Tag Archives: Excellence in Customer Service

We Have An Elevator Speech About Steel Bending!

Brian and I found ourselves in an elevator with Phil Knight, the co-founder and chairman emeritus of Nike, Inc., and we stood there in silence, when all we wanted to do was give him a 2 minute “elevator speech” about everything that is wrong with youth sports these days and how we wanted to partner with him to create a fun and positive environment for all kids involved in youth sports. We choked! But the good news is, if we were standing in an elevator with world-renowned architect, Frank Gehry, we would have a 2 minute elevator speech about Albina Co., Inc. and steel bending to blow his socks off!

Albina Co. is a small family-owned steel bending company founded in 1939. We are located in Tualatin Oregon (just south of Portland) and are able to service the entire United States and Canada from our single location!

If you have the opportunity to do business with Albina Co., Inc., I KNOW you will not be disappointed. Albina Co., Inc. is unique from other bending companies for a number of reasons:

•We have a full range of state of the art bending equipment allowing us to provide our customers with a one stop shopping experience for bending. We can bend any type of material (pipe, tube, plate and all structural members) and virtually any size of material (from the very small to the very large).

•When processing a job, generating a quote, or providing bending consultation we are looking to be part of YOUR TEAM and not just a vendor. Our staff is made up of experts that are not satisfied with “good enough”; our staff strives to exceed your expectations.

•For every job we process a knowledgeable project manager is assigned as your point of contact for the duration of your project. This project manager will always treat you with honesty and integrity and provide you with timely and accurate information.

•Every order we process will be confirmed back to you and it will be reviewed by two members of management (production and QC) BEFORE we start production. This ensures that the most accurate information is delivered to the shop for processing.

•We have developed our own custom in-house management software that helps us service you during every aspect of your project. In addition to our in-house management software we also offer bending calculators on our website to assist with complicated bending computations such as spiral bending math.

•Our customers are our best sales staff- we frequently hear from our customers that bent materials provided by Albina are in better condition, less distortion and dimensionally more accurate when compared to previous experiences with competitors.

We would love to partner with you on your next project. Do not let distance be a deterrent, consider us your “local” bending partner and see how working with Albina Co. is unmatched by other bending companies.

“It Is Not a Question of Whether I Can Afford to Use Albina Co. for My Steel Bending Needs, It Is Can I Afford Not To?”

I would like to share a recent email that I received from a customer in response to my recent blog post titled “If You Are Persistent, You May Get It. If You Are Consistent, You Will Keep It.”

“Good morning. First I’d like to thank you for your recent support. I know a company’s attitude comes from the top. You have a great group of “how can we make it work” people.
It’s unfortunate that there is so much road between our office and yours. I’d be glad to share a glass of wine with you. The point of your news letter is well taken.
The only things I’d add is that your steel bending estimators are always available to help and frankly guide fabricators as to the best wall thickness, etc, to meet the challenges and provide the best curved steel finished product. This gives us the opportunity to include the cost of forming and shipping in the bid at the start. The other thing is pretty simple. It’s not a question of can I afford Albina Co., it’s can I afford not to?”

Meet Brian and Jaime Smith of Albina Co., Inc.-“If You Are Persistent, You May Get It. If You Are Consistent, You Will Keep It.”

STEADY & STABLE
I can’t tell you how many times I have had a customer tell me that they are going to have to pull business from us because they found a lower price supplier, that they are new to the steel industry and want to give someone else a try, that another supplier promised them a better delivery schedule or better quality. Whatever the reason, I always justify my price and schedule to the customer and then I tell them “We appreciate your business and our relationship, and we will be here for you when you need us.” The key word here is “when”, not “if.” I never have to justify the quality of our products or service, as both speak for themselves, and I can say with certainty that is not why we ever loose an account. A few weeks will go by, and guess what? I get a phone call that the new supplier can’t meet the delivery schedule, or that the product fails in comparison to what we were providing them, or they are going to go over budget for having to repurchase material and incur additional labor costs. And my response again is “We are here for you. What do you need?” Anyone can be persistent and promise you a better price, product or schedule to get your business, but can they be consistent and keep your business? Albina Co., is consistent, steady and stable. We have an extremely loyal customer base, and in the rare occasion that someone leaves, we almost undoubtedly always see them return.

Brian and Jaime Smith

Brian and Jaime love to explore the many amazing restaurants in the Greater Portland Metro area. They are foodies and love a good brunch or happy hour menu! This picture was taken at one of their favorite restaurants “Meriwether’s.” If you are in town, give us a call! We would love to introduce you to all the wonderful eats in PDX.

