Fred Hill has solved many problems for business big and small across all industries with custom, safe and efficient solutions.

In the Fall 2007 Issue of the MHEDA Journal, Fred Hill and Son Company Account Executive, Gary Kasmer, was featured in how he was able to leverage the strength of one of our Strategic Partners, Morse Manufacturing, into providing the best possible solution for a customer with unique needs. Below is an excerpt from the article.

Fred Hill Does It with Flare

A flare manufacturer in Aston, Pennsylvania, needed to update its out-of-date practice for unloading its 500- to 800-pound drums from pallets. Their method of having three or four workers nudge the drum off the corner of the pallet was both inefficient and dangerous. The company had just hired a new engineer, whose first project was to solve this ergonomic nightmare.

Although the customer knew it needed to change its procedure, it was reluctant to update its approach because of past difficulties working with equipment suppliers. Kasmer had been targeting this end-user for quite a while and saw his opportunity in the new engineer in charge of the project.

Kasmer called Nate Andrews, vice president of Morse Manufacturing Company, and the two worked together to ease the customer's concerns. After discussing a few different scenarios, Andrews and Kasmer decided that a Morse 82A Series Drum Palletizer would be ideal for the customer's needs. Next, they agreed to cover the freight cost to and from the customer site and waive the standard no-return policy. “In my experience, it's not the policy for drum handling companies to demo units because the equipment gets beaten up and scratched quickly,” Kasmer explains. “The competition was pretty rigid with its pricing guidelines and sample procedures, but I told Nate the size and potential of the company. We both thought the customer would like that unit if we got it in their hands.”

Morse provided Kasmer with an updated video on the product about a week before they sent a sample unit to the client for a demonstration. “I was familiar with the product, but I wanted to make sure I was totally certain about this particular unit,” Kasmer says.

The Morse 82A drum handler features a saddle drum holder and stands 71 inches tall. The 48.5-inch outer wheel diameter at a 90-degree angle allows the handler to sidle up to a pallet and lift a standard 55-gallon drum up to 20 inches above the floor. Both Andrews and Kasmer believed the product was the right fit, and a short demonstration convinced the customer. He purchased the demo unit and placed an order for five more. The six units were delivered in June 2007. “It was great teamwork, and we really exceeded the end-user's expectations,” Kasmer says. “It's such a big place and their business is booming, so I wouldn't be surprised if more sales are coming. We couldn't have started off the relationship better.”

Fred Hill and Son Company has been providing Material Handling Solutions for over 110 years.