While the Coronavirus pandemic did slow things down for a while , Norstar powered through and ended up in a better position on the other side . In early March , all department heads spent some time to define roles of specific departments and restructured staff around critical operations . Through this process , many areas of the company were redeveloped to streamline processes and create a better workflow . Even with many employees experiencing a temporary furlough , Norstar was able to continue producing , shipping and selling trailers and truck beds throughout the pandemic , and with the better work processes in place , the only thing holding Norstar back were state restrictions across the nation affecting Norstar dealers and component shortages .
As states began to reopen , business at Norstar roared as well . All furloughed production employees were back at work after two weeks with office staff returning a week or two after that . Within a month , production lines were running at full capacity again , and Norstar has been pushing to meet demand ever since .
Wade VanNoord the Norstar head engineer stated “ When the pandemic began , we were all really worried about the effects something like this could have on us as a company , and while we did experience a short setback in March , we ’ ve been steadily growing throughout the year , refining our designs and upgrading many of our products .”
Currently , the only major challenges Norstar faces in meeting production is getting trailer components in from their vendors and filling workforce demand .
In the past year , the company has restructured many of its production lines and processes to create a better workflow that allows for greater efficiency in production and real time inventory tracking . These changes have helped in the implementation of a new series of trailers and a new utility body truck bed that shows huge promise . Norstar has also developed a more effective quality control process that shows in the recent feedback received from happy customers of Norstar and Iron Bull products .
Norstar Manufacturing is always seeking to develop a product that exceeds customer expectations , and the new quality control processes implemented over the past year have seen promising results . Several QC checkpoints have been set up throughout the production lines to ensure that each stage of production creates a product worthy of the Iron Bull or Norstar names before they reach the final pre-ship QC bay where every item is tested and double checked to make sure no small components have been overlooked . The higher attention to detail has been noticed by Norstar dealers and customers alike , as seen through the testimonials left on the Norstar Company website .
Howard W , a five-star reviewer from Camden , South Carolina states “ This is a heavy duty trailer that comes with everything you need out of the gate - built-in tarp system , slide-in ramps , equipment load stabilizers and spring loaded sand foot . I did a lot of research and concluded that this trailer was the best bang for the buck for the long term .” continued on next page
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