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FROM THE EDITOR
It’s
that time of year again..
Yes, it’s already
our year end edition of the leader.com. It seems
like it was only a few months ago that I wished
you happy holidays.
With today’s professional
and personal obligations, we are living in an
ever more fast paced world. It seems like we are
always striving for excellence to render our customers,
families, and friends happy .
In this December edition
of the leader.com, you’ll notice that we’re
already thinking 2005 with information on Promat,
prices, inventory, and news about a partnership
with a heavy duty caster supplier. Frederic has
another success story about Resilex and movers,
which may make some of you realize that spring
is not that far off and that dollies need to be
ready for the upcoming moving days. We also have
non-scientific statistics on the work that is
accomplished by our shipping/receiving department.
Finally, read up on Nancy’s new favorite
sport, which may make us realize that we should
try to spend a little more time thinking about
ourselves, and that maybe we should take the time
to try to live out our dreams…
 This
is what I wish for all of you and for myself :
that we take the time to think about relaxing
more, to train or work out more, or even to live
a dream that we may have forgotten or put aside
because of the crazy and hectic schedules that
we now have.
Signed,
Luc Turcotte
Editor
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Over the last few years
we have managed to maintain our prices, even though
there have been increases in the price of raw
materials. As you may be aware, this year, there
have been substantial price hikes in steel and
petroleum. These two important components in the
manufacturing of wheels and casters has led us
to revise the cost of production, which in turn
will increase our prices by 6% in 2005.
Rest assured that we will
do our utmost to keep manufacturing costs at their
lowest, and if we do encounter any drops in prices
of raw materials, we will gladly pass on these
decreases to you.
Luc
Turcotte |
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Inventory
Year end is usually synonymous
with inventories, and the inconveniences that
go along with them. In order to not disrupt
our customer service, we’ve decided to
do our inventory December 27, 28, and
29th. Our offices will be open during
these 3 days, and we ask for your understanding
and co-operation by trying to avoid “rush”
orders.
 We
will do our best to answer your needs, and we
count on your habitual collaboration. Maybe
you can take this opportunity to increase your
inventory and benefit from the 2004 prices,
before the expected price increase in 2005.
Luc
Turcotte |
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Our
shipping/receiving department
As in many
organizations, we tend to sometimes
forget the importance of those who
prepare customer orders, and the
significant role they play in customer
satisfaction.
Bleutec’s
shipping/receiving department is
composed of 3 people who take their
work to heart. They have quite the
work load and we thought that you
may find it interesting to read
the following statistics.
We prepare
an average of 162 orders a week,
which is about 32 orders per day.
Of these 32 orders, at least 6 are
rush, which means that they are
picked up or shipped the same day.
In order to prepare your orders,
we have to assemble an average of
3,193 casters per week, or 638 each
day. On top of that, we have a dozen
or so customers that come to Bleutec
during the week to place their orders
in person. Finally, we receive from
our suppliers an average of 24 skids
per week, which have to be received,
checked, and put into inventory.
When we analyze
these numbers, we better understand
our shipping/receiving department’s
work load, and therefore are proud
to emphasize their importance.
Luc
Turcotte |
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Hot
off the press!
 Bleutec
is very pleased to announce a new
partnership with BLICKLE for the
distribution of their heavy duty
casters in North America. BLICKLE
is a German caster manufacturer
that is very well respected in the
European market.
We are
already working on the concept of
a new pamphlet to introduce this
new series of casters, and we hope
to present it to you by the beginning
of January.
Luc
Turcotte
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Best
wishes…
 Here
we are, already December and the
countdown to Christmas has started.
My fingers are crossed in hopes
of a white Christmas, and the
Christmas carols have started
to play at home. And you? Have
you started your holiday shopping?
Or Christmas tree hunting? ?
On
behalf of all of us at Bleutec,
we wish you and yours a most joyous
and safe holiday season.
Happy
Holidays,
and a very happy and healthy New
Year!
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5 weeks to Promat!
Promat
is approaching quickly, and we’ve just
finished with all the preparations, including
the booth layout. Our booth, samples, and eye-catching
banners are all packed and ready to go.
We thought we’d
give you a sneak preview of our booth. Hope
to see you in Chicago!
January
10 – 13, 2005
McCormick Place, Chicago
Bleutec Booth #3820
Nancy
Allen
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| RESILEX™
is on the move
As you may know, the blue
Resilex™ wheels always were and still
remain our battle horse (What
is Resilex). Over the past fifteen years,
wherever we have sold our RESILEX™ casters,
they have become recognized for their reliability
and problem solving capabilities. Therefore,
I’d like to tell you about a specific
application where this is particularly true:
the moving industry.
I must explain here that
the moving dolly is to a mover what a scalpel
is to a surgeon: his main working instrument.
It would be interesting
to find out how far we've come in the moving
industry and go back in time to take a close
look at the casters that were used 10 years
ago. At that time, the standard dolly wheel
was a 4" black “hockey puck”
with a hole in the center. Yes, it marked floors,
yes, it was hard and noisy, but that's what
the boys wanted. It’s all that they knew
and it was the standard.
In 1995, after many failed
attempts to sell Resilex™ casters to major
moving equipment manufacturers, we turned to
the movers themselves and offered our “blue
wheels” for replacements. It no longer
was a problem to move an 800 lb. piano: it took
less effort to move and it didn’t mark
the hardwood floors.
These results generated
a demand for Resilex™ wheels. The movers
requested Resilex™ casters directly to
the dolly manufacturers. Today, for many movers,
Resilex™ has become what the post-it note
is in most office environments. Once you start
using them, you can’t work without them.
Frederic Lagace
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From
F1 to triathlons!
If you’ve read
some of the articles I’ve written, or
if I’ve had the opportunity to speak to
you about something other than casters, you
probably know that I’m a huge race fan.
Well, now I have to add another sport to my
summer weekends: triathlons!
No, I’m not actually
participating in one, but my honey is. This
past September, Philippe did the Montreal Triathlon
at one of my favorite spots, the Circuit Gilles
Villeneuve. He registered for the “Sprint”,
which is .46 miles (750 meters) of swimming,
followed by 12.4 miles (20 km) of biking, and
finishing with 3.1 miles (5 km) of running.
Wow! I was exhausted just cheering him on!
He did really well for
his first participation and finished in a time
of 1 hour and 15 minutes. Of course his competitive
streak has made him want to decrease his time
by at least 10 minutes for next summer. I think
that he’ll surpass that objective because
of his dedication to his training, which consists
of 2 hours of swimming, 2 hours of biking, and
1 hour of jogging. He does at least one of these
disciplines each day, and when there’s
time, he combines 2 of them for a REAL workout.
So, next summer should
be a busy one with F1, Nascar, CART, and a few
triathlons. I’ll definitely keep you up
to date on all the results.
Have a great month
of December, and HAPPY HOLIDAYS!
Nancy Allen
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