FALL 2024

68 THE DISTRIBUTOR’S

68 THE DISTRIBUTOR’S LINK KINTER 3333 Oak Grove Ave, Waukegan, IL 60087 TEL 1-800-323-2389 FAX 847-623-0105 EMAIL sales@kinter.com WEB www.kinter.com KINTER: READY TO SHINE WHEN OUR CUSTOMERS NEED US It was Friday afternoon, nearly closing time. Snow was falling, streetlights were on, and employees around the office were eagerly wrapping up for the weekend. Around 4:45, the phone rang. I remember the anxiety in the caller’s voice. It was one of our distributors, in panic mode. A computer glitch on their end meant they ran out of a high-demand push-in fastener, and they needed more … right away. “How many?” I asked. “Two million,” the buyer said. I smiled from my end of the phone. Without even checking our inventory screen, I knew we were prepared. (Still, I typed in the part, just in case!) “No problem,” I replied. “We’ll ship it tonight.” The buyer was astonished. His last-minute headache was our chance to shine. A couple guys from the warehouse stayed late, and the full order hit the bed of a UPS truck that very evening. Simply, we’re ready for these moments, with 300,000+ feet of warehouse space and the inventory to fill it. But it wasn’t always this way. My parents, John and Barbara, started this business in their garage in 1980, selling nails and other small fasteners. Back then, if you had called needing 2 million of anything, it wasn’t likely! Now it’s the usual – not just with nylon push-in fasteners, but thousands of popular fastener items … Binder posts & screws, plastic mating fasteners, snap rings, “S” hooks, suction cups, cable ties, disposable tools, wall anchors and more. We’re the go-to for wholesale volume. And if we don’t already have it, we’ll find it – or make it. KINTER’S NEWEST WAREHOUSE OF ITS WAUKEGAN, ILLINOIS, CAMPUS. Over the past 44 years, that humble garage has grown into a three-warehouse campus with aggressive inventory levels in Waukegan, IL. That means we’re ready when you are. Plus, we have dedicated designers and an on-site Engineering Lab to bring your ideas to life, with custom injection molding and in-house CNC and EDM tooling capabilities. If you have a fastener design in mind, we’ll create it. If you need a warehouse to stock your parts, we’ll inventory them for you. If you need those parts kitpacked a certain way, we’ll handle it. We’re always telling our customers “Challenge us! We can solve your fastener headaches.” That’s the can-do spirit that sets Kinter apart. Shipping 2 million pieces on a Friday evening was nothing. Call us, and let’s tackle your challenges. Paul White President of Kinter P.S. Contact us at Kinter.com/Contact and ask for our new Fastener Distributor catalog! BUSINESS FOCUS ARTICLE KINTER