Supporting customers, typically OEM’s and End-Users with the best possible bearings, bespoke tooling solutions and outstanding technical support, is why precision bearing specialists CARTER MANUFACTURING are acknowledged as being the ‘go to’ company for specialised bearings and tooling products. Established for over 20 years and ideally located in Oxford, the home of many of the UK’s high-tech companies, Carter have always focused on delivering the most advanced bearings and tooling products. Today, Carter is justifiably proud of their status as being sole distribution agents for several high-end specialist bearing manufacturers. These include, Carter Inc., Silverthin Bearings, KMS Bearings and UNASIS Bearings and Tools, to name a few. Their relationships with both suppliers, distribution partners and customers, has resulted in a genuine culture of care across all sections of the business, resulting in the experience of buying bearings as simple and pleasurable as possible.
Let’s take a closer look at Carters Journey of Success
Daniel Thomas, Head of Operations confirms, “Over the past decade we have expanded our business with Carter Americas launching in Minnesota along with our European Distribution Centre in Valencia while establishing a dedicated team to support customers in selecting the right bearings and tools for their applications”. He continued, “We take a tailored approach to every enquiry, while for ‘standard’ requests we quickly confirm a quote based on a provided part number. However, when customers are unsure of the best bearing for their application, our Technical Sales Team, backed by industry specialists, work closely with them to identify the optimal solution”.
What does a ‘typical’ enquiry look like and how do we approach it?
Sales Director, Francesca Brundell-Romero comments, “We handle a wide variety of customer enquiries and when a customer knows exactly what they need, such as a Carter Cam Follower, we typically stock the full imperial and metric ranges.
This means we can respond quickly with a quote and often ship the same day. However, for more complex enquiries, our experienced Technical Sales Team is on hand to provide the best guidance. Francesca adds, “In rare cases requiring deeper technical insight and specialist knowledge, we can collaborate with our in-house Engineering Team to ensure our customer gets the best solution for their application”.
How Carter handles an enquiry from infancy and recommends the best solution?
Ben Roberts, Head of Engineering at UNASIS International shares more on how they support Carter in tackling the more complex challenges, from early stage concepts to fully defined bearing specifications. “Many of the demands we see are similar across a variety of applications which allows us to give the best advice based on previous knowledge and experience. For hi-tech space applications our Silverthin Thin Section bearings face unique and complex challenges, so our early involvement means we can share our expertise, helping customers to reduce design time, risk, costs, while optimising performance”. Ben adds, “Once our bearings have been qualified through the UNASIS Engineering team, it’s time for our Quality Team to get involved”.
The Importance of Quality and Compliance
Quality and Compliance Manager Alec Aldridge comments, “Our team conducts regular reviews of our Quality & Compliance procedures (QMS) and how we implement our ISO 9001:2015 & AS9120 accreditations to ensure full traceability for our products to ensure we remain aligned with our strategic goals across all locations”. Alec continued, “The final step of the journey is delivering the product to our customer and as a multi-site international organisation this presents unique challenges”.
Overcoming the Challenges of Global Logistics
Logistics Manager Jon Ing confirms that Carter maintains a large stock of Silverthin Thin Section Bearings, Cam Followers and UNASIS Specialist bearings to ensure same-day shipping is often possible. Bearings can also be transferred between locations for local dispatch within 24 hours. Jon comments, “Our logistics facility in Valencia means that goods ordered from mainland Europe are shipped from Europe and in conjunction with our North & South America support team in Minnesota, means we are closer to customers, ensuring faster deliveries”.
For specialist made-to-order bearings, our branded partners ship directly to local sites, where trained staff handles documentation and traceability”.
In conclusion, Daniel Thomas adds, “Our relationships with our customers, suppliers, and distribution partners are vital to us. Our journey over the past 20 years and the insights explained through these interviews explains why Carter Manufacturing is acknowledged as being a leading global supplier of precision bearings and tooling solutions. As we continue our journey we believe the relationships between all our team members, suppliers and of course our customers, will lead to continued development and success whilst meeting the challenges of operating in an ever-changing global environment”.
More at: https://www.carterbearings.co.uk/
Invinity to build 20MWh flow battery in UK
A surprising comment for someone who (I think you´ve said in the past) worked in the industry. National Grid have a variety of reserve service schemes...