MES Featured in Manufacturing North America

MES - Manufacturing North America
 
MES - Manufacturing North America

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"As a full service provider of global manufacturing and supply chain management services, Marketing & Engineering Solutions (MES) has developed a strong customer base that includes some of the largest OEMs and OEM suppliers in the US, Europe and Australia."

Manufacturing North America

 

As a full service provider of global manufacturing and supply chain management services, Marketing & Engineering Solutions (MES) has developed a strong customer base that includes some of the largest OEMs and OEM suppliers in the US, Europe and Australia.

Global sourcing and supply chain management firm MES has achieved significant success since it was founded by Hiten Shah in 2007; establishing its Ohio warehouse the same year, the company went onto achieve ISO 9001 certification a mere two years later. Opening its India sourcing office in 2010, the company went global in 2011 with the establishment of its China office and a 3PL warehouse in Mexico; incorporating its Hong Kong business the same year, the company went on to establish a warehouse in California in 2012. Following this period of major expansion, MES began to source products from Vietnam and Taiwan in 2013 and achieved a stratospheric 220 per cent growth in sales in comparison to sales in 2012.

Not a company to rest on its laurels, the company inaugurated its own warehouse in Mexico and Houston in 2014 while also becoming a beneficiary of the IMMEX programme in Mexico. Following this major growth and success, the company won a number of awards in 2015, while Hiten Shah became an Ey Entrepreneur of the Year 2015 finalist in Ohio Valley. Further awards were achieved in 2016, the same year the company completed its first acquisition and entered the hydraulics industry, reached 100 employees across the globe and launched a one-of-a-kind, cross-department, tool of data storage and analytics known as MESH. As of March 2017, the company was honoured to make the Inc. 500 ranking as one of the fastest growing companies in the US and to also achieve, for the fourth year in a row, the Columbus Business First’s Fast 50 Award. Complementing each other, the two awards recognise the incredible growth rate of MES, which has gone from $30 million revenue in 2013 to $75 million forecast for 2016. Indeed, these two awards exemplify the relentless passion and talent of the individuals at MES who strive every day to ensure customers receive optimum quality products and services.

“In the business of delivering engineering solutions, we work with various OEMs and tier one suppliers to develop a range of industrial components such as castings, machined parts, forgings, plastics and rubber parts. Working primarily in lighting, agriculture and electrical and telecom components, we are currently involved in a number of projects that include the development of a light housing casting, with a tooling lead time of just four to five weeks; providing parts in this short time frame has helped us gain a lot of business over recent years. To maintain this competitive edge, we have a very tight project time frame and we work with suppliers that can deliver to our expectations,” says Hiten Shah, Founder and President of MES.

He continues: “Another major project for us involved an engineering change from a machined component to a forged copper component for a significant cost savings to the customer. The challenge with this project was that the component required a 99.995 per cent purity. As such, we did a lot of engineering work and conducted a design of experiments (DOE) with various providers from India, Europe and Japan; trials were undertaken at a facility in India to ensure we could achieve the purity level that the customer wanted.

“Currently approximately 60 per cent of our business is lighting; the agriculture segment meanwhile, is where we anticipate interesting developments and growth over the next 24 months. The automotive segment is less than 15 – 20 per cent of our business. We anticipate good growth in automotive market over the next five years.”

Worldwide operations

Headquartered in Columbus, Ohio, the company today has offices and warehouses dotted across the globe. Operating as a trading hub for global operations, the main activities for MES Hong Kong include direct purchasing from suppliers in mainland China, Taiwan, Malaysia, India, Vietnam and other countries in Asia as well as the management of negotiations, logistics and supply chain pricing. Acting as a consultant to suppliers, MES Hong Kong ensures quality improvement processes and provides its usual services while also acting as parent company of Ningbo Metrics, a supply chain, sourcing and trading firm that is based in the Zhejiang province of China. The main activities performed by Ningbo Metrics include supplier research and audits, supplier development, quality audits and inspection services, supplier quality management activities and purchasing and sourcing.

Focus on India

Alongside Ningbo Metrics, the company has Bombay Metrics, a Mumbai based supply chain, sourcing and trading company that also provides services such as supplier research and audits, quality audits and inspection services, purchasing and sourcing. While Mumbai is the economic hub and commercial financial centre of India, it is also well connected to the rest of India, making it the perfect place for MES to benefit from the recent aggressive development in the production of metals, chemicals, automobiles and electronics. “Over the last year-and-a-half we have focused on India, which is partly due to India gaining a new prime minister, Mr Modi, who has put a number of initiatives in place; additionally, Indian manufacturers are becoming very competitive compared to China or Vietnam,” says Hiten.

It is within these strategic locations that 100 associates deliver engineering solutions to customers within industries that include lighting, industrial, automotive and agriculture. The range of talented staff within MES include six sigma engineers, sourcing experts, quality inspectors, supply chain experts, sales and account managers, business analysts and support staff. Striving to acquire talented and skilled employees in the international locations it operates in, the company retains employees by giving them a strong sense of autonomy, encouraging trust and integrity and providing a transparent and fair environment that feels more like a family; keen to develop personnel, MES also provides one-on-one coaching and training.

Delivering the best

Firm in its belief that customers don’t have to settle when it comes to quality, speed and price when sourcing internationally, MES ensures optimum customer satisfaction across the globe thanks to its “win-win solutions” mission to its global customers. Inspiring organisations to turn away from compromise, the company ensures its supplier focus on delivering the best and thus, becoming the best. Looking ahead, Hiten sees opportunities for further growth and success for MES as the company seeks to increase its presence throughout Europe and Mexico while also continuing to improve its supply chain, quality metrics and inventory management metrics with the goal of enhancing its excellent reputation for customer service. “This is the secret recipe to our success and what we focus on every day, every month, every quarter and every year,” Hiten concludes.