Reliable & Responsive
Fluke Corporation
Fluke Corporation, founded in 1948, is the world leader in the manufacture, distribution and service of electronic test tools and software.
Fluke has manufacturing centres located across the world in the USA, UK, Asia and The Netherlands and employs about 2400 people.
Fluke Precision Measurement is based in Norwich and Steve Gurton is their Initial Purchaser. This means that his role is to reduce the number of suppliers that they use in their supply chain in order to simplify the management of it, particularly important when a new acquisition is made.
Ridgeway Press is their printer of choice and Fluke’s single print media provider, supplying technical manuals and indeed any printed matter they may require.
Different product lines have very different sales volumes – some at 200 per month and others at 10,000 per month - so the ability for Fluke to order manuals at low or high volume is imperative. Ridgeway also provides stockholding of their printed material for Fluke, reducing Fluke’s costs.
‘Ridgeway have really helped us out over the years,’ said Steve. ‘There have been times where a technical manual for a piece of equipment has not been available for the shipment – so a technical manual, worth just a few pounds, has potentially held up a shipment of many tens of thousands of pounds. When this has happened, as soon as we contact Ridgeway, they have always ensured that the manuals are with us in time for the shipment. You need that reliability and responsiveness in your supply chain.’
Steve also values Ridgeway for their advice and ideas on design, as well as their versatility, friendliness and professionalism. ‘Whenever we have an issue, the Ridgeway team are there to help us out,’ said Steve.