Collaboration Like 'Clockwork'

With an accurate understanding of their clients needs, Hustler seeks to improve farmers’ bottom-line and simplify their everyday life with world-class products, while raising the bar with outstanding service.

This has seen their exports grow to 18 countries across Europe, North and South America, and Africa.

Manufacturing Hampered by Hassles with Parts

It had been a tricky juggle for Hustler to get the right components to the right standard at the right time to keep their manufacturing humming along.

When Steve Nicholls (Supply Chain Manager) started on the job back in 2013, he got Mark Wilson to come round for a ‘problem-solving’ chat which led to a very mutually-rewarding relationship.

Steve tells the story …

“We’d had a real problem having to coordinate and chase different suppliers – e.g. one to fabricate, another to zinc-plate, etc. It was hard to get the volumes and delivery schedule we needed at a workable cost. Communication had been really lacking from our suppliers, with a lack of ‘ownership’ of problems that came up… ‘let’s run for the hills’ or ‘bury our head in the sand’.

The Collaboration Fix

“When Mark turned up, I began to see he actually cared about our business and took a real interest to understand the needs of our manufacturing process. He realised that if we didn’t get certain parts at certain stages, manufacturing ground to a halt.

“We went ahead with some samples and tested the water with a few parts. When that worked out, we steadily increased the range of Myriad product supply. They also took on all the coordination that we’d had to do between contributing suppliers to deliver us finished parts.”

“We visited Myriad ourselves to get a better idea of their operational constraints and needs. This led to better communication between us.

“By building trust and collaborating, we were able to make a bigger commitment to each other. Myriad could do bigger runs at an even pace with less setup effort, meaning less rushing and stress, while we got reliable delivery to our schedule at big volume prices.

“By giving them a ‘stock profile’ with anticipated volumes and timings, we cut down lead-times to two days. They can now commit to making 1,000 or so at-a-time but deliver in standard lots of 100 or so when we need them. This is much more convenient for us, enabling us to reduce stock holding and waste.”

Better Outcomes for Both Parties

“Things are really working for us, and whenever issues crop up we can call the Myriad team, who listen openly to our feedback. They are solution-focused, so we don’t end up in a blame game of who did what.

Both companies are now more pro-active and committed to continuous improvement. We now have more reliability, consistency, and efficiency, with less administrative hassle all round.

Open communication and collaboration has really paid off for both Myriad and ourselves – a big win-win.”