold true. A knocked down table uses 4 (or 6 on longer tables) leg sockets. These are relatively expensive. Welding the legs directly to the hat channels eliminates the need for these sockets and the labor costs for welding are about a wash with the cost of the sockets. Similarly, most KD tables today use adjustable undershelf brackets which cost about the same as welding the shelf to the leg. Domestically manufactured tables do NOT cost more to make all welded, set-up (and they are much more structurally sound than any KD table can possibly be).

2. A heavier gauge wall shelf will hold more weight than it's thinner counterpart. Many manufactures offer 14GA, 16GA and some 18GA shelves. Logic says that if you are going to place heavy objects (like stacks of plates) of the shelf, you should buy the 14GA shelf.

Technically, this is true. Heavier sheet material IS stronger than thinner sheets. However, the primary determinant of the amount of weight a wall shelf will support is how and to what it is mounted. An 18GA shelf that has its supports screwed to wall studs will hold considerably more weight than a similarly sized 14GA shelf that just has wood screws run into wall board or plaster holding it up. The width of the shelf comes into play also as the leverage on a 16" deep shelf puts more pressure on the mounting than does one that is only 12" deep.

3. Drawn bowl sinks are just as strong and long-lasting as fabricated bowl sinks. A competitor (the largest supplier of drawn bowl sinks to the foodservice market) offers a lifetime guarantee on their sink bowls so they must be very sure of their durability, right?

This myth has been fairly well debunked over the years. "Drawing" (creating) the bowl requires stretching of the metal (like blowing up a balloon). I personally have seen a 12" deep 16GA drawn bowl cut apart and measured.  The thickness of the metal in the corners was found to be 19GA and 20GA thick (much thinner than the purported 16GA labeling). Another easy way to show the fallacy in this is to point out the placement of the legs. All fabricated bowl sinks put the legs under the corners of the sink bowls as this is where most of the weight is concentrated when the bowl is filled with water. Drawn bowl sinks attach the legs to the deck surrounding the bowl because if they welded them to the corner of the bowl, in use the legs likely would start bending the corners upward.

So how can our competitor offer a lifetime guarantee? It is strictly a marketing ploy. Once you consider the cost (to the owner) to change out a sink (down time, freight, plumbing labor) few ever avail themselves of the guarantee. The cost to the company is minimal compared to the sales advantage the guarantee provides.

That's enough for now (the TV show usually limits itself to two myths per episode)."

What myths would you like to see busted next time?  Is there something that you just can't seem to get a straight answer on from your supplier or sales rep?  Submit it to our resident "Myth Buster" via the comments below for a chance to be featured in another article soon!

What an honor!  We just found out that the US Commerce Association has selected EMI for the 2009 Best of Tampa Award in the Food Products Machinery category. 

The award program recognizes local business throughout the country (EMI has 4 facilities across the US, but our HQ is in Tampa) who have achevied exceptional success in their industry.  

We are very proud to be recognized in our industry and by our peers.  Of course, we've known it all along. :)

For a while now, EMI's new product development team has been hard at work creating a new line of NSF Stainless Steel tables to be used anywhere from Grocery Stores to Restaurants to Food Service cafeterias.  

We began by brainstorming ways to meet our cutomers' needs for high quality, affordable Stainless Steel tables with a fast turnaround time.  After a thorough research, design and prototyping process, this new line - "Sterling Stainless" - was created! 

While this new line has numerous benefits for the customer, one feature that's important to us is that it's Made in the USA (check out our last blog - "CUT costs by buying American?")

Click here for more information on Sterling Stainless Steel tables from EMI.