Service center executives reveal their favorite makes of metal processing equipment in this informal brand survey by Metal Center News.Metal distributors have long differentiated themselves through their value-added offerings, and each year brings an expansion of the types of services being offered. It goes without saying that those operating the most state-of-the-art equipment have a leg up in adding that value to their customers.
Additionally, never has employing the very best equipment been more important than over the past year, when the pandemic upended the normal course of business throughout the world. Running equipment that could reliably slit or saw or lift, without incident, provided peace-of-mind to service center operators dealing with unprecedented challenges.
As
Metal Center News has been doing for two decades, we recently surveyed service center operators across the metals supply chain to determine which equipment manufacturers had the support of their service center customers. The results of that survey are featured here, in the annual Top 10 Service Center Brands Survey. The survey should not be interpreted as a strict ranking of the brands, rather a reflection of which equipment makers are at the top of mind.
This year’s results saw a change at the top in all but one category. Amada repeated its top finish among sawing companies. The other top-vote getters were Red Bud Industries in the coil processing category, Signode among material handling companies, SYSPRO among the makers of service center software and TRUMPF in the cutting category.
For 2021, the top three in each category are:
Material Handling: Signode, Konecranes, Bushman;
Coil Processing: Red Bud Industries, Braner, ANDRITZ Herr-Voss Stamco;
Sawing: Amada, HYDMECH, DoALL;
Software: SYSPRO, Enmark Systems, OpenTrac;
Cutting: TRUMPF, Mazak, Hypertherm.The survey was conducted starting at the tail end of 2020, inviting our service center readers through a series of email polls and a questionnaire in our monthly print editions. Respondents were given an alphabetical listing of the largest companies in each product category with instructions to check all of the suppliers they would endorse and buy from in the future. Respondents also had the opportunity to write in additional company names or brand names that were not listed.
The final rankings were simply determined by the largest number of votes received in each category. The final rankings most adequately reflect which companies occupy the largest share of mind among their customers, and highest level of customer satisfaction.
The methodology does not attempt to rank the companies’ products or consider its market share or size. It merely looks at each manufacturer’s level of positive brand awareness. The list should be viewed as an informal measure of brand preference.
To thank our readers for participating in the annual survey,
Metal Center News donated $2 for every response to Feeding America. We also conducted a random drawing among respondents, with the grand prize winner taking home a $200 Visa gift card.
We thank you for your participation, and congratulations to all of the Top 10 Brands.
Click here to Download the Top 10 list.