comes to our company, based in the Pacific Northwest, to Cutting Tool Control. They’ ve gained our trust and support over the years, to be that face of our company— they are the first people any of our customers see or deal with as our distributor; they stock our product and deliver it. But they are the front line of defense for any kind of problem or for support.”
Beamon said that with a commodity like coolant, people want to buy the cheapest product. He noted that their product is premium, but it“ delivers a better tool life, better finish, lower cost on making the part, better service, and ultimately a better end product.”
Beau Lowry, one of Bruce’ s three children who are slotted to take over the business upon his retirement, has been with the company for eight years. He credits CTC ' s success thusly,“ I think it is finding unique technologies to offer, and giving extremely good support to the customer.” Both Beau and his co-worker, Josh Robinette, inside and outside sales, said their ability to listen to their customers and find solutions is what makes them successful.
One issue that frequently arises for manufacturers is maintaining machinery while ensuring employee safety, reducing costs, and minimizing waste. CTC helps by keeping its ear to the ground for new technologies and solutions. Beau said,“ Coolant maintenance— a lot of people don’ t know about it—( you want to) get the most tool life, with lower consumption.” Josh Robinette added that a big part of their job is educating their customers on the best products for maintaining their machines.“ Every application is quite a bit different. If a customer is dumping their sump every six months, we can extend the coolant 12-18 months. We’ ve had customers with the same coolant in the sump for 20 + years.”
Other product lines that CTC represents are fire suppression systems and oil mist elimination systems for CNC machines. According to Bruce, these systems provide safety for machine shop employees. Both systems are sold directly to manufacturers, who install them on the CNC machines. This allows machines to run 24 / 7 safely, without fire concerns, and with cleaner air in the factory.
The company is not a“ catalog house,” Bruce shared. He said many salespeople have a catalog and go door-todoor selling products from it. He said his concern with that model is that it doesn’ t necessarily yield problem solving.“ Almost everything we have is based on value.
26 NORTHWEST AEROSPACE NEWS