“At CK Power, we believe quality is the absolute highest standard. I cannot think of any time that Superior has failed us. Eric and Superior do a great job with quality, speed and cost.”
— Jeff McSorley, Product Control Manager at CK Power.
Business Need
Founded in 1929, CK Power is a family-owned business with over 90 years of experience serving the St. Louis, Missouri region and beyond. CK Power has grown significantly over the years, from a power transmission equipment distributor to a leading manufacturer, distributor and service provider for off-highway power solutions and OEM equipment.
CK Power supports the needs of the marine, oil and gas, mining, military, government and agricultural industries with an on-site engineering staff that builds power units to customer specifications from start to finish. Due to the unique nature of their builds, their engineer-driven end products require a diverse selection of fasteners that are not only consistent in quality but can also be tracked with a certificate of conformance.
Solution
CK Power has been doing business with Superior Industrial Supply for over 45 years for their fastening, MRO supply and industrial hose needs. As their business needs evolved, so did their relationship with Superior.
Jeff McSorley, Product Control Manager at CK Power said of the relationship, “As we have grown and matured as a company and become more engineer-driven, we’ve continued to grow the role Superior plays in our business. It’s become significant.”
Eric Slaughter, Sales Consultant for Superior Industrial Supply works hand-in-hand with the CK Power team, including the production and service departments to identify needs, solve problems and source supplies.
“Eric and Superior do a great job of meeting our needs,” said McSorley. “We build to customer specs and create a bill of materials (B.O.M.) that directs our mechanics when building a unit. Because of this, we need proper documentation on the fasteners we use. If a customer comes back after a unit is complete and needs to see the certifications on the bolts used, we must have documentation on where the fastener was made, the quality expectations as well as the standards it meets. Superior is very good at meeting those requirements.”
McSorley is impressed with Superior’s ability to source a wide variety of one-off products as well. “CK Power builds to spec and every bill of materials has different needs. We can very easily have 15-20 builds with different B.O.M.s at any given time. To meet our needs, Superior has to be diverse in its product line and the breadth of what they can carry. They’ve been very good at that.”
McSorley said, “I’ve been with CK Power for 12 years and the relationship with Superior has been strong. They are great to work with, whether it’s a question we have on hardware, a request for a quote, or need for quick delivery, we’ve relied on Superior.”
In addition to fulfilling CK Power’s B.O.M. needs, Slaughter also runs the vendor-managed inventory (VMI) program at CK Power to ensure they have the right products on hand, minimizing unnecessary downtime due to missing parts.
“I visit CK Power about once a week to manage their inventory,” said Slaughter. “But if they need something in a pinch, they know they have delivery five days a week.”
“Our relationship with Superior is two-fold,” said McSorley. “Not only are they a vendor that fulfills our orders, but Eric is our key person for in-house facility management of our shop supply items like hardware, electronic components, clamps and hoses.”
Communication across departments is critical when aligning CK Power’s multi-faceted inventory needs to avoid outages and overstock. Slaughter helps the team track inventory coming in and going out of their facility, so they have in-depth knowledge of their supplies at all times.
“I enjoy working with the entire team,” Slaughter added. “Quality is important to them, and they want to do the best job they can. My role is to help them have all the parts they need to meet their goals and avoid any expensive and unnecessary delay due to a missing part. It’s a good partnership.”
“Eric is our key person and he’s done a great job, is very responsive and the service is great. Superior continues to be our key supplier for hardware and related items for their ability to stock and respond in a timely and cost-effective manner.”
About Superior Industrial Supply
Superior Industrial Supply is a leading distributor of the top brands in industrial supplies for hydraulic hose assembly, fastener supplies and maintenance, repair and operating (MRO) applications serving St. Louis, Missouri and beyond. In addition to their wide selection of in-stock items and product knowledge, they offer hose repair and vendor-managed inventory. For more information on how Superior Industrial Supply can help your business needs, call toll-free 800-783-6501.