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shOP | PROFILE
LOFTech
FINDING a SOLID PARTNER IN
METAL SuPERMARKETS
Few companies grew during
the 2009 recession, but LOFTech, a
prototype manufacturing company in
Vadnais Heights, Minn., managed to
grow by 50 percent.
LOFTech recently expanded its
capabilities to include the design and
assembly of automated equipment.
In addition to custom machining,
the company now provides turnkey
fabrication and automation for
engineering firms, tool design groups
and other companies.
Founded in 2003, LOFTech started
out with four owners and 2,100 square
feet of rented space. Today it has 30
employees and owns a 15,000-squarefoot
building. What’s more, the company
has no sales staff.
Dan Feser, president, attributes
LOFTech’s growth to a simple business
philosophy.
“We’re known for doing what we say
and saying what we do,” he said. “We
started this business to give customers
what they ask for—or to tell them
upfront whether we can fit it into our
schedules or whether it’s outside the
realm of our expertise. More respect is
gained from saying no, than from saying
yes and not delivering.”
With that approach, LOFTech has
experienced significant growth and
success. However, the company has
learned some lessons along the way,
including the importance of eliminating
extra inventory and processes.
In the beginning, LOFTech purchased
large amounts of materials based on
volume discounts and then stored the
materials on its shelves. But that system
ended up hurting, not helping, the
company’s bottom line. To stay lean and
Doug Knepper, vice president of Metal
Supermarkets, shows an example of the
materials LOFTech orders on a daily basis.
Everything is cut to size and shipped to order.
focus on what it does best, LOFTech
decided to eliminate virtually all of its
inventory and buy only what it needed.
Now LOFTech purchases materials
on a daily basis and receives everything
cut to size and shipped to order. The
majority of its materials come from
Metal Supermarkets Corporation in
Roseville, Minn.
“We’ve found that other metal
suppliers don’t carry the inventory that
Metal Supermarkets does,” Feser said.
“And most of them don’t have the ability
to quote quickly and deliver on time.”
In many cases, the quote is
completed and the materials are
delivered the same day, he said. That
allows LOFTech to focus on its core
capabilities, which are designing and
machining, not chopping metal.
“We’re not in the business of trying
to find materials, bring them in and cut
them ourselves,” Feser said. “That’s why
we rely on Metal Supermarkets.”
About Metal Supermarkets
Metal Supermarkets is the largest
supplier of small quantity metals
worldwide. With more than 80 stores
More respect is gained from saying no,
than from saying yes and not delivering.
- Dan Feser, president, LOFTech
in five countries, it has established what
it calls the “convenience stores” of the
metal industry.
In Minnesota, Metal Supermarkets has
three locations: Roseville, Burnsville and
Brooklyn Park, which just re-located from
Maple Grove to a newer, much bigger
building to accommodate existing and
future growth. The new facility is just East
of Highway169 on 93rd in Brooklyn Park,
allowing for easier access. With a fleet of
delivery vehicles, all three locations deliver
to companies located in Minnesota.
The Roseville location opened in
2001, and 6 years later, the Burnsville
facility opened its doors. Brooklyn Park
is its newest location, having opened
in 2010. Each of the locations transfer
and share inventory to ensure a wide
selection of materials is available.
Doug Knepper, vice president of
Metal Supermarkets, said one of the
things that sets his company apart is
rapid delivery times.
“We try to locate ourselves so we
can get to people quickly,” he said. “In
that way, we’re more nimble and can
react faster than big companies that sell
materials by the truckload. That’s key for
today’s businesses.”
Most orders, he said, are for sameday
or next-day delivery.
Metal Supermarkets carries more
than 8,000 products, shapes and grades
of materials, including aluminum, steel,
stainless, brass and copper. In addition,
the company has access to many
specialty items through its extensive
network of vendors in the United States.
“We sell a little bit of everything,”
Knepper said. “If you need three bars
of aluminum, one bar of copper and 16
inches of stainless, we can bundle it all
together and deliver it right away.”
Customers of Metal Supermarkets
range from one-person job shops to
Fortune 500 companies that need metal
for maintenance or R&D work. Unlike
24 | PRECISION MANUFACTURING May | June 201
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