Cavalier Steel Finds Like-Minded Partner in New Millennium

President Enjoys Mutual Success

As an innovative business owner, Mark Bohling has made success his hallmark at fabricator Cavalier Steel. Since buying the company in 2001, he has raised production from 400 tons of steel a year to 4,000 tons – and increased the company’s sales by nearly 600%.

“When you own a business, you put everything on the line,” Bohling explains. “You have to make tough decisions and become extremely creative.”

Bohling sees New Millennium trying to do similar things, to be creative and find ways to proactively solve customers’ problems. “What has always set New Millennium apart is doing a real good job on service and quality, which is why I like to use them,” he says.

Sustaining this winning relationship is not simple, however. According to Bohling, most of the time the structural steel package follows an orderly delivery cycle, but periodically sites get ready quicker than originally planned. When that happens the general contractor expects the steel to get there quicker, too. Cavalier Steel must proactively try to meet the revised timetable and so must New Millennium. “We try to deliver when the customer wants it.” Mark concluded. “New Millennium will say ‘let’s see what we can do about it.’ They make things happen.”

Key Concepts

Mark Bohling shares the following guidelines for mutual success between his company and New Millennium.

No finger pointing – When a problem arises on a job site, Bohling says it’s important to jump on the problem, get it fixed, and get on with life. “Some of my competitors tend to argue about it for awhile. When an argument starts, progress stops. That’s when the general contractor becomes angry and things start going downhill.”

Keep a proactive attitude – “I’ve never believed in the old manufacturing mentality that you should check your brains at the door,” Mark said. Just like at New Millennium, his employees have the authority to make decisions. They think independently and as a team to solve customers’ problems.

Put an end to bad habits – Over the years, bad habits become internally focused and create a bad mentality. “The customer is always the problem, nothing is ever wrong internally. There has to be a paradigm shift. What you do internally is irrelevant unless it satisfies the customer. Without the customer, you only have cost. With only cost, your company will cease to exist.”

Quality is everyone’s responsibility – Quality assurance means giving suggestions to help improve the company and retain more customers. “Just because we’re doing something
one way doesn’t mean it’s the right way,” Bohling says. “If someone has a better way to do something and it’s going to improve quality and cut costs, I’m always open to it.”

Use technology to your advantage – Bohling jokes that Cavalier was “operating in the dark ages” when he first took over. Computers and the internet now make his process more efficient. Instead of manually filling out purchase orders and other requests, everything can be emailed. In addition, he outsources his detailing to achieve far greater efficiency than before. Likewise, New Millennium utilizes the latest production technology to increase speed and flexibility.

Customers Stay Happy

When New Millennium and Cavalier Steel work together, with their similar outlooks on proactive service, their customers reap the benefit. Both earn success by staying agile, and flexible to the finish.