Fab Supply Inc. Founder John Wold passed away on July 6, 2021. The following is the last article he worked on for our company. As we move forward, we echo his sentiment and follow his vision, developing new product lines and growing into a true “one stop shop.”
Deadlines require a clear focus, especially ones with quick turnaround. At Fab Supply, tight deadlines are almost a specialty. Our large inventory and customer-oriented team make same-day shipping the norm.
What does this look like? Here’s a true story:
Fab Supply had a customer that had a job on a critical time frame. The company needed a Rolla-V to get the job done, but in half the time of the standard delivery.
Fab Supply contacted Rolla-V to speed up production, and the tool was shipped in three weeks instead of six. FAB Supply President John Wold waited at the O’Hare airport in the middle of the night for the Rolla-V to arrive via plane. At 1:30 a.m. he was on the road to western Ohio to deliver it. He arrived at 7:30 a.m., production started by 8 a.m., and the customer’s parts shipped out the same day.
Talk about dedicated teamwork!
“We always support the customer fully – start to finish,” President John Wold.
A Business About People
Fab Supply believes in a people-forward approach to doing business. This means an actual human will always answer the phone during business hours, and oftentimes sales people provide their personal cells outside of business hours to provide availability to customers in critical situations.
Communication is critical to providing the correct tooling to get the job done.
“We listen carefully to our customers and, by listening carefully, we can pick up on subtle nuances or offer advice that would take them in a different direction,” said John. “We’ve got over 85 years of industry experience amongst our staff in office; in addition to that, we’ve got designers both domestically and abroad that we work with on a regular basis. So, we’re very confident that the advice we’re giving our customers is the correct advice and it’s going to lead them to the most productive and cost-effective solutions.”
Sometimes this means providing advice on solutions a customer wasn’t aware of or re-routing the customer from a potentially dangerous or ineffective approach they had previously considered.
Fab Supply takes tremendous care to ensure that the billing and receivable collection is accurate. The relationship with the customer is extremely import. And continues long after the sale. Our values such as honesty and work ethic ensure it.
“We’re always very available and supportive, we’ll do facetime calls and sometimes involve the designers and engineers,” said John. “We always stand behind the quality of our products. If there ever is a manufacturing defect or someone is unhappy with the quality of their products, we will work with those customers to find a satisfactory solution. We also stand behind the quality of our advice.”
Here are just a few words from customers:
- “You guys are great – thank you so much.” — Becca, Fox Machinery
- “Thank you for the assist! … You guys rock!” — Erik Fredmonsky, P2P Manufacturing
- “I greatly appreciate your help through this process. I can say hands down the RVM100-2.5’s are phenomenal. Thanks again, John, I will keep in touch as we may need some more of your tooling in the near future.” — Colton Redmon, Loflin Fabrication