Oconee Machine and Tool - Westminster, South Carolina
Professional Business Advisor Program

THE OVERVIEW
For more than 35 years Oconee Machine and Tool, a full-service machine and tool shop, has served Upstate South Carolina. With its state-of-the-art equipment, the Westminster, SC-based company produces high-quality tools, precision gauges, and fixtures in an extremely neat, clean, organized facility. OMT's employees are committed to building quality into every phase of the production process. They are also noted for getting it right the first time and delivering it on time.

THE CHALLENGE
When owner Joe Duncan died in 1996, his wife, Brenda Duncan, a non-active co-owner, assumed sole ownership of the company. After four years, Brenda brought in SCMEP for marketing, financial, and training assistance. She wanted to further define OMT's market niche in order to diversify and grow the business to the next level. More than anything else, however, she wanted to put succession plans in place so her two children would be prepared to take over the company.

Brenda wanted to do market research but didn't have the in-house staff to do it, and did not know where to locate the necessary expertise. She felt the company was ready to expand beyond its current customer base but wasn't sure where to start.

Additionally, she wanted her two children, Bridgett (25) and Jason (29), to learn all aspects of the business while she kept OMT running smoothly.

THE SOLUTION
Initially, SCMEP staff came in two days each month to keep an eye on the business and begin providing marketing, succession, and financial planning services. SCMEP's role included involving Bridgett and Jason Duncan in learning the specific aspects of OMT they would initially manage.

As a first step in aiding OMT in growing and diversifying its customer base, SCMEP put together a list of potential customers in upstate South Carolina, northwest Georgia, and western North Carolina. Next, SCMEP created a questionnaire to determine customers' quality, turnaround time, and precision machining needs, contacted each company on the list and completed the questionnaire.
 
Based on the results of the questionnaire, SCMEP wrote a series of prospecting scripts for phone calls to potential customers. The scripts, which ranged from handling referral calls to reaching a company's decision-maker, were organized in a step-by-step fashion and included a series of suggested approaches and presentations for the sales staff to follow. SCMEP also created a high-quality, four-color brochure to introduce OMT and sell its services to existing and potential clients generated from the questionnaires.

THE IMPACT
SCMEP included Brenda's two children in all stages of the projects to solicit their input and teach them new processes. While both of the younger Duncans had the assistance of mentors and attended training seminars, Bridgett, who will initially manage human resources and marketing, was heavily involved in this particular project. Bridgett and OMT General Manager Jim Turner immediately began contacting potential customers, using SCMEP's generated sales scripts and brochure.

Jason, who has experience working on the shop floor and will initially manage the Forge Tooling operation, signed on for an informal six-month internship with SCMEP. He has observed lean manufacturing and Competitiveness Review assessments at other facilities with SCMEP manufacturing specialists and attended several 5S programs with them.

SCMEP conducted industrial engineering studies to determine capacity levels on some production tooling equipment. "SCMEP saved us a potential $100,000 outlay for an extra lathe we thought we needed but actually didn't need at this time," says Brenda Duncan. Although Brenda is still involved in the company and is working with SCMEP to meet OMT's goals, she is now happily out of the day-to-day operations of the facility.

Oconee Machine and Tool's 12,000-square-foot facility is located in a good spot at the crossroads of Highway 11 and Highway 123 in Westminster.

Troy Watkins, machinist, and Jason Duncan, production line manager for tooling, produce tools for a South Carolina original equipment manufacturer (OEM).