JC Gibbons joins the NAM

This month has been a very exciting one at JC Gibbons Manufacturing Inc. We are happy to announce that we have joined the North American Manufacturer's Association or NAM. We are very proud to be a company that makes American products and supplies American jobs. We are already proud members of the Precision Machined Parts Association or PMPA. Both organizations do their best to represent American manufacturing in front of the United States senate and congress. Our contributions and inclusion will help strengthen American pride!

Getting Your Company On Facebook

Facebook has been a great resource for us to show the world our services at JC Gibbons Manufacturing. It can be a venue to show of pictures or videos of our products and services, but most importantly, it is a venue to keep in touch with our clients and potential clients on a daily basis. The site boasts any easy way to make a post and it has the ability for one-on-one chat which can be a great tool.

We think it will be a great tool for those that we do business with, so we wanted to make sure that this information is easily available. First off, visit the information page from Facebook about creating a page: create a fan page here.

Then you'll hit that green button in the top right corner to create a page, and you're off and running. It shows you how to create all the information for your business including adding a picture to your profile. It even shows you how to make contacts and how to use it to run ad campaigns similar to Google Adwords. It is just a great place to make connections.

Crain’s Detroit Business - 8/13/2001

Father Prepares Son To Take Company’s Reins

“The family has a good reputation in the industry”, said Jim Preston, owner of Ferndale-based Meier Screw Products.  “They are high-quality people, high-integrity people.  I have referred people to them if a customer comes to me with a high-volume job.”

“Only about 15% of family owned companies survive the transition from the second generation to the third.  J.C. Gibbons Manufacturing Inc., a precision machining company in Livonia, plans to be one of them.”

Metalworking Machinery - May, 1999

Life And Times Of A Family Shop

“In 1959 the founder of the company, John Gibbons, had an opportunity to three Traub automatic Screw Machines.  John and his wife Blanch, had a savings nest egg of $4,018.  The three machines cost $4,000 and Blance told John to go for it.  The has three machines and a bank roll of $18 when they went into business.”

“Jerry Gibbons recalls many times bailing  a customer out of a jam after receiving a last minute request on a Friday evening to have parts ready Monday Morning.  This meant Jerry worked all weekend to meet the delivery deadline but it’s something the customer would never forget.”

“Gibbons feels there’s still plenty of room for a good company with good people who can perform for the customer.”

J.C Gibbons: Michigan Manufacturing Technology Center SUCCESS STORY

J.C. Gibbons (J.C.), in Livonia, Michigan, manufactures precision screw machine and CNC products. The technical knowledge of its skilled staff has ensured the highest quality product since 1959. J.C. Gibbons can take a prototype job and move it into low or high volume production without ever leaving its facility. A robust ISO9001:2000 program is the driving force behind J.C. Gibbons’s quality system and provides assurance that each job is made in a reliable, consistent manner. Statistical Process Control (SPC) data is analyzed at the shop floor level daily in order to manufacture quality parts. This ensures a better, more consistent product for customers. With all of these strengths firmly in place, J.C. Gibbons Vice President, Jeff Gibbons, was ready to expand his company’s reach beyond the automotive industry to find opportunities in other markets.

With this goal in mind, Jeff contacted the Michigan Manufacturing Technology Center (MMTC) to begin its market diversification program. At the beginning of the program, J.C. identified their biggest challenge as an internal lack of resources devoted to securing new business. Robert Hess, MMTC’s Growth Services Director, conducted an assessment which was critical to illustrating the importance of having dedicated resources. In order to focus as much as possible on diversification, Jeff brought his brother Dan in to help manage the day to day operations. The process of diversification involved learning new tools to help identify key strengths - both in J.C.‘s manufacturing processes and in the finished product itself.

One of the most powerful tools was developing an understanding of the North American Industrial Classification System (NAICS) code process and utilizing it to identify new business opportunities, while avoiding industries with declining trends. This approach helped link J.C. with a medical industry supplier in Troy, Michigan. What began with a quote for one part has developed into a strong working relationship. Now J.C. is supplying 10 different parts to this same company! Another search connected J.C. with a local commercial signage company which led to opportunities in related industries.

In addition to learning how to identify new markets with NAICS codes, J.C. learned a variety of sales and marketing approaches to implement within those selected markets. Activities ranged from developing a telephone call script to creating and sending out e-mail flyers advertising their products and services. They even discovered how to make better sales use of existing assets, such as using on-hold messages to provide informative and compelling messages to clients during any necessary wait times. This is a simple example of an additional sales approach that many companies can take advantage of, at virtually no cost. 

Today, through hard work and assistance from the MMTC market diversification program, J.C.’s business is about 49% automotive instead of 75%, and the medical and other diversified markets continue to grow. J.C. continues to pursue excellence in difficult economic times and MMTC has been there right alongside to coach and to encourage implementation. Training with the MMTC has included Activity-Based-Costing financial analysis, LEAN office projects, LEAN Kaizens, Statistical Process Control (SPC), and Geometric Dimensioning and Tolerancing (GD&T) training in addition to the market diversification program. “The MMTC’s goal is to make you better and to help you grow your business,” Jeff stated, “as a small company, we wouldn’t have been able to diversify without help.” As a result of working with the MMTC team, J.C. has been able to grow their non-automotive business 9.3% over the last eighteen months, during one of the toughest economic periods in decades.

(MMTC, 2009)