EMI Industries Blog

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.