Meet Brian and Jaime Smith of Albina Co., Inc.-“Is Your Business Honorable? Do You Take Pride in the Service and Product That You Provide?”

Albina’s number one goal is to provide customers with competitively priced steel bending services resulting in quality products, on time. We honor our commitment to this goal by continuously fulfilling our obligations and meeting our customers needs.

We have a very high regard and respect for our customers, vendors and employees and we hold many of them in very high esteem as if they were a part of our own family. We are proud of the many partnerships and relationships that we have built over the years. The reason we have such longstanding relationships in the steel bending industry, is not only because we have been around for nearly 80 years, but because of the pride that we take in the quality of our work and the service that we provide on each and every job. We feel satisfied only when the commitments we have made to our partners are fulfilled. Pride is not only reflected by our team putting our hearts and souls into your end product, but can also be seen in our many efforts to improve our working environment and the community around us.

a) Albina Co., Inc. donates to many local and national Charitable Organizations including CONSANO, Meals on Wheels PDX, The Hunger Drive, Assistance League of Greater Portland, Sherwood Education Foundation, Local Sports Teams, etc.

b) We purchase steel from service centers in the USA. Our bent steel products are “Made In The USA” out of our facility in Oregon.

c) We have taken many steps to reduce our carbon footprint by reducing our power usage. In the last 12 months we have undergone significant capital expense to “do our part” by installing a 134.4 kW solar array and we replaced every interior and exterior lighting fixture / bulb with LED replacements.

d) Recent Upgrades to our phone systems and internal camera systems to increase our ability to communicate, track and share real time data seamlessly within our shop and externally with customers and vendors.

e) We have made huge efforts over the last few years to bring in new equipment, service/update older equipment, and we have actually designed and built our very own, one-of-a-kind, CNC induction bending process.

It is small companies like ours that will make American great again because we run an honorable business and we take pride in our work. We are all learning, that in this very difficult and scary time in our world, that it is the little things that matter and it is the intangibles that help determine who, what, when, where and why you should do business with someone.

Brian and Jaime Smith- Happy 4th of July!

Happy 4th of July! We like to spend America’s Birthday with family and friends. We have spent many 4th of July weekends at the beautiful Oregon Coast, in the Central Oregon high desert, or just hanging around the neighborhood having BBQ’s and enjoying the amazing Oregon summers. We wish you all a happy and safe 4th of July!

What Information Do We Need to Quote a Job Specifying Bent Steel Parts

The quick and easy way to find out what we require when quoting a project specifying bent steel parts is to visit our online Steel Bending and Fabrication Request for Quote form on our website. Below is a summary of the information that we need to accurately and efficiently quote your job:

a) Company Name, Address and Phone Number
b) Primary Contact Name and Email Address
c) Description of your project
d) What is you Bid Deadline?
e) Material Type & Size
f) Material Quantity
g) Provide any supplemental drawing or attachments that will help us bid the job.

Give us the chance to quote your next job that specifies bent steel parts! We are a dependable supplier! Not only can you count on parts arriving on time, but the level of customer service and quality of parts that we provide will exceed your expectations. We value the relationships that we have with our customers.

Experts in the Craft of Steel Bending

We recently supplied rolled tubes for the Jimi Hendrix Park project in Seattle, Washington. The customer was so pleased with the rolled tubes that they received that they reached out to us to let us know. “We are currently in fabrication, we are looking at an install at the end of March. I will first say that the rolled tubes are exactly correct in terms of radius. You are experts at your craft and it shows.” Remember that there is a price and a cost associated with every purchasing decision. Do not chose the lowest initial price or you may deal with excessive and unanticipated costs throughout the project.

Rolled Tubes for Jimi Hendrix Park Seattle, WA.

Rolled Tubes for Jimi Hendrix Park Seattle, WA.

Are You Making Your Purchasing Decisions Solely on Price?

It seems that during this time of uncertainty in the US Economy, we are returning the 2008 trend where consumers make purchasing decisions based solely on price. If you chose the lowest price, you are opening yourself up to many more “costs” that are not necessarily represented in the quoted price. It might seem like a risk to purchase from a supplier that isn’t the “lowest price.” The rewards are greater than the risk. What is important to you? Do you want to receive the correct parts the first time? On-time delivery? Communication throughout your project? Proper documentation? Billing Procedures? The price of a competitor might be below ours, but when you add up all of the actual costs to receive and install the material, is there really a cost savings? If you chose the lowest price, you may deal with late delivery, poor quality or incorrect parts and a lack of or delayed communication. If you choose the lowest price, you will get what you pay for